A Woman of No Importance

Lessee and ManaFIRST ACTSCENELawn in front of the terrace at Hunstanton.[SIR JOHN and LADY CAROLINE PONTEFRACT, MISS WORSLEY, on chairs under large yew tree.]LADY CAROLINE. I believe this is the first English country house you have stayed at, Miss Worsley?HESTER. Yes, Lady Caroline.LADY CAROLINE. You have no country houses, I am told, in America?HESTER. We have not many.LADY CAROLINE. Have you any country? What we should call country?HESTER. [Smiling.] We have the largest country in...
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Lessee and ManaFIRST ACTSCENELawn in front of the terrace at Hunstanton.[SIR JOHN and LADY CAROLINE PONTEFRACT, MISS WORSLEY, on chairs under large yew tree.]LADY CAROLINE. I believe this is the first English country house you have stayed at, Miss Worsley?HESTER. Yes, Lady Caroline.LADY CAROLINE. You have no country houses, I am told, in America?HESTER. We have not many.LADY CAROLINE. Have you any country? What we should call country?HESTER. [Smiling.] We have the largest country in the world, Lady Caroline. They used to tell us atschool that some of our states are as big as France and England put together.LADY CAROLINE. Ah! you must find it very draughty, I should fancy. [To SIR JOHN.] John, youshould have your muffler. What is the use of my always knitting mufflers for you if you won't wearthem?SIR JOHN. I am quite warm, Caroline, I assure you.LADY CAROLINE. I think not, John. Well, you couldn't come to a more charming place than this,Miss Worsley, though the house is excessively damp, quite unpardonably damp, and dear LadyHunstanton is sometimes a little lax about the people she asks down here. [To SIR JOHN.] Janemixes too much. Lord Illingworth, of course, is a man of high distinction. It is a privilege to meethim. And that member of Parliament, Mr. Kettle--SIR JOHN. Kelvil, my love, Kelvil.LADY CAROLINE. He must be quite respectable. One has never heard his name before in the wholecourse of one's life, which speaks volumes for a man, nowadays. But Mrs. Allonby is hardly a verysuitable person.HESTER. I dislike Mrs. Allonby. I dislike her more than I can say.LADY CAROLINE. I am not sure, Miss Worsley, that foreigners like yourself should cultivate likes ordislikes about the people they are invited to meet. Mrs. Allonby is very well born. She is a niece of 3Lord Brancaster's. It is said, of course, that she ran away twice before she was married. But youknow how unfair people often are. I myself don't believe she ran away more than once.HESTER. Mr. Arbuthnot is very charming.