March 18, 2022 • 33 mins
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Chapter fourteen. At nine o'clock thenext morning, his servant came in with
a cup of chocolate on a trayand opened the shutters. Laurian was sleeping
quite peacefully, lying on his rightside, with one hand underneath his cheek.
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He looked like a boy who hadbeen tired out with play or study.
The man had to touch him twiceon the shoulder before he woke,
and as he opened his eyes,a faint smile passed across his lips,
as though he had been lost insome delightful dream. Yet he had not
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dreamed at all. His night hadbeen untroubled by any images of pleasure or
of pain. But youth smiles withoutany reason. It is one of its
chiefest charms. He turned round,and, leaning upon his elbow, began
to sip his chocolate. The mellowNovember sun came streaming into the room.
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The sky was bright, and therewas a genial warmth in the air.
It was almost like a morning inMay. Gradually, the events of the
preceding night crept with silent, bloodstained feet into his brain and reconstructed themselves
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there with terrible distinctness. He wincedat the memory of all that he had
suffered, and for a moment thesame curious feeling of loathing for Basil Hallward
that had made him kill him ashe sat in the chair came back to
him, and he grew cold withpassion. The dead man was still sitting
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there too, and in the sunlight. Now, how ripple that was.
Such hideous things were for the darkness, not for the day. He felt
that if he brooded on what hehad gone through, he would sicken or
grow mad. There were sins whosefascination was more in the memory than in
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the doing of them, strange triumphsthat gratified the pride more than the passions,
and gave to the intellect a quickenedsense of joy, greater than any
joy they brought, or could everbring to the senses. But this was
not one of them. It wasa thing to be driven out of the
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mind, to be drugged with poppies, to be strangled, lest it might
strangle one itself. When the halfhour struck, he passed his hand across
his forehead, and then got uphastily and dressed himself with even more than
his usual care, giving a greatdeal of attention to the choice of his
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necktie, and scarf pin and changinghis rings more than once. He spent
a long time also over breakfast,tasting the various dishes, talking to his
valet about some new liveries that hewas thinking of getting made for the servants
at Selby, and going through hiscorrespondence. At some of the letters,
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he smiled. Three of them boredhim. One he read several times over
and then tore up with a slightlook of annoyance in his face. That
awful thing a woman's murmury, asLord Henry had once said. After he
had drunk his cup of black coffee, he wiped his lips slowly with a
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napkin, motioned to his servant towait, going over to the table,
sat down and wrote two letters.One he put in his pocket, the
other he handed to the valley.Take this round to one fifty two Hartford
Street, Frances, and if misterCampbell is out of town, get his
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address. As soon as he wasalone, he lit a cigarette and began
sketching upon a piece of paper,drawing first flowers and bits of architecture,
and then human faces. Suddenly,he remarked that every face that he drew
seemed to have a fantastic likeness toBasil Hallward. He frowned, and getting
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up, went over to the bookcaseand took out a volume at Hazard.
He was determined that he would notthink about what had happened until it became
absolutely necessary that he should do so. When he had stretched himself on the
sofa, he looked at the titlepage of the book. It was Gootier's
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Immo Kami Charpontier's Japanese paper edition withthe Jacques mar etching. The binding was
of citron green leather with a designof gilt trellis work and dotted pomegranates.
It had been given to him byAdrian Singleton. As he turned over the
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pages, his eye fell on thepoem about the hand of Lassenaire, the
cold yellow hand decuplisse encur malavee,with its downy red hairs and its dois
de foun. He glanced at hisown white taper fingers, shuddering slightly in
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spite of himself, and passed ontill he came to those lovely stanzas upon
Venice Syene games cromatique, lu Saintdu per l louisselan la venue de latriatique,
sar del san car Rosee Blanc lesdomes s lazeure desande suive la france
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u pure comtur saint f la commedes gar churand cassu la van supire dambour
l'esquille vabarde in the depose Juten Saintami Roupilliers de vant in the facade Rose
sis le marpre de n Escaliers.How exquisite they were as one read them.
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One seems to be floating down thegreen waterways of the pink and pearl
city, seated in a black gondolawith silver prow and trailing curtains. The
mere lines looked to him like thosestraight lines of turquoise blue that follow one
as one pushes out to the lido. The sudden flashes of color reminded him
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of the gleam of the opal andiris throated birds that flutter round the tall
honey combed campanile or stalk with suchstately grace through the dim, dust stained
arcades. Leaning back with half closedeyes, he kept saying over and over
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to himself, devantinifasad rose sur lemarbour de Niscalier, the whole of Venice
was in those two lines. Heremembered the autumn that he had passed there,
and a wonderful love that had stirredhim to mad, delightful follies.
