Introduction -- The real Mrs Erlynne -- The precocious Miss Elgee -- Taming Speranza -- Lost sisters and an earlier libel trial -- The sweetest years -- Tea and beauties -- How different an actress is! -- The paradise for women -- The revolutionary and the duchess -- Speranza's Saturdays -- Married life -- Entering the woman's world -- Stories for girls -- In the footsteps of Ouida -- The perfect Salome -- Deadly serious social comedies -- A less than ideal husband -- The wittiest women in the world -- Death must be so beautiful -- Not much to laugh about -- The world rings with his infamy -- Epilogue: a Wilde legacy.