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 pounds.

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 paus