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There was romance in every place.Venice, like Oxford, had kept the
background for romance, and to thetrue romantic background was everything, for almost
everything. Basil had been with himpart of the time and had gone wild
over Tintoret. Poor Basil, Whata horrible way for a man to die,
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he sighed, and took up thevolume again and tried to forget.
He read of the swallows that flyin and out of the little cafe at
Smyrna, where the hodgies sit countingtheir amber beads, and the turbaned merchants
smoke their long tasseled pipes and talkgravely to each other. He read of
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the obelisk in the Place de laConcarde that weeps tears of granite in its
lonely, sunless exile, and longsto be back by the hot, toscovered
nile, where there are sphinxes androse red iyebisses, and white vultures with
gilded claws, and crocodiles with smallberyl eyes that crawl over the green steaming
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mud. He began to brood overthose verses which, drawing music from kiss
stained marble, tell of that curiousstatue that Gautier compares to a contralto voice,
the most charmar that couches in theporphiry room of the Louver. But
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after a time the book fell fromhis hand. He grew nervous, and
a horrible fit of terror came overhim. What if Alan Campbell should be
out of England, days would elapsebefore he could come back. Perhaps he
might refuse to come. What couldhe do? Then? Every moment was
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of vital importance. They had beengreat friends once five years before, almost
inseparable. Indeed, then the intimacyhad come suddenly to an end when they
met in society. Now it wasonly Dorian Gray who smiled. Allan Campbell
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never did. He was an extremelyclever young man, though he had no
real appreciation of the visible arts,and whatever little sense of the beauty of
poetry he possessed, he had gainedentirely from Dorian. His dominant intellectual passion
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was for science. At Cambridge,he had spent a great deal of his
time working in the laboratory, andhad taken a good class in the natural
science tripos of his year. Indeed, he was still devoted to the study
of chemistry, and had a laboratoryof his own, in which he used
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to shut himself up all day long, greatly to the annoyance of his mother,
who had set her heart on hisstanding for Parliament, and had a
vague idea that a chemist was aperson who made up prescriptions. He was
an excellent musician, however, aswell, and played both the violin and
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the piano better than most amateurs.In fact, it was music that had
first brought him and Dorian Gray together. Music and that indefinable attraction that Dorian
seemed to be able to exercise wheneverhe wished, and indeed exercised often without
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being conscious of it. They hadmet at Lady Barkshire's the night that Rubinstein
played there, and after that usedto be all a scene together at the
opera and wherever good music was goingon. For eighteen months. Their intimacy
lasted. Campbell was always either atSelby Royal or in Grosvenor Square. To
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him, as to many others,Dorian Gray was the type of everything that
is wonderful and fascinating in life.Whether or not a quarrel had taken place
between them, no one ever knew. But suddenly people remarked that they scarcely
spoke when they met, and atCampbell seemed always to go away early from
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any party at which Dorian Gray waspresent. He had changed, too,
was strangely melancholy at times, appearedalmost to dislike hearing music, and would
never himself play, giving us hisexcuse when he was called upon. He
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was so absorbed in science that hehad no time left in which to practice,
and this was certainly true. Everyday he seemed to become more interested
in biology, and his name appearedonce or twice in some of the scientific
reviews in connection with certain curious experiments. This was the man Dorrian Gray was
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waiting for. Every second, hekept glancing at the clock. As the
minutes went by, he became horriblyagitated. At last, he got up
and began to pace up and downthe room, looking like a beautiful caged
thing. He took long, stealthystrides. His hands were curiously cold.
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The suspense became unbearable. Time seemsto him to be crawling with feet of
lead while he by monstrous winds wasbeing swept towards the jagged edge of some
black cleft or precipice. He knewwhat was waiting for him there saw it,
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indeed, and shuddering, crushed withdank hands his burning lids, as
though he would have robbed the verybrain of sight and driven the eyeballs back
into their cave. It was useless. The brain had its own food on
which it battened, and the imaginationmade grotesque by terror, twist it and
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distort it as a living thing bypain. Danced like some foul puppet on
a stand, and grinned through movingmasks. Then suddenly time stopped for him.
