Cer 3

    At  t day Lord ton strolled from Curzon Street over to to call on  rougside icular benefit from   ired from tic service in a capricious moment of annoyance on not being offered t Paris, a post to led by reason of ce passion for pleasure. tary,  foolis at time, and on succeeding some monter to title,  o tudy of t aristocratic art of doing absolutely notoo live in c rouble, and took most of  tention to t of ies, excusing aint of industry on t tage of  it enabled a gentleman to afford tics ory, except o most of ions, ry o t of date, but to be said for his prejudices.

    ered tting in a rouging-coat, smoking a c and grumbling over times. quot;ell, ; said tleman, quot; so early? I t you dandies never got up till t visible till five.quot;

    quot;Pure family affection, I assure you, Uncle George. I  to get somet of you.quot;

    quot;Money, I suppose,quot; said Lord Fermor, making a ;ell, sit doell me all about it. Young people, no money is everyt;

    quot;Yes,quot; murmured Lord tling ton-; quot;and  I dont  money. It is only people , Uncle George, and I never pay mine. Credit is tal of a younger son, and one lives c. Besides, I almoors tradesmen, and consequently t I  is information: not useful information, of course; useless information.quot;

    quot;ell, I can tell you anyt is in an Englise a lot of nonsense. ic, tter. But I  tion.  can you expect? Examinations, sir, are pure o end. If a man is a gentleman, e enoug a gentleman, wever ;

    quot;Mr. Dorian Gray does not belong to Blue Books, Uncle George,quot; said Lord henry languidly.

    quot;Mr. Dorian Gray? ; asked Lord Fermor, knitting e eyebrows.

    quot;t is  Lord Kelsos grandson.  Devereaux. I  you to tell me about  ed in Mr. Gray at present. I  met ;

    quot;Kelsos grandson!quot; ecleman. quot;Kelsos grandson! ... Of course.... I kneely. I believe I  ening. Sraordinarily beautiful girl, Margaret Devereux, and made all tic by running aern in a foot regiment, or somet kind. Certainly. I remember t erday. t Spa a feer tory about it. t some rascally adventurer, some Belgian brute, to insult o do it, paid  tted , egad, Kelso ate  time afterold, and so  oo, died  a son, did sten t.  sort of boy is  be a good-looking c;

    quot;; assented Lord henry.

    quot;I o proper ; continued t; of money ing for  too. All ty came to ed Kelso, t oo. Came to Madrid once  t te a story of it. I didnt dare s Court for a montreated ter t;

    quot;I dont kno; ans t of age yet. old me so. And . . . iful?quot;

    quot;Margaret Devereux  creatures I ever sao beand. Son er ic, t family , but, egad! ton  on o old me so   a girl in London at time er alking about silly marriages, ells me about Dartmoor ing to marry an American? Aint Englis;

    quot;It is rato marry Americans just no;

    quot;Ill back Englis t; said Lord Fermor, striking table .

    quot;tting is on t;

    quot;t last, I am told,quot; muttered his uncle.

    quot;A long engagement exs t tal at a steeplecake t tmoor ;

    quot;; grumbled tleman. quot; any?quot;

    Lord ;American girls are as clever at concealing ts, as Englis concealing t,quot; o go.

    quot;t;

    quot;I moors sake. I am told t pork-packing is t lucrative profession in America, after politics.quot;

    quot;Is sty?quot;

    quot;Siful. Most American  is t of t;

    quot; tay in try? telling us t it is t;

    quot;It is. t is to get out of it,quot; said Lord ;Good-bye, Uncle George. I se for luncop any longer. tion I ed. I alo kno my ne my old ones.quot;

    quot;;

    quot;At Aunt Agatest protégée.quot;

    quot;ell your Aunt Agat to boty appeals. I am sick of t I o do but to e c;

    quot;All rigell  it  . Py. It is tinguiseristic.quot;

    tleman gro. Lord o Burlington Street and turned eps in tion of Berkeley Square.

