Lord Windermere. You are talking of Mrs. Erlynne, I suppose? I only met her six months ago. Till then, I never knew of her existence.
Lord Augustus. You have seen a good deal of her since then.
Lord Windermere. [Coldly.] Yes, I have seen a good deal of her since then. I have just seen her.
Lord Augustus. Egad! the women are very down on her. I have been dining with Arabella this evening! By Jove! you should have heard what she said about Mrs. Erlynne. She didn’t leave a rag on her. . . . [Aside.] Berwick and I told her that didn’t matter much, as the lady in question must have an extremely fine figure. You should have seen Arabella’s expression! . . . But, look here, dear boy. I don’t know what to do about Mrs. Erlynne. Egad! I might be married to her; she treats me with such demmed indifference. She’s deuced clever, too! She explains everything. Egad! she explains you. She has got any amount of explanations for you—and all of them different.
Lord Windermere. No explanations are necessary about my friendship with Mrs. Erlynne.
Lord Augustus. Hem! Well, look here, dear old fellow. Do you think she will ever get into this demmed thing called Society? Would you introduce her to your wife? No use beating about the confounded bush. Would you do that?
Lord Windermere. Mrs. Erlynne is coming here to-night.
Lord Augustus. Your wife has sent her a card?
Lord Windermere. Mrs. Erlynne has received a card.
Lord Augustus. Then she’s all right, dear boy. But why didn’t you tell me that before? It would have saved me a heap of worry and demmed misunderstandings!