Yes, that blind, slew breathingthing crawled no more, and horrible
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thoughts. Time being dead, racednimbly on in front, and dragged a
hideous future from its grave and showedit to him. He stared at it.
Its very horror made him stone.At last the door opened and his
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servant entered. He turned glazed eyesupon him, mister Crampbell, Sir,
said the man. A sigh ofrelief broke from his parched lips, and
the color came back to his cheeks. Asked him to come in at once,
Francis, He felt that he washimself again. His mood of cowardice
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had passed away. The man bowedand retired. In a few moments,
Alan Campbell walked in, looking verystern and rather pale, his pallor being
intensified by his coal black hair anddark eyebrows. Allan, this is kind
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of you. I thank you forcoming. I had intended never to enter
your house again, Dre. Butyou said it was a matter of life
and death. His voice was hardand cold. He spoke with slow deliberation.
There was a look of contempt inthe steady, searching gaze that he
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turned on Dorian. He kept hishands in the pockets of his astrohan coat
and seemed not to have noticed thegesture with which he had been greeted.
Yes, it is a matter oflife and death. Allan, and a
more than one person sit down.Campbell took a chair by the table,
and Dorian sat opposite to him.The two men's eyes met in door Rians
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there was infinite pity. He knewthat what he was going to do was
dreadful. After a strained moment ofsilence, he leaned across and said,
very quietly, but watching the effectof each word upon the face of him.
He had sent for Alan. Ina locked room at the top of
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his house, a room to whichnobody but myself has access, a dead
man is seated at a table.He's been dead ten hours now. Don't
stir and don't look at me likethat. Who the man is, why
he died, how he died,and matters that do not concern you.
What you have to do is thisstop Gray. I don't want to know
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anything further. Whether what you havetold me is true or not true doesn't
concern me. I entirely decline tobe mixed up in your life. Keep
your horrible secrets to yourself. Theydon't interest me any more, Allan.
They will have to interest you.This one will have to interest you.
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I am awfully sorry for you,Allan, but I can't help myself.
You are the one man who isable to save me. I am forced
to bring you into the matter.I have no option, Allan. You
are scientific, You know about chemistryand things of that kind. You have
made experiments. What you have gotto do is to destroy the thing that
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is upstairs, to destroy it sothat not a vestige of it will be
left. Nobody saw this person comeinto the house. Indeed, at the
present moment he is supposed to bein Paris. He will not be missed
for months. When he is missed, there must be no trace of him
found here. You allan, youmust change him and everything that belongs to
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him into a handful of ashes thatI may scatter in the air. You
are mad, Dorian, Ah,I was waiting for you to call me,
Dorrian. You are mad. Itell you mad, to imagine that
I would raise a finger to helpyou, mad to make this monstrous confession.
I will have nothing to do withthis matter, whatever it is.
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Do you think I am going toperil my reputation for you? What is
it to me? What devil's workyou're up to? It was suicide,
Allen, I am glad of that. But who drove him to it?
You? I should fancy. Doyou still refuse to do this for me?
Of course I refuse. I willhave absolutely nothing to do with it.
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I don't care what shame comes fromyou. You deserve it all.
I should not be sorry to seeyou disgraced, publicly disgraced. How dare
you ask me? Of all menin the world to mix myself up in
this horror. I should have thoughtin you more about people's characters. Your
friend, Lord Henry Whotton, can'thave taught you much about psychology. Whatever
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else he has taught you, nothingwill induce me to stir a step to
help you. You have come tothe wrong man. Go to some of
your friends. Don't come to me. Alan. It was murder. I
killed him. You don't know whathe had made me suffer. Whatever my
life is. He had more todo with the making and marry of it
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than poor Harry has had. Hemay not have intended it, the result
was the same murder. Good God, Dorian, is that what you have
come to? I shall not informupon you. It is not my business.
Besides, without my stirring in thematter, you are certain to be
arrested. Nobody ever commits a crimewithout doing something stupid. But I will
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have nothing to do with it.You must have something to do with it.
Wait, wait a moment. Listento me, only listen allan.
All I ask of you is toperform a certain scientific each periment you go
to hospital and dead houses, andthe horrors that you do there don't affect
you. If in some hideous dissectingroom or fettered laboratory. You found this
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man lye on a leaden table withred gutters scooped out in it for the
blood to flow through, you wouldsimply look upon him as an admirable subject.
