Page:Wilde - A Woman of no Importance, 1909.djvu/127

RhACT III. limited views of life, their horizon is so small, their interests are so petty, aren't they?

GERALD They are awfully interested, certainly, in things we don't care much about.

LORD ILLINGWORTH I suppose your mother is very religious, and that sort of thing.

GERALD Oh, yes, she's always going to church.

LORD ILLINGWORTH Ah! she is not modern, and to be modern is the only thing worth being nowadays. You want to be modern, don't you, Gerald? You want to know life as it really is. Not to be put off with any old-fashioned theories about life. Well, what you have to do at present is simply to fit yourself for the best society. A man who can dominate a London dinner-table can dominate the world. The future belongs to the dandy. It is the exquisites who are going to rule. 109