    So t ory of Dorian Grays parentage. Crudely as it old to   stirred s suggestion of a strange, almost modern romance. A beautiful  s by a reacc to solitude and tyranny of an old and loveless man. Yes; it eresting background. It posed t, as it  existed, tragic. orlds o be in travail, t t flo before, as artled eyes and lips parted in frig opposite to  taining to a ricalking to e violin. o every toucerribly entivity . to project ones soul into some gracious form, and let it tarry t; to ellectual vieo convey ones temperament into anot le fluid or a strange perfume: t--per satisfying joy left to us in an age so limited and vulgar as our os pleasures, and grossly common in its aims.... ype, too, t in Basils studio, or could be faso a marvellous type, at any rate. Grace y of boyy suc for us. t one could not do itan or a toy.  a pity it  sucy ined to fade! . . . And Basil? From a psyc of vieing , t life, suggested so strangely by t all; t spirit t d in dim o  terns of some ot form  all  not Plato, t artist in t, ? as it not Buonarotti -sequence? But in our oury it range. . . . Yes; ry to be to Dorian Gray  kno, to ter . o dominate   ing in th.

    Suddenly opped and glanced up at t s some distance, and, smiling to urned back. ered t sombre ler told  to luncmen  and stick and passed into the dining-room.

    quot;Late as usual, ; cried , s him.

    ed a facile excuse, and aken t seat next to o see o e ure and good temper, mucectural proportions t in outness. Next to , on , Sir t,  cooks, dining ories and t on  readley, an old gentleman of considerable cure,  o say before y. s oldest friends, a perfect saint amongst  so dreadfully do sunately for  intelligent middle-aged mediocrity, as bald as a ministerial statement in t intensely earnest manner o, and from we escape.

    quot;e are talking about poor Dartmoor, Lord ; cried tly to able. quot;Do you ting young person?quot;

    quot;I believe so propose to ;

    quot;; exclaimed Lady Agat;Really, some one serfere.quot;

    quot;I am told, on excellent auty, t ore,quot; said Sir thomas Burdon, looking supercilious.

    quot;My uncle ed pork-packing Sir t;

    quot;Dry-goods!  are American dry-goods?quot; asked tuating the verb.

    quot;American novels,quot; answered Lord o some quail.

    the duchess looked puzzled.

    quot;Dont mind ; w; ;

    quot;; said to give some s. Like all people o ex a subject, ed eners. terruption. quot;I  never  all!quot; s;Really, our girls  is most unfair.quot;

    quot;Perer all, America never ; said Mr. Erskine; quot;I myself  it ected.quot;

    quot;O I ants,quot; ans;I must confess t most of tremely pretty. And too. t all to do t;

    quot;t ; c-off clothes.

    quot;Really! And he duchess.

    quot;to America,quot; murmured Lord henry.

    Sir t;I am afraid t your nep t great country,quot; o Lady Agat;I ravelled all over it in cars provided by tors, remely civil. I assure you t it is an education to visit it.quot;

    quot;But must ed?quot; asked Mr. Erskine plaintively. quot;I dont feel up to t;

    Sir t;Mr. Erskine of treadley ical men like to see t to read about tremely interesting people. tely reasonable. I t is tinguiseristic. Yes, Mr. Erskine, an absolutely reasonable people. I assure you t t;

    quot;; cried Lord ;I can stand brute force, but brute reason is quite unbearable. t its use. It is ting beloellect.quot;

    quot;I do not understand you,quot; said Sir ther red.

    quot;I do, Lord ; murmured Mr. Erskine, h a smile.

    quot;Paradoxes are all very ; rejoined t.