You would not turn a hair.You would not believe that you are
doing anything wrong. On the contrary, you would probably feel you are benefiting
the human race, or increasing thesum of knowledge in the world, or
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gratifying intellectual curiosity, or something ofthat kind. What I want you to
do is merely what you have oftendone before. Indeed, to destroy a
body must be far less horrible thanwhat you are accustomed to work at.
And remember it is the only pieceof evidence against me. If it is
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discovered. I am lost, andit is sure to be discovered unless you
help me. I have no desireto help you. You forget that I
am simply indifferent to the whole thing. Its nothing to do with me.
Alan, I entreat you. Thinkof the position I'm in. Just before
you came, I almost fainted withterror. You may not terry yourself some
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day, No, don't think ofthat. Look at the matter purely from
the scientific point of view. Youdon't inquire where the dead things on which
you experiment come from. Don't inquirenow. I've told you too much as
it is, But I beg ofyou to do this. We were friends
once, Allan. Don't speak aboutthose days, Dorian. They are dead
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the dead linger. Sometimes the manupstairs will not go away. He is
sitting at the table with bowed headand outstretched arms. Alan, Alan,
if you don't come to my assistance, I am ruined. Why they will
hang me? Alan, don't youunderstand they will hang me for what I've
done. There is no good inprolonging this scene. I absolutely refuse to
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do anything in a matter. Itis insane. If you to ask me
you refuse. Yes, I entreatyou, Alan, it is useless.
The same look of pity came intoDorrian Gray's eyes. Then he stretched out
his hand, took a piece ofpaper and wrote something on it. He
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read it over twice, folded itcarefully, and pushed it across the table.
Having done this, he got upand went over to the window.
Campbell looked at him in surprise,and then took up the paper and opened
it. As he read it,his face became ghastly, pale and he
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fell back in his chair. Ahorrible sense of sickness came over him.
He felt as if his heart wasbeating itself to death in some empty hollow.
After two or three minutes of terriblesilence, Dorian turned round and came
and stood behind him, putting hishand upon his shoulder. I am so
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sorry for you, Allan, hemurmured. Do you leave me no alternative?
I have a letter written already hereit is you see the address.
If you don't help me, Imust send it. If you don't help
me, I will send it.You know what the result will be.
But you are going to help me. It is impossible for you to refuse
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now. I tried to spare you. You will do me the justice to
admit that you are stern, harshoffensive. You treated me as no man
has ever dared to treat me,no living man at any rate. I
bore it all. Now it istime for me to dictate terms. Campbell
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buried his face in his hands,and a shudder passed through him. Yes,
it is my turn to dictate terms, Allan. You know what they
are. The thing is quite simple. Come, don't work yourself into this
fever. The thing has to bedone, face it and do it.
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A groan broke from Campbell's lips,and he shivered all over. The ticking
of the clock on the mantelpiece seemsto him to be dividing time into separate
atoms of agony, each of whichwas too terrible to be borne. He
felt as if an iron ring wasbeing slowly tightened round his forehead, as
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if the disgrace with which he wasthreatened had already come upon him. The
hand upon his shoulder weighed like ahand of lead. It was intolerable.
It seemed to crush him. Come, Allan, you must decide at once.
I cannot do it, he saidmechanically, as though words could alter
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things. You must, you haveno choice. Don't delay, He hesitated
a moment. Is there a firein the room upstairs? Yes, there
is a gas fire with ashbistess.I shall have to go home and get
some things from the laboratory. No, Allan, you must not leave the
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house. Right out on a sheetof notepaper, what you want, and
my servant will take a cab andbring the things back to you. Campbell
scrawled a few lines, blotted them, and addressed an envelope to his assistant.
Dorian took the note up and readit carefully. Then he rang the
bell and gave it to his valet, with orders to return as soon as
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possible and to bring the things withhim. As the hall door shut,
Campbell started nervously, and, havinggot up from the chair, went over
to the chimney piece. He wasshivering with a kind of ague. For
nearly twenty minutes, neither of themen spoke. A fly buzzed noisily about
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the room, and the ticking ofthe clock was like the beat of a
hammer. As the chime struck one, Campbell turned round and, looking at
Dorian, Gray saw that his eyeswere filled with tears. There was something
in the purity and refinement of thatsad face that seemed to enrage him.
