 Gwendolen and her formidable mother Lady Bracknell now call on Algernon who <unk> Lady Bracknell in another room while Jack proposes to Gwendolen . She accepts , but seems to love him very largely for his professed name of Ernest . Jack accordingly resolves to himself to be <unk> " Ernest " . <unk> them in this intimate exchange , Lady Bracknell interviews Jack as a prospective <unk> . <unk> to learn that he was adopted after being discovered as a baby in a handbag at Victoria Station , she refuses him and forbids further contact with her daughter . Gwendolen , though , manages covertly to promise to him her <unk> love . As Jack gives her his address in the country , Algernon <unk> notes it on the cuff of his sleeve : Jack 's revelation of his pretty and wealthy young ward has motivated his friend to meet her . 
