Page:Wilde - A Woman of no Importance, 1909.djvu/158

RhACT III. MRS. ARBUTHNOT It is not what Lord Illingworth believes, or what he does not believe, that makes him bad. It is what he is.

GERALD Mother, is it something you know of him? Something you actually know?

MRS. ARBUTHNOT It is something I know.

GERALD Something you are quite sure of?

MRS. ARBUTHNOT Quite sure of.

GERALD How long have you known it?

MRS. ARBUTHNOT For twenty years.

GERALD Is it fair to go back twenty years in any man's career? And what have you or I to do with Lord Illingworth's early life? What business is it of ours? 140