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You are infamous, absolutely infamous,he muttered. Hush, Allan, you
have saved my life, said Dorian, your life, good, heavens,
what a life that is. Youhave gone from corruption to corruption, and
now you have culminated in crime.In doing what I am going to do,
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what you force me to do.It is not of your life that
I'm thinking, ah Alan, murmuredDorian with a sigh. I wish you
had a thousandth part of the pityfor me that I have for you.
He turned away as he spoke andstood looking out at the garden. Campbell
made no answer. After about tenminutes, a knock came to the door,
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and the servant entered, carrying alarge mahogany chest of chemicals with a
long coil of steel and platinum wireand two rather curiously shaped iron clamps.
Shall I leave the things here,sir? He asked Campbell. Yes,
said Dorian. And I'm afraid,Francis, that I have another errand for
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you. What is the name ofthe man at Richmond who supplies Silby with
orchards? Harm sir, Yes,Hardened, you must go down to Richmond
at once see Hardened personally, andin descend twice as many orchards as I
ordered, and to have as fewwhite ones as possible. In fact,
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I don't want any white ones.It is a lovely day, Francis,
and Richmond is a very pretty place, otherwise I wouldn't bother you about it,
notable, sir, At what timeshall I be back? Dorrian looked
at Campbell. How long would yourexperiment take? Ellen? He said,
in a calm indifferent voice. Thepresence of a third person in the room
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seems to give him extraordinary courage.Campbell frowned and bit his lip. It
will take about five hours, heanswered. It will be time enough.
Then if you are back at halfpast seven, Francis or stay, just
leave my things out for dressing.You can have the evening to yourself.
I am not downing at home,so I shall not want you. Thank
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you, sir, said the manleaving the room. Now, Ellen,
there is not a moment to belost. How Harry, this chest is,
I'll take it for you. Youbring the other things. He spoke
rapidly and in an authoritative manner.Campbell felt dominated by him. They left
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the room together. When they reachedthe top landing, Dorian took out the
key and turned it in the lock. Then he stopped and a troubled look
came into his eyes. He shuddered. I don't think I can go in
Allan, he murmured, it isnothing to me. I don't require you,
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said Campbell coldly. Loriian half openedthe door. As he did so,
he saw the face of his portraitleering in the sunlight. On the
floor in front of it. Thetorn curtain was lying. He remembered that
the night before he had forgotten,for the first time in his life,
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to hide the face etal canvas,and was about to rush forward when he
drew back with a shudder. Whatwas that loathsome red dew that gleamed,
wet and glistening on one of thehands, as though the canvas had sweated
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blood. How horrible it was.More horrible, it seemed to him for
the moment than the silent thing thathe knew was stretched across the table,
the thing whose grotesque, misshapen shadowon the spotted carpet showed him that it
had not stirred, but was stillthere as he had left it. He
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heaved a deep breath, opened thedoor a little wider, and with half
closed eyes and averted head, walkedquickly in, determined that he would not
look even once upon the dead man, and stooping down and taking up the
gold and purple hanging, he flungit right over the picture. There he
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stopped, feeling afraid to turn round, and his eyes fixed themselves on the
intricacies of the pattern before him.He heard Campbell bringing in the heavy chest
and the irons and the other thingsthat he had required for his dreadful work.
He began to wonder if he andBasil Hallward had ever met, and
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if so, what they had thoughtof each other. Leafna, said a
stern voice behind him. He turnedand hurried out, just conscious that the
dead man had been thrust back intothe chair and that Campbell was gazing into
a glistening yellow face. As hewas going downstairs, he heard the key
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being turned in the lock. Itwas long after seven when Campbell came back
into the library. He was pale, but absolutely calm. I have done
what you asked me to do,he muttered, and now goodbye. Let
us never see each other again.You have saved me from ruin, Allen.
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I cannot forget that, said Doriansimply. As soon as Campbell had
left, he went upstairs. Therewas a horrible smell of nitric acid in
the room, but the thing thathad been sitting at the table was gone.
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End of Chapter fourteen.
Chapter fourteen. At nine o'clock thenext morning, his servant came in with
a cup of chocolate on a trayand opened the shutters. Laurian was sleeping
quite peacefully, lying on his rightside, with one hand underneath his cheek.
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He looked like a boy who hadbeen tired out with play or study.
