"I am afraid that good people do a great deal of harm in this world."

[lookingat_stars]

[Enter LORD DARLINGTON, in evening dress. He has removed his buttonhole and is spinning it between his fingers, looking for the moment as if it is the only important thing in the world. He sighs, smiles a bittersweet smile, and looks upwards as if to take comfort from the stars. Finding a ceiling rather than the night sky, he tucks his buttonhole

Comments

[wonderfulamazon]

"Oh, sir, surely you haven't! You seem quite good to me."

[lookingat_stars]

I assure you, I have. You see, happiness makes us good, and I have lost the thing which could have made me a happy man. *shrugs* So it follows that I have lost my hopes of goodness as well.

[an_adventuress]

I'm afraid I can't tell where this place is, but the company is pleasant enough.

[lookingat_stars]

Good, good. There is nothing better than charming company. -- But surely whoever owns the place would be able to speak as to its whereabouts. Are they at home this evening?

[an_adventuress]

No, there isn't an owner. It owns itself, or we own it.

[lookingat_stars]

How extraordinary. And the people simply . . . stay here?

[sweariwontdie]

Armand offers Darlington a bow. "Welcome, M. Darlington. I'm sure you'll find something here to inspire you to goodness."

[lookingat_stars]

"Oh, no," Darlington says with a rueful smile. "My inspiration has elected to remain a paragon of morality -- of a rather antiquated type, but morality all the same -- and so must pass out of my life forever."

[sweariwontdie]

"Surely you can find something new. No man stays exactly the same from day to day."

[lookingat_stars]

"No. But the heart is a stubborn thing. Enough so to make even a wicked man faithful, sometimes."

Typist: Misjournal? What misjournal?

[colored_gowns]

"Why, if you strive for good manners, I daresay you can hardly be entirely wicked. Might I bid you welcome, Mr Darlington?" Arabella offers a smile and a shallow curtsey.

[lookingat_stars]

"A common belief. I daresay the mistaken association of good manners with good morals is all that keeps me from being barred from London society forever. They allow me to say dreadful things so long as I say them in a charming way." He bows again. "Thank you. It is a pleasure to meet you, madam."

[colored_gowns]

"I will suggest to you in the strictest confidence, sir, that dreadful things said charmingly are rarely so awful as proper things told in a boring way."

[lookingat_stars]

He smiles. "True. Very true. -- If I may ask, madam, what is your name? If anyone asks if I have met any particularly charming people lately, I should like to know what name I should give them."