Page:Wilde - A Woman of no Importance, 1909.djvu/74

RhACT II. LADY STUTFIELD Have you never forgiven him then? How sad that seems! But all life is very, very sad, is it not?

MRS. ALLONBY Life, Lady Stutfield, is simply a mauvais quart d'heure made up of exquisite moments.

LADY STUTFIELD Yes, there are moments, certainly. But was it something very, very wrong that Mr. Allonby did? Did he become angry with you, and say anything that was unkind or true?

MRS. ALLONBY Oh dear, no. Ernest is invariably calm. That is one of the reasons he always gets on my nerves. Nothing is so aggravating as calmness. There is something positively brutal about the good temper of most modern men. I wonder we women stand it as well as we do. 56