The man had to touch him twiceon the shoulder before he woke,
and as he opened his eyes,a faint smile passed across his lips,
as though he had been lost insome delightful dream. Yet he had not
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dreamed at all. His night hadbeen untroubled by any images of pleasure or
of pain. But youth smiles withoutany reason. It is one of its
chiefest charms. He turned round,and, leaning upon his elbow, began
to sip his chocolate. The mellowNovember sun came streaming into the room.
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The sky was bright, and therewas a genial warmth in the air.
It was almost like a morning inMay. Gradually, the events of the
preceding night crept with silent, bloodstained feet into his brain and reconstructed themselves
(01:30):
there with terrible distinctness. He wincedat the memory of all that he had
suffered, and for a moment thesame curious feeling of loathing for Basil Hallward
that had made him kill him ashe sat in the chair came back to
him, and he grew cold withpassion. The dead man was still sitting
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there too, and in the sunlight. Now, how ripple that was.
Such hideous things were for the darkness, not for the day. He felt
that if he brooded on what hehad gone through, he would sicken or
grow mad. There were sins whosefascination was more in the memory than in
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the doing of them, strange triumphsthat gratified the pride more than the passions,
and gave to the intellect a quickenedsense of joy, greater than any
joy they brought, or could everbring to the senses. But this was
not one of them. It wasa thing to be driven out of the
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mind, to be drugged with poppies, to be strangled, lest it might
strangle one itself. When the halfhour struck, he passed his hand across
his forehead, and then got uphastily and dressed himself with even more than
his usual care, giving a greatdeal of attention to the choice of his
(03:07):
necktie, and scarf pin and changinghis rings more than once. He spent
a long time also over breakfast,tasting the various dishes, talking to his
valet about some new liveries that hewas thinking of getting made for the servants
at Selby, and going through hiscorrespondence. At some of the letters,
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he smiled. Three of them boredhim. One he read several times over
and then tore up with a slightlook of annoyance in his face. That
awful thing a woman's murmury, asLord Henry had once said. After he
had drunk his cup of black coffee, he wiped his lips slowly with a
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napkin, motioned to his servant towait, going over to the table,
sat down and wrote two letters.One he put in his pocket, the
other he handed to the valley.Take this round to one fifty two Hartford
Street, Frances, and if misterCampbell is out of town, get his
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address. As soon as he wasalone, he lit a cigarette and began
sketching upon a piece of paper,drawing first flowers and bits of architecture,
and then human faces. Suddenly,he remarked that every face that he drew
seemed to have a fantastic likeness toBasil Hallward. He frowned, and getting
(04:43):
up, went over to the bookcaseand took out a volume at Hazard.
He was determined that he would notthink about what had happened until it became
absolutely necessary that he should do so. When he had stretched himself on the
sofa, he looked at the titlepage of the book. It was Gootier's
(05:05):
Immo Kami Charpontier's Japanese paper edition withthe Jacques mar etching. The binding was
of citron green leather with a designof gilt trellis work and dotted pomegranates.
It had been given to him byAdrian Singleton. As he turned over the
(05:28):
pages, his eye fell on thepoem about the hand of Lassenaire, the
cold yellow hand decuplisse encur malavee,with its downy red hairs and its dois
de foun. He glanced at hisown white taper fingers, shuddering slightly in
(05:50):
spite of himself, and passed ontill he came to those lovely stanzas upon
Venice Syene games cromatique, lu Saintdu per l louisselan la venue de latriatique,
sar del san car Rosee Blanc lesdomes s lazeure desande suive la france
(06:17):
u pure comtur saint f la commedes gar churand cassu la van supire dambour
l'esquille vabarde in the depose Juten Saintami Roupilliers de vant in the facade Rose
sis le marpre de n Escaliers.How exquisite they were as one read them.
(06:46):
One seems to be floating down thegreen waterways of the pink and pearl
city, seated in a black gondolawith silver prow and trailing curtains. The
mere lines looked to him like thosestraight lines of turquoise blue that follow one
as one pushes out to the lido. The sudden flashes of color reminded him
(07:12):
of the gleam of the opal andiris throated birds that flutter round the tall
honey combed campanile or stalk with suchstately grace through the dim, dust stained
arcades. Leaning back with half closedeyes, he kept saying over and over
(07:32):
to himself, devantinifasad rose sur lemarbour de Niscalier, the whole of Venice
was in those two lines. Heremembered the autumn that he had passed there,
and a wonderful love that had stirredhim to mad, delightful follies.
