Cecil Graham. Too romantic! You must be in love. Who is the girl?
Lord Darlington. The woman I love is not free, or thinks she isn’t. [Glances instinctively at Lord Windermere while he speaks.]
Cecil Graham. A married woman, then! Well, there’s nothing in the world like the devotion of a married woman. It’s a thing no married man knows anything about.
Lord Darlington. Oh! she doesn’t love me. She is a good woman. She is the only good woman I have ever met in my life.
Cecil Graham. The only good woman you have ever met in your life?
Lord Darlington. Yes!
Cecil Graham. [Lighting a cigarette.] Well, you are a lucky fellow! Why, I have met hundreds of good women. I never seem to meet any but good women. The world is perfectly packed with good women. To know them is a middle-class education.
Lord Darlington. This woman has purity and innocence. She has everything we men have lost.
Cecil Graham. My dear fellow, what on earth should we men do going about with purity and innocence? A carefully thought-out buttonhole is much more effective.
Dumby. She doesn’t really love you then?