Page:Wilde - A Woman of no Importance, 1909.djvu/46

RhACT I. KELVIL He gives me the impression of a man who does not appreciate the beauty of our English home-life. I would say that he was tainted with foreign ideas on the subject.

LADY STUTFIELD There is nothing, nothing like the beauty of home-life, is there?

KELVIL It is the mainstay of our moral system in England, Lady Stutfield. Without it we would become like our neighbours.

LADY STUTFIELD That would be so, so sad, would it not?

KELVIL I am afraid, too, that Lord Illingworth regards woman simply as a toy. Now, I have never regarded woman as a toy. Woman is the intellectual helpmeet of man in public as in private life. Without her we should forget the true ideals. [Sits down beside LADY STUTFIELD.] 28