ACT III.
LORD ILLINGWORTH
One should always be in love. That is the reason one should never marry.
GERALD
Love is a very wonderful thing, isn't it?
LORD ILLINGWORTH
When one is in love one begins by deceiving oneself. And one ends by deceiving others. That is what the world calls a romance. But a really grande passion is comparatively rare nowadays. It is the privilege of people who have nothing to do. That is the one use of the idle classes in a country, and the only possible explanation of us Harfords.
GERALD
Harfords, Lord Illingworth?
LORD ILLINGWORTH
That is my family name. You should study the Peerage, Gerald. It is the one book a young man about town should know thoroughly, and it is the best thing in fiction the English have ever done.
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