    quot;as t a paradox?quot; asked Mr. Erskine. quot;I did not t ruto test reality  see it on tigies become acrobats, ;

    quot;Dear me!quot; said Lady Agat; alking about. Oe vexed ry to persuade our nice Mr. Dorian Gray to give up t End? I assure you e invaluable. t;

    quot;I  o play to me,quot; cried Lord able and caug answering glance.

    quot;But tec; continued Lady Agatha.

    quot;I can sympat suffering,quot; said Lord ;I cannot sympat. It is too ugly, too oo distressing. terribly morbid in ty, t lifes sores, tter.quot;

    quot;Still, t End is a very important problem,quot; remarked Sir the head.

    quot;Quite so,quot; ans;It is try to solve it by amusing t;

    tician looked at ; c; he asked.

    Lord ;I dont desire to c t; ;I am quite content emplation. But, as teentury  ture of sympat t o put us straigage of tions is t tray, and tage of science is t it is not emotional.quot;

    quot;But ; ventured Mrs. Vandeleur timidly.

    quot;terribly grave,quot; echa.

    Lord  Mr. Erskine. quot;y takes itself too seriously. It is to laugory ;

    quot;You are really very comforting,quot; ;I  raty , for I take no interest at all in t End. For ture I so look  a blus;

    quot;A blus; remarked Lord henry.

    quot;Only ;

    for a moment. quot;Can you remember any great error t you committed in your early days, Duc;  able.

    quot;A great many, I fear,quot; she cried.

    quot;t t; ;to get back ones youto repeat ones follies.quot;

    quot;A delig; s;I must put it into practice.quot;

    quot;A dangerous t; came from Sir tig could not ened.

    quot;Yes,quot; inued, quot;t is one of t secrets of life. No people die of a sort of creeping common sense, and discover oo late t ts are ones mistakes.quot;

    A laugable.

    ossed it into transformed it; let it escape and recaptured it; made it iridescent   on, soared into a pc fancy, ained robe and e over ts fled before ened forest te feet trod t ill ts black, dripping, sloping sides. It raordinary improvisation.  t t amongst emperament o fascinate seemed to give  keenness and to lend colour to ion. , fantastic, irresponsible. eners out of took  sat like one under a spell, smiles cher over his lips and wonder growing grave in his darkening eyes.

    At last, liveried in tume of ty entered t to tell t ing. S;; s;I must go. I o call for my  to take o some absurd meeting at illiss Rooms, e o be furious, and I couldnt . It is far too fragile. A . No, I must go, dear Agate delig knoo say about your vie come and dine . tuesday? Are you disengaged tuesday?quot;

    quot;For you I ; said Lord h a bow.

    quot;A is very nice, and very ; s;so mind you comequot;; and s out of ther ladies.

    doaking a co him, placed his hand upon his arm.

    quot;You talk books a; ;e one?quot;

    quot;I am too fond of reading books to care to e to e a novel certainly, a novel t  and as unreal. But terary public in England for anyt ne sense of ty of literature.quot;

    quot;I fear you are rig; ans;I myself used to erary ambitions, but I gave to call you so, may I ask if you really meant all t you said to us at lunc;

    quot;I quite forget ; smiled Lord ;as it all very bad?quot;

    quot;Very bad indeed. In fact I consider you extremely dangerous, and if anyto our good duc I so talk to you about life. tion into o treadley and expound to me your punate enougo possess.quot;

    quot;I s to treadley  privilege. It  , and a perfect library.quot;

    quot;You e it,quot; ansleman eous bo;And no bid good-bye to your excellent aunt. I am due at t is t;

    quot;All of you, Mr. Erskine?quot;

    quot;Forty of us, in forty arm-cising for an Englisters.quot;

    Lord ;I am going to t; he cried.

    As  of touc;Let me come ; he murmured.

    quot;But I t you o go and see ; answered Lord henry.

    quot;I  come  me. And you o talk to me all time? No one talks so ;

    quot;Aalked quite enougo-day,quot; said Lord ;All I  noo look at life. You may come and look at it o.quot;