Act IV

SCENE--Same as in Act I.

LADY WINDERMERE. [Lying on sofa.] How can I tell him? I can't
tell him. It would kill me. I wonder what happened after I
escaped from that horrible room. Perhaps she told them the true
reason of her being there, and the real meaning of that--fatal fan
of mine. Oh, if he knows--how can I look him in the face again?
He would never forgive me. [Touches bell.] How securely one
thinks one lives--out of reach of temptation, sin, folly. And then
suddenly--Oh! Life is terrible. It rules us, we do not rule it.

[Enter ROSALIE R.]

ROSALIE. Did your ladyship ring for me?

LADY WINDERMERE. Yes. Have you found out at what time Lord
Windermere came in last night?

ROSALIE. His lordship did not come in till five o'clock.

LADY WINDERMERE. Five o'clock? He knocked at my door this
morning, didn't he?

ROSALIE. Yes, my lady--at half-past nine. I told him your
ladyship was not awake yet.

LADY WINDERMERE. Did he say anything?

ROSALIE. Something about your ladyship's fan. I didn't quite
catch what his lordship said. Has the fan been lost, my lady? I
can't find it, and Parker says it was not left in any of the rooms.
He has looked in all of them and on the terrace as well.

LADY WINDERMERE. It doesn't matter. Tell Parker not to trouble.
That will do.

[Exit ROSALIE.]

LADY WINDERMERE. [Rising.] She is sure to tell him. I can fancy
a person doing a wonderful act of self-sacrifice, doing it
spontaneously, recklessly, nobly--and afterwards finding out that
it costs too much. Why should she hesitate between her ruin and
mine? . . . How strange! I would have publicly disgraced her in my
own house. She accepts public disgrace in the house of another to
save me. . . . There is a bitter irony in things, a bitter irony in
the way we talk of good and bad women. . . . Oh, what a lesson! and
what a pity that in life we only get our lessons when they are of
no use to us! For even if she doesn't tell, I must. Oh! the shame
of it, the shame of it. To tell it is to live through it all
again. Actions are the first tragedy in life, words are the
second. Words are perhaps the worst. Words are merciless. . . Oh!
[Starts as LORD WINDERMERE enters.]

LORD WINDERMERE. [Kisses her.] Margaret--how pale you look!

LADY WINDERMERE. I slept very badly.

LORD WINDERMERE. [Sitting on sofa with her.] I am so sorry. I
came in dreadfully late, and didn't like to wake you. You are
crying, dear.

LADY WINDERMERE. Yes, I am crying, for I have something to tell
you, Arthur.

LORD WINDERMERE. My dear child, you are not well. You've been
doing too much. Let us go away to the country. You'll be all
right at Selby. The