I never loved any one in the whole world but you.

LADY WINDERMERE rises. Who is this woman, then? Why do you take a house for her?

LORD WINDERMERE. I did not take a house for her.

LADY WINDERMERE. You gave her the money to do it, which is the same thing.

LORD WINDERMERE. Margaret, as far as I have known Mrs. Erlynne –

LADY WINDERMERE. Is there a Mr. Erlynne – or is he a myth?

LORD WINDERMERE. Her husband died many years ago. She is alone in the world.

LADY WINDERMERE. No relations? A pause.

LORD WINDERMERE. None.

LADY WINDERMERE. Rather curious, isn't it? L.

LORD WINDERMERE L.C. Margaret, I was saying to you – and I beg you to listen to me – that as far as I have known Mrs. Erlynne, she has conducted herself well. If years ago –

LADY WINDERMERE. Oh! Crossing R.C. I don't want details about her life!

LORD WINDERMERE C. I am not going to give you any details about her life. I tell you simply this – Mrs. Erlynne was once honoured, loved, respected. She was well born, she had position – she lost everything – threw it away, if you like. That makes it all the more bitter. Misfortunes one can endure – they come from outside, they are accidents. But to suffer for one's own faults – ah! – there is the sting of life. It was twenty years ago, too. She was little more than a girl then. She had been a wife for even less time than you have.

LADY WINDERMERE. I am not interested in her – and – you should not mention this woman and me in the same breath. It is an error of taste.