Act 2 - Page 2

did I wrong by what I did? No one.

LORD GORING
[Looking at him steadily.] Except yourself, Robert.

SIR ROBERT CHILTERN
[After a pause.] Of course I had private information about a certain transaction contemplated by the Government of the day, and I acted on it. Private information is practically the source of every large modern fortune.

LORD GORING
[Tapping his boot with his cane.] And public scandal invariably the result.

SIR ROBERT CHILTERN
[Pacing up and down the room.] Arthur, do you think that what I did nearly eighteen years ago should be brought up against me now? Do you think it fair that a man's whole career should be ruined for a fault done in one's boyhood almost? I was twenty-two at the time, and I had the double misfortune of being well-born and poor, two unforgiveable things nowadays. Is it fair that the folly, the sin of one's youth, if men choose to call it a sin, should wreck a life like mine, should place me in the pillory, should shatter all that I have worked for, all that I have built up. Is it fair, Arthur?

LORD GORING
Life is never fair, Robert. And perhaps it is a good thing for most of us that it is not.

SIR ROBERT CHILTERN
Every man of ambition has to fight his century with its own weapons. What this century worships is wealth. The God of this century is wealth. To succeed one must have wealth. At all costs one must have wealth.

LORD GORING
You underrate yourself, Robert. Believe me, without wealth you could have succeeded just as well.

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