An Ideal Husband - Oscar Wilde (unputdownable books .txt) 📗

house Lord Woolcomb has now. I remember so well how, with a strange smile on his pale, curved lips, he led me through his wonderful picture gallery, showed me his tapestries, his enamels, his jewels, his carved ivories, made me wonder at the strange loveliness of the luxury in which he lived; and then told me that luxury was nothing but a background, a painted scene in a play, and that power, power over other men, power over the world, was the one thing worth having, the one supreme pleasure worth knowing, the one joy one never tired of, and that in our century only the rich possessed it. Lord Goring With great deliberation. A thoroughly shallow creed. Sir Robert Chiltern Rising. I didn’t think so then. I don’t think so now. Wealth has given me enormous power. It gave me at the very outset of my life freedom, and freedom is everything. You have never been poor, and never known what ambition is. You cannot understand what a wonderful chance the Baron gave me. Such a chance as few men get. Lord Goring Fortunately for them, if one is to judge by results. But tell me definitely, how did the Baron finally persuade you to⁠—well, to do what you did? Sir Robert Chiltern When I was going away he said to me that if I ever could give him any private information of real value he would make me a very rich man. I was dazed at the prospect he held out to me, and my ambition and my desire for power were at that time boundless. Six weeks later certain private documents passed through my hands. Lord Goring Keeping his eyes steadily fixed on the carpet. State documents? Sir Robert Chiltern Yes. Lord Goring sighs, then passes his hand across his forehead and looks up. Lord Goring I had no idea that you, of all men in the world, could have been so weak, Robert, as to yield to such a temptation as Baron Arnheim held out to you. Sir Robert Chiltern Weak? Oh, I am sick of hearing that phrase. Sick of using it about others. Weak? Do you really think, Arthur, that it is weakness that yields to temptation? I tell you that there are terrible temptations that it requires strength, strength and courage, to yield to. To stake all one’s life on a single moment, to risk everything on one throw, whether the stake be power or pleasure, I care not⁠—there is no weakness in that. There is a horrible, a terrible courage. I had that courage. I sat down the same afternoon and wrote Baron Arnheim the letter this woman now holds. He made three-quarters of a million over the transaction. Lord Goring And you? Sir Robert Chiltern I received from the Baron £110,000. Lord Goring You were worth more, Robert. Sir Robert Chiltern No; that money gave me exactly what I wanted, power over others. I went into the House immediately. The Baron advised me in finance from time to time. Before five years I had almost trebled my fortune. Since then everything that I have touched has turned out a success. In all things connected with money I have had a luck so extraordinary that sometimes it has made me almost afraid. I remember having read somewhere, in some strange book, that when the gods wish to punish us they answer our prayers. Lord Goring But tell me, Robert, did you never suffer any regret for what you had done? Sir Robert Chiltern No. I felt that I had fought the century with its own weapons, and won. Lord Goring Sadly. You thought you had won. Sir Robert Chiltern I thought so. After a long pause. Arthur, do you despise me for what I have told you? Lord Goring With deep feeling in his voice. I am very sorry for you, Robert, very sorry indeed. Sir Robert Chiltern I don’t say that I suffered any remorse. I didn’t. Not remorse in the ordinary, rather silly sense of the word. But I have paid conscience money many times. I had a wild hope that I might disarm destiny. The sum Baron Arnheim gave me I have distributed twice over in public charities since then. Lord Goring Looking up. In public charities? Dear me! what a lot of harm you must have done, Robert! Sir Robert Chiltern Oh, don’t say that, Arthur; don’t talk like that! Lord Goring Never mind what I say, Robert! I am always saying what I shouldn’t say. In fact, I usually say what I really think. A great mistake nowadays. It makes one so liable to be misunderstood. As regards this dreadful business, I will help you in whatever way I can. Of course you know that. Sir Robert Chiltern Thank you, Arthur, thank you. But what is to be done? What can be done? Lord Goring Leaning back with his hands in his pockets. Well, the English can’t stand a man who is always saying he is in the right, but they are very fond of a man who admits that he has been in the wrong. It is one of the best things in them. However, in your case, Robert, a confession would not do. The money, if you will allow me to say so, is⁠ ⁠… awkward. Besides, if you did make a clean breast of the whole affair, you would never be able to talk morality again. And in England a man who can’t talk morality twice a week to a large, popular, immoral audience is quite over as a serious politician. There would be nothing left for him as a profession except Botany or the Church. A confession would be of no use. It would ruin you. Sir Robert Chiltern It would ruin me. Arthur, the only thing for me to do now is to fight the thing out. Lord Goring Rising from his chair. I was waiting for you to say that, Robert. It is the only thing to do now. And you must begin by telling your