Gwendolen and her mother Lady Bracknell come to call, and Jack proposes to Gwendolen ("Perfection"). She joyously accepts, but Jack is worried that Gwendolen seems to love him largely for his name, Ernest, which she thinks the most beautiful name in the world. In addition, Gwendolen's mother, the terrifying Lady Bracknell, does not approve of Ernest and is further horrified to learn that he was adopted as a baby after being discovered in a handbag at a railway station ("A Handbag is not a Proper Mother"). She advises him to find one or both parents before the season is out. Meanwhile, Jack's description of his pretty ward Cecily has so appealed to Algernon that he resolves to meet her, in spite of Jack's firm opposition.