ainful scenes of jealousy in public!

[_They go downstairs with the other guests_, _passing_ SIR ROBERT
CHILTERN _and_ MRS. CHEVELEY, _who now enter_.]

SIR ROBERT CHILTERN. And are you going to any of our country houses
before you leave England, Mrs. Cheveley?

MRS. CHEVELEY. Oh, no! I can't stand your English house-parties. In
England people actually try to be brilliant at breakfast. That is so
dreadful of them! Only dull people are brilliant at breakfast. And then
the family skeleton is always reading family prayers. My stay in England
really depends on you, Sir Robert. [_Sits down on the sofa_.]

SIR ROBERT CHILTERN. [_Taking a seat beside her_.] Seriously?

MRS. CHEVELEY. Quite seriously. I want to talk to you about a great
political and financial scheme, about this Argentine Canal Company, in
fact.

SIR ROBERT CHILTERN. What a tedious, practical subject for you to talk
about, Mrs. Cheveley!

MRS. CHEVELEY. Oh, I like tedious, practical subjects. What I don't
like are tedious, practical people. There is a wide difference.
Besides, you are interested, I know, in International Canal schemes. You
were Lord Radley's secretary, weren't you, when the Government bought the
Suez Canal shares?

SIR ROBERT CHILTERN. Yes. But the Suez Canal was a very great and
splendid undertaking. It gave us our direct route to India. It had
imperial value. It was necessary that we should have control. This
Argentine scheme is a commonplace Stock Exchange swindle.

MRS. CHEVELEY. A speculation, Sir Robert! A brilliant, daring
speculation.

SIR ROBERT CHILTERN. Believe me, Mrs. Cheveley, it is a swindle. Let us
call things by their proper names. It makes matters simpler. We have
all the information about it at the Foreign Office. In fact, I sent out
a special Commission to inquire into the matter privately, and they
report that the works are hardly begun, and as for the money already
subscribed, no one seems to know what has become of it. The whole thing
is a second Panama, and with not a quarter of the chance of success that
miserable affair ever had. I hope you have not invested in it. I am
sure you are far too clever to have done that.

MRS. CHEVELEY. I have invested very largely in it.

SIR ROBERT CHILTERN. Who could have advised you to do such a foolish
thing?

MRS. CHEVELEY. Your old friend--and mine.

SIR ROBERT CHILTERN. Who?

MRS. CHEVELEY. Baron Arnheim.

SIR ROBERT CHILTE