·[xv]· First Act.
·1· SCENE—Lawn in front of the terrace at Hunstanton.
[Sir John and Lady Caroline Pontefract, Miss Worsley, on chairs under large yew tree.]
lady caroline
I believe this is the first English country house you have stayed at, Miss Worsley?
hester
Yes, Lady Caroline.
lady caroline
You have no country houses, I am told, in America?
hester
We have not many.
lady caroline
Have you any country? What we should call country?
·2· hester
[Smiling.] We have the largest country in the world, Lady Caroline. They used to tell us at school that some of our states are as big as France and England put together.
lady caroline
Ah! you must find it very draughty, I should fancy. [To Sir John.] John, you should have your muffler. What is the use of my always knitting mufflers for you if you won’t wear them?
sir john
I am quite warm, Caroline, I assure you.
lady caroline
I think not, John. Well, you couldn’t come to a more charming place than this, Miss Worsley, though the house is excessively damp, quite unpardonably damp, and dear Lady Hunstanton is sometimes a little lax about the people she asks down here. [To Sir John.] Jane mixes too much. Lord Illingworth, of course, is a man of high distinction. It is a privilege to meet him. And that member of Parliament, Mr. Kettle——
sir john
Kelvil, my love, Kelvil.
lady caroline
He must be quite respectable. One has never ·3· heard his name before in the whole course of one’s life, which speaks volumes for a man, now-a-days. But Mrs. Allonby is hardly a very suitable person.
hester
I dislike Mrs. Allonby. I dislike her more than I can say.
lady caroline
I am not sure, Miss Worsley, that foreigners like yourself should cultivate likes or dislikes about the people they are invited to meet. Mrs. Allonby is very well born. She is a niece of Lord Brancaster’s. It is said, of course, that she ran away twice before she was married. But you know how unfair people often are. I myself don’t believe she ran away more than once.
hester
Mr. Arbuthnot is very charming.
lady caroline
Ah, yes! the young man who has a post in a bank. Lady Hunstanton is most kind in asking him here, and Lord Illingworth seems to have taken quite a fancy to him. I am not sure, however, that Jane is right in taking him out of his position. In my young days, Miss Worsley, one never met any one in society who worked for their living. It was not considered the thing.
·4· hester
In America those are the people we respect most.
lady caroline
I have no doubt of it.
hester
Mr. Arbuthnot has a beautiful nature! He is so simple, so sincere. He has one of the most beautiful natures I have ever come across. It is a privilege to meet him.
lady caroline
It is not customary in England, Miss Worsley, for a young lady to speak with such enthusiasm of any person of the opposite sex. English women conceal their feelings till after they are married. They show them then.
hester
Do you, in England, allow no friendship to exist between a young man and a young girl?
[Enter Lady Hunstanton followed by Footman with shawls and a cushion.]
lady caroline
We think it very inadvisable. Jane, I was just saying what a pleasant party you have asked us to meet. You have a wonderful power of selection. It is quite a gift.
·5· lady hunstanton
Dear Caroline, how kind of you! I think we all do fit in very nicely together. And I hope our charming American visitor will carry back pleasant recollections of our English country life. [To Footman.] The cushion there, Francis. And my shawl. The Shetland. Get the Shetland.
[Exit Footman for shawl.]
[Enter Gerald Arbuthnot.]
gerald
Lady Hunstanton, I have such good news to tell you. Lord Illingworth has just offered to make me his secretary.
lady hunstanton
His secretary? That is good news indeed, Gerald. It means a very brilliant future in store for you. Your dear mother will be delighted. I really must try and induce her to come up here to-night. Do you think she would, Gerald? I know how difficult it is to get her to go anywhere.
gerald
Oh!
