Oscar Wilde: Art and Morality Part 11

"I was not surprised either. Then he asked me.... (77)

27 his three bankruptcies were entirely due to the poet, whom he insisted on calling 'The Bard.' (78)

29 You won't be able to refuse to recognize her genius. (81)

"You don't mean to say that Basil has got any pa.s.sion or any romance in him?"

"I don't know whether he has any pa.s.sion, but he certainly has romance,"

said Lord Henry, with an amused look in his eyes. "Has he never let you know that?"

"Never. I must ask him about it. I am rather surprised to hear it. He is the best of fellows, but he seems to me.... (82)

CHAPTER IV. (VI).

32 Hallward turned perfectly pale, and a curious look flashed for a moment into his eyes, and then pa.s.sed away, leaving them dull. "Dorian engaged to be married!" he cried. "Impossible!" (107)

33 If a personality fascinates me, whatever the personality chooses to do is absolutely delightful to me. (109)

CHAPTER VI. (VIII).

44 we live in age when only unnecessary things are absolutely necessary to us; (138)

48 all the terrible beauty of a great tragedy....(148)

49 I had buried my romance in a bed of poppies. (150)

49 absolutely true, and it explains everything." (152)

50 "But suppose, Harry I became haggard, and gray, and wrinkled?" What then?" (153)

CHAPTER VII. (IX).

54 Hallward felt strangely moved. Rugged and straightforward as he was, there was something in his nature that was purely feminine in its tenderness. The lad was infinitely dear to him....

56 "Let us sit down, Dorian," said Hallward, looking pale and pained.

"Let us sit down. I will sit in the shadow, and you shall sit in the sunlight. Our lives are like that. Just answer me one question."....

(169)

56, 57 "I see you did. Don't speak. Wait till you hear what I have to say. It is quite true that I have wors.h.i.+pped you with far more romance of feeling than a man usually gives to a friend. Somehow, I had never loved a woman. I suppose I never had time. Perhaps, as Harry says, a really '_grande pa.s.sion_' is the privilege of those who have nothing to do, and that is the use of the idle cla.s.ses in a country. Well, from the moment I met you, your personality had the most extraordinary influence over me. I quite admit that I adored you madly, extravagantly, absurdly.

I was jealous of every one to whom you spoke. I wanted to have you all to myself. I was only happy when I was with you. When I was away from you, you were still present in my art. It was all wrong and foolish. It is all wrong and foolish.... I did not understand it myself.... It was to have been my masterpiece. It is my masterpiece.... But, as I worked at it, ... (169, 170)

57 "Did you really see it?"

"Of course I did." (172)

58 And now good-by, Dorian. You have been the one person in my life of whom I have been really fond. I don't suppose I shall often see you again. You don't know what it cost me to tell you all that I have told you."(172)

58 But you mustn't talk about not meeting me again, or anything of that kind. You and I are friends, Basil (173)

CHAPTER VIII (X).

59 Mrs. Leaf, a dear old lady in a black silk dress, with a photograph of the late Mr. Leaf framed in a large gold brooch at her neck, and old-fas.h.i.+oned thread mittens on her wrinkled hands, bustled into the room.

"Well, Master Dorian," she said, "what can I do for you? I beg your pardon, sir,"--here came a courtsey,--"I shouldn't call you Master Dorian, any more. But, Lord bless you, sir, I have known you since you were a baby, and many's the tricks you've played on poor old Leaf. Not that you were not always a good boy, sir; but boys will be boys, Master Dorian, and jam is a temptation to the young, isn't it, sir?"

He laughed. "You must always call me Master Dorian, Leaf. I will be very angry with you if you don't. And I a.s.sure you I am quite as fond of jam now as I used to be. Only when I am asked out to tea I am never offered any. I want you to give me the key of the room at the top of the house."

(175)

59 He winced at the mention of his dead uncle's name.... "That does not matter, Leaf," he replied, "All I want is the key."(176)

59 "No, Leaf, I don't. I merely want to see the place, and perhaps store something in it,--that is all. Thank you, Leaf. I hope your rheumatism is better; and mind you send me up jam for breakfast."

Mrs. Leaf shook her head. "Them foreigners doesn't understand jam, Master Dorian. They call's it 'compot'. But I'll bring it to you myself some morning, if you lets me."

"That will be very kind of you, Leaf, he answered, looking at the key; and, having made him an elaborate courtsey, the old lady left the room, her face wreathed in smiles. She had a strong objection to the French valet. It was a poor thing, she felt, for any one to be born a foreigner.

As the door closed, etc. (176)

60 Mr. Ashton, himself, the celebrated frame-maker. (179)

61 "A terrible load to carry," murmured Dorian, (180).

61 built by the last Lord Sherard for the use of the little nephew whom, being himself childless, and perhaps for other reasons, etc. (181)

64 the French school of _Decadents_. (186).

64 "Ah, if you have discovered that, you have discovered a great deal,"

murmured Lord Henry, with his curious smile. "Come, let us go in to dinner. It is dreadfully late, and I am afraid the champagne will be too much iced." (188).

CHAPTER X (XII.)

65 no less than five large-paper copies of the first edition, (189).

65 The boyish beauty that had so fascinated Basil Hallward, (190)

65 an age that was at once sordid and sensuous. (190)

66 That curiosity about life that, many years before, Lord Henry had first stirred in him, (190, 191)

67 driving the anchorite out to herd with the wild animals.... (194)

68 the half-read book that we had been studying, (195)

68 re-fas.h.i.+oned anew for our pleasure in the darkness, (196)

74 the smoking-room of the Carlton,

74 Of all his friends, or so-called friends, Lord Henry Wotton was the only one who remained loyal to him. (211)