ACT III.
ask Hester to be my wife. As a wretched bank clerk with a hundred a year it would be an impertinence.
MRS. ARBUTHNOT
I fear you need have no hopes of Miss Worsley. I know her views on life. She has just told them to me. [A pause.]
GERALD
Then I have my ambition left, at any rate. That is something—I am glad I have that! You have always tried to crush my ambition, mother—haven't you? You have told me that the world is a wicked place, that success is not worth having, that society is shallow, and all that sort of thing—well, I don't believe it, mother. I think the world must be delightful. I think society must be exquisite. I think success is a thing worth having. You have been wrong in all that you taught me, mother, quite wrong. Lord Illingworth is a successful man. He is a fashionable man. He is a man who lives in the world and for it. Well, I would
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