LORD WINDERMERE. [_Smiling_.] It is some of your nonsense, Cecil.
LORD AUGUSTUS. [_Going to him_.] My dear fellow, you mustn’t go yet. I have a lot to talk to you about. And Cecil has something to show you.
LORD WINDERMERE. [_Walking over_.] Well, what is it?
CECIL GRAHAM. Darlington has got a woman here in his rooms. Here is her fan. Amusing, isn’t it? [_A pause_.]
LORD WINDERMERE. Good God! [_Seizes the fan_—DUMBY _rises_.]
LORD WINDERMERE. What is my wife’s fan doing here in your rooms? Hands off, Cecil. Don’t touch me.
LORD DARLINGTON. [_Walking towards him_.] I don’t know!
LORD WINDERMERE. You must know. I demand an explanation. Don’t hold me, you fool. [_To_ CECIL GRAHAM.]
LORD DARLINGTON. [_Aside_.] She is here after all!
LORD WINDERMERE. Speak, sir! Why is my wife’s fan here? Answer me! By God! I’ll search your rooms, and if my wife’s here, I’ll— [_Moves_.]
LORD DARLINGTON. You shall not search my rooms. You have no right to do so. I forbid you!
LORD WINDERMERE. You scoundrel! I’ll not leave your room till I have searched every corner of it! What moves behind that curtain? [_Rushes towards the curtain C._]
MRS. ERLYNNE. [_Enters behind R._] Lord Windermere!
[_Every one starts and turns round_. LADY WINDERMERE _slips out from behind the curtain and glides from the room L._]
MRS. ERLYNNE. I am afraid I took your wife’s fan in mistake for my own, when I was leaving your house to-night. I am so sorry. [_Takes fan from him_. LORD WINDERMERE _looks at her in contempt_. LORD DARLINGTON _in mingled astonishment and anger_. LORD AUGUSTUS _turns away_. _The other men smile at each other_.]
LADY WINDERMERE. [_Lying on sofa_.] How can I tell him? I can’t tell him. It would kill me. I wonder what happened after I escaped from that horrible room. Perhaps she told them the true reason of her being there, and the real meaning of that—fatal fan of mine. Oh, if he knows—how can I look him in the face again? He would never forgive me. [_Touches bell_.] How securely one thinks one lives—out of reach of temptation, sin, folly. And then suddenly—Oh! Life is terrible. It rules us, we do not rule it.
LADY WINDERMERE. Yes. Have you found out at what time Lord Windermere came in last night?
ROSALIE. His lordship did not come in till five o’clock.