Page:Wilde - A Woman of no Importance, 1909.djvu/80

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A WOMAN OF

ACT II.

MRS. ALLONBY
He should never run down other pretty women. That would show he had no taste, or make one suspect that he had too much. No; he should be nice about them all, but say that somehow they don't attract him.

LADY STUTFIELD
Yes, that is always very, very pleasant to hear about other women.

MRS. ALLONBY
If we ask him a question about anything, he should give us an answer all about ourselves. He should invariably praise us for whatever qualities he knows we haven't got. But he should be pitiless, quite pitiless, in reproaching us for the virtues that we have never dreamed of possessing. He should never believe that we know the use of useful things. That would be unforgiveable. But he should shower on us everything we don't want.

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