LADY WINDERMERE. Go back to my husband, Mrs. Erlynne. He belongs to you and not to me. I suppose he is afraid of a scandal. Men are such cowards. They outrage every law of the world, and are afraid of the world’s tongue. But he had better prepare himself. He shall have a scandal. He shall have the worst scandal there has been in London for years. He shall see his name in every vile paper, mine on every hideous placard. MRS. ERLYNNE. No—no— LADY WINDERMERE. Yes! he shall. Had he come himself, I admit I would have gone back to the life of degradation you and he had prepared for me—I was going back—but to stay himself at home, and to send you as his messenger—oh! it was infamous—infamous. MRS. ERLYNNE. [_C._] Lady Windermere, you wrong me horribly—you wrong your husband horribly. He doesn’t know you are here—he thinks you are safe in your own house. He thinks you are asleep in your own room. He never read the mad letter you wrote to him! LADY WINDERMERE. [_R._] Never read it! MRS. ERLYNNE. No—he knows nothing about it. LADY WINDERMERE. How simple you think me! [_Going to her_.] You are lying to me! MRS. ERLYNNE. [_Restraining herself_.] I am not. I am telling you the truth. LADY WINDERMERE. If my husband didn’t read my letter, how is it that you are here? Who told you I had left the house you were shameless enough to enter? Who told you where I had gone to? My husband told you, and sent you to decoy me back. [_Crosses L._] MRS. ERLYNNE. [_R.C._] Your husband has never seen the letter. I—saw it, I opened it. I—read it. LADY WINDERMERE. [_Turning to her_.] You opened a letter of mine to my husband? You wouldn’t dare! MRS. ERLYNNE. Dare! Oh! to save you from the abyss into which you are falling, there is nothing in the world I would not dare, nothing in the whole world. Here is the letter. Your husband has never read it. He never shall read it. [_Going to fireplace_.] It should never have been written. [_Tears it and throws it into the fire_.] LADY WINDERMERE. [_With infinite contempt in her voice and look_.] How do I know that that was my letter after all? You seem to think the commonest device can take me in! MRS. ERLYNNE. Oh! why do you disbelieve everything I tell you? What object do you think I have in coming here, except to save you from utter ruin, to save you from the consequence of a hideous mistake? That letter that is burnt now _was_ your letter. I swear it to you! LADY WINDERMERE. [_Slowly_.] You took good care to burn it before I had examined it. I cannot trust you. You, whose whole life is a lie, could you speak the truth about anything? [_Sits down_.] MRS. ERLYNNE. [_Hurriedly_.] Think as you like about me—say what you choose against me, but go back, go back to the husband you love. LADY WINDERMERE. [_Sullenly_.] I do _not_ love him! MRS. ERLYNNE. You do, and you know that he loves you.