I can't remember where. I have been out of England for
so long.

LADY CHILTERN. We were at school together, Mrs. Cheveley.

MRS. CHEVELEY [_Superciliously_.] Indeed? I have forgotten all about my
schooldays. I have a vague impression that they were detestable.

LADY CHILTERN. [_Coldly_.] I am not surprised!

MRS. CHEVELEY. [_In her sweetest manner_.] Do you know, I am quite
looking forward to meeting your clever husband, Lady Chiltern. Since he
has been at the Foreign Office, he has been so much talked of in Vienna.
They actually succeed in spelling his name right in the newspapers. That
in itself is fame, on the continent.

LADY CHILTERN. I hardly think there will be much in common between you
and my husband, Mrs. Cheveley! [_Moves away_.]

VICOMTE DE NANJAC. Ah! chere Madame, queue surprise! I have not seen
you since Berlin!

MRS. CHEVELEY. Not since Berlin, Vicomte. Five years ago!

VICOMTE DE NANJAC. And you are younger and more beautiful than ever.
How do you manage it?

MRS. CHEVELEY. By making it a rule only to talk to perfectly charming
people like yourself.

VICOMTE DE NANJAC. Ah! you flatter me. You butter me, as they say here.

MRS. CHEVELEY. Do they say that here? How dreadful of them!

VICOMTE DE NANJAC. Yes, they have a wonderful language. It should be
more widely known.

[SIR ROBERT CHILTERN _enters_. _A man of forty_, _but looking somewhat
younger_. _Clean-shaven_, _with finely-cut features_, _dark-haired and
dark-eyed_. _A personality of mark_. _Not popular--few personalities
are_. _But intensely admired by the few_, _and deeply respected by the
many_. _The note of his manner is that of perfect distinction_, _with a
slight touch of pride_. _One feels that he is conscious of the success
he has made in life_. _A nervous temperament_, _with a tired look_.
_The firmly-chiselled mouth and chin contrast strikingly with the
romantic expression in the deep-set eyes_. _The variance is suggestive
of an almost complete separation of passion and intellect_, _as though
thought and emotion were each isolated in its own sphere through some
violence of will-power_. _There is nervousness in the nostrils_, _and in
the pale_, _thin_, _pointed hands_. _It would be inaccurate to call him
picturesque_. _Picturesqueness cannot survive the House of Commons_.
_But Vandyck would have liked to have painted his head_.]

SIR ROBERT CHILTERN. Good evening, Lady Markby! I hope yo