[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

into the light and came close to him with stealthy footsteps.
hasn’t changed much since then. I have, though,” she added,
He felt a hand laid on his arm and looked round with a start.
with a sickly leer.
It was one of the women who had been drinking at the bar.
“You swear this?”
“Why didn’t you kill him?” she hissed out, putting hag-
“I swear it,” came in hoarse echo from her flat mouth.
gard face quite close to his. “I knew you were following him
“But don’t give me away to him,” she whined; “I am afraid
when you rushed out from Daly’s. You fool! You should have
of him. Let me have some money for my night’s lodging.”
killed him. He has lots of money, and he’s as bad as bad.”
He broke from her with an oath and rushed to the corner
“He is not the man I am looking for,” he answered, “and I
of the street, but Dorian Gray had disappeared. When he
169
The Picture of Dorian Gray
looked back, the woman had vanished also.
CHAPTER 17
A WEEK LATER Dorian Gray was sitting in the conservatory at
Selby Royal, talking to the pretty Duchess of Monmouth,
who with her husband, a jaded-looking man of sixty, was
amongst his guests. It was tea-time, and the mellow light of
the huge, lace-covered lamp that stood on the table lit up
the delicate china and hammered silver of the service at which
the duchess was presiding. Her white hands were moving
daintily among the cups, and her full red lips were smiling at
something that Dorian had whispered to her. Lord Henry
was lying back in a silk-draped wicker chair, looking at them.
On a peach-coloured divan sat Lady Narborough, pretend-
ing to listen to the duke’s description of the last Brazilian
beetle that he had added to his collection. Three young men
in elaborate smoking-suits were handing tea-cakes to some
of the women. The house-party consisted of twelve people,
and there were more expected to arrive on the next day.
“What are you two talking about?” said Lord Henry, stroll-
ing over to the table and putting his cup down. “I hope
170
Oscar Wilde
Dorian has told you about my plan for rechristening every-
“I recognize him in a flash,” exclaimed the duchess.
thing, Gladys. It is a delightful idea.”
“I won’t hear of it,” laughed Lord Henry, sinking into a
“But I don’t want to be rechristened, Harry,” rejoined the
chair. “From a label there is no escape! I refuse the title.”
duchess, looking up at him with her wonderful eyes. “I am
“Royalties may not abdicate,” fell as a warning from pretty lips.
quite satisfied with my own name, and I am sure Mr. Gray
“You wish me to defend my throne, then?”
should be satisfied with his.”
“Yes.”
“My dear Gladys, I would not alter either name for the
“I give the truths of to-morrow.”
world. They are both perfect. I was thinking chiefly of flow-
“I prefer the mistakes of to-day,” she answered.
ers. Yesterday I cut an orchid, for my button-hole. It was a
“You disarm me, Gladys,” he cried, catching the wilful-
marvellous spotted thing, as effective as the seven deadly sins.
ness of her mood.
In a thoughtless moment I asked one of the gardeners what
“Of your shield, Harry, not of your spear.”
it was called. He told me it was a fine specimen of
“I never tilt against beauty,” he said, with a wave of his
Robinsoniana, or something dreadful of that kind. It is a sad
hand.
truth, but we have lost the faculty of giving lovely names to
“That is your error, Harry, believe me. You value beauty
things. Names are everything. I never quarrel with actions.
far too much.”
My one quarrel is with words. That is the reason I hate vul-
“How can you say that? I admit that I think that it is better
gar realism in literature. The man who could call a spade a
to be beautiful than to be good. But on the other hand, no
spade should be compelled to use one. It is the only thing he
one is more ready than I am to acknowledge that it is better
is fit for.”
to be good than to be ugly.”
“Then what should we call you, Harry?” she asked.
“Ugliness is one of the seven deadly sins, then?” cried the
“His name is Prince Paradox,” said Dorian.
duchess. “What becomes of your simile about the orchid?”
171
The Picture of Dorian Gray
“Ugliness is one of the seven deadly virtues, Gladys. You,
“Still, we have done great things.”
as a good Tory, must not underrate them. Beer, the Bible,
“Great things have been thrust on us, Gladys.”
and the seven deadly virtues have made our England what
“We have carried their burden.”
she is.”
“Only as far as the Stock Exchange.”
“You don’t like your country, then?” she asked.
She shook her head. “I believe in the race,” she cried.
“I live in it.”
“It represents the survival of the pushing.”
“That you may censure it the better.”
“It has development.”
“Would you have me take the verdict of Europe on it?” he
“Decay fascinates me more.”
inquired.
“What of art?” she asked.
“What do they say of us?”
“It is a malady.”
“That Tartuffe has emigrated to England and opened a
“Love?”
shop.”
“An illusion.”
“Is that yours, Harry?”
“Religion?”
“I give it to you.”
“The fashionable substitute for belief.”
“I could not use it. It is too true.” [ Pobierz caÅ‚ość w formacie PDF ]