sir robert chiltern. When I was old, perhaps. When I had lost my passion for power, or could not use it. When I was tired, worn out, disappointed. I wanted my success when I was young. Youth is the time for success. I couldn’t wait.
lord goring. Well, you certainly have had your success while you are still young. No one in our day has had such a brilliant success. Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs at the age of forty—that’s good enough for any one, I should think.
sir robert chiltern. And if it is all taken away from me now? If I lose everything over a horrible scandal? If I am hounded from public life?
lord goring. Robert, how could you have sold yourself for money?
sir robert chiltern. [Excitedly.] I did not sell myself for money. I bought success at a great price. That is all.
lord goring. [Gravely.] Yes; you certainly paid a great price for it. But what first made you think of doing such a thing?
sir robert chiltern. Baron Arnheim.
lord goring. Damned scoundrel!
sir robert chiltern. No; he was a man of a most subtle and refined intellect. A man of culture, charm, and distinction. One of the most intellectual men I ever met.
lord goring. Ah! I prefer a gentlemanly fool any day. There is more to be said for stupidity than people imagine. Personally I have a great admiration for stupidity. It is a sort of fellow-feeling, I suppose. But how did he do it? Tell me the whole thing.