sir robert chiltern. If there is no one there why should I not look in that room? Arthur, you must let me go into that room and satisfy myself. Let me know that no eavesdropper has heard my life’s secret. Arthur, you don’t realise what I am going through.
lord goring. Robert, this must stop. I have told you that there is no one in that room—that is enough.
sir robert chiltern. [Rushes to the door of the room.] It is not enough. I insist on going into this room. You have told me there is no one there, so what reason can you have for refusing me?
lord goring. For God’s sake, don’t! There is some one there. Some one whom you must not see.
sir robert chiltern. Ah, I thought so!
lord goring. I forbid you to enter that room.
sir robert chiltern. Stand back. My life is at stake. And I don’t care who is there. I will know who it is to whom I have told my secret and my shame. [Enters room.]
lord goring. Great heavens! his own wife!
[sir robert chiltern comes back, with a look of scorn and anger on his face.]
sir robert chiltern. What explanation have you to give me for the presence of that woman here?