DUMBY. Dreadfully dull! Dreadfully dull! MR. COWPER-COWPER. Good evening, Mr. Dumby. I suppose this will be the last ball of the season? DUMBY. Oh, I think not. There’ll probably be two more. [_Wanders back to_ LADY PLYMDALE.] PARKER. Mr. Rufford. Lady Jedburgh and Miss Graham. Mr. Hopper. [_These people enter as announced_.] HOPPER. How do you do, Lady Windermere? How do you do, Duchess? [_Bows to_ LADY AGATHA.] DUCHESS OF BERWICK. Dear Mr. Hopper, how nice of you to come so early. We all know how you are run after in London. HOPPER. Capital place, London! They are not nearly so exclusive in London as they are in Sydney. DUCHESS OF BERWICK. Ah! we know your value, Mr. Hopper. We wish there were more like you. It would make life so much easier. Do you know, Mr. Hopper, dear Agatha and I are so much interested in Australia. It must be so pretty with all the dear little kangaroos flying about. Agatha has found it on the map. What a curious shape it is! Just like a large packing case. However, it is a very young country, isn’t it? HOPPER. Wasn’t it made at the same time as the others, Duchess? DUCHESS OF BERWICK. How clever you are, Mr. Hopper. You have a cleverness quite of your own. Now I mustn’t keep you. HOPPER. But I should like to dance with Lady Agatha, Duchess. DUCHESS OF BERWICK. Well, I hope she has a dance left. Have you a dance left, Agatha? LADY AGATHA. Yes, mamma. DUCHESS OF BERWICK. The next one? LADY AGATHA. Yes, mamma. HOPPER. May I have the pleasure? [LADY AGATHA _bows_.] DUCHESS OF BERWICK. Mind you take great care of my little chatterbox, Mr. Hopper. [LADY AGATHA _and_ MR. HOPPER _pass into ball-room_.] [_Enter_ LORD WINDERMERE.] LORD WINDERMERE. Margaret, I want to speak to you. LADY WINDERMERE. In a moment. [_The music drops_.] PARKER. Lord Augustus Lorton. [_Enter_ LORD AUGUSTUS.] LORD AUGUSTUS. Good evening, Lady Windermere. DUCHESS OF BERWICK. Sir James, will you take me into the ball-room? Augustus has been dining with us to-night. I really have had quite enough of dear Augustus for the moment. [SIR JAMES ROYSTON _gives the_ DUCHESS _his arm and escorts her into the ball-room_.] PARKER. Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Bowden. Lord and Lady Paisley. Lord Darlington. [_These people enter as announced_.] LORD AUGUSTUS. [_Coming up to_ LORD WINDERMERE.] Want to speak to you particularly, dear boy. I’m worn to a shadow. Know I don’t look it. None of us men do look what we really are. Demmed good thing, too. What I want to know is this. Who is she? Where does she come from? Why hasn’t she got any demmed relations? Demmed nuisance, relations! But they make one so demmed respectable. LORD WINDERMERE. You are talking of Mrs. Erlynne, I suppose? I only met her six months ago. Till then, I never knew of her existence. LORD AUGUSTUS. You have seen a good deal of her since then.