(07:56):
There was romance in every place.Venice, like Oxford, had kept the
background for romance, and to thetrue romantic background was everything, for almost
everything. Basil had been with himpart of the time and had gone wild
over Tintoret. Poor Basil, Whata horrible way for a man to die,
(08:24):
he sighed, and took up thevolume again and tried to forget.
He read of the swallows that flyin and out of the little cafe at
Smyrna, where the hodgies sit countingtheir amber beads, and the turbaned merchants
smoke their long tasseled pipes and talkgravely to each other. He read of
(08:48):
the obelisk in the Place de laConcarde that weeps tears of granite in its
lonely, sunless exile, and longsto be back by the hot, toscovered
nile, where there are sphinxes androse red iyebisses, and white vultures with
gilded claws, and crocodiles with smallberyl eyes that crawl over the green steaming
(09:16):
mud. He began to brood overthose verses which, drawing music from kiss
stained marble, tell of that curiousstatue that Gautier compares to a contralto voice,
the most charmar that couches in theporphiry room of the Louver. But
(09:39):
after a time the book fell fromhis hand. He grew nervous, and
a horrible fit of terror came overhim. What if Alan Campbell should be
out of England, days would elapsebefore he could come back. Perhaps he
might refuse to come. What couldhe do? Then? Every moment was
(10:01):
of vital importance. They had beengreat friends once five years before, almost
inseparable. Indeed, then the intimacyhad come suddenly to an end when they
met in society. Now it wasonly Dorian Gray who smiled. Allan Campbell
(10:22):
never did. He was an extremelyclever young man, though he had no
real appreciation of the visible arts,and whatever little sense of the beauty of
poetry he possessed, he had gainedentirely from Dorian. His dominant intellectual passion
(10:43):
was for science. At Cambridge,he had spent a great deal of his
time working in the laboratory, andhad taken a good class in the natural
science tripos of his year. Indeed, he was still devoted to the study
of chemistry, and had a laboratoryof his own, in which he used
(11:03):
to shut himself up all day long, greatly to the annoyance of his mother,
who had set her heart on hisstanding for Parliament, and had a
vague idea that a chemist was aperson who made up prescriptions. He was
an excellent musician, however, aswell, and played both the violin and
(11:26):
the piano better than most amateurs.In fact, it was music that had
first brought him and Dorian Gray together. Music and that indefinable attraction that Dorian
seemed to be able to exercise wheneverhe wished, and indeed exercised often without
(11:48):
being conscious of it. They hadmet at Lady Barkshire's the night that Rubinstein
played there, and after that usedto be all a scene together at the
opera and wherever good music was goingon. For eighteen months. Their intimacy
lasted. Campbell was always either atSelby Royal or in Grosvenor Square. To
(12:16):
him, as to many others,Dorian Gray was the type of everything that
is wonderful and fascinating in life.Whether or not a quarrel had taken place
between them, no one ever knew. But suddenly people remarked that they scarcely
spoke when they met, and atCampbell seemed always to go away early from
(12:39):
any party at which Dorian Gray waspresent. He had changed, too,
was strangely melancholy at times, appearedalmost to dislike hearing music, and would
never himself play, giving us hisexcuse when he was called upon. He
(13:00):
was so absorbed in science that hehad no time left in which to practice,
and this was certainly true. Everyday he seemed to become more interested
in biology, and his name appearedonce or twice in some of the scientific
reviews in connection with certain curious experiments. This was the man Dorrian Gray was
(13:26):
waiting for. Every second, hekept glancing at the clock. As the
minutes went by, he became horriblyagitated. At last, he got up
and began to pace up and downthe room, looking like a beautiful caged
thing. He took long, stealthystrides. His hands were curiously cold.
(13:52):
The suspense became unbearable. Time seemsto him to be crawling with feet of
lead while he by monstrous winds wasbeing swept towards the jagged edge of some
black cleft or precipice. He knewwhat was waiting for him there saw it,
(14:15):
indeed, and shuddering, crushed withdank hands his burning lids, as
though he would have robbed the verybrain of sight and driven the eyeballs back
into their cave. It was useless. The brain had its own food on
which it battened, and the imaginationmade grotesque by terror, twist it and
(14:41):
distort it as a living thing bypain. Danced like some foul puppet on
a stand, and grinned through movingmasks. Then suddenly time stopped for him.
Yes, that blind, slew breathingthing crawled no more, and horrible
(15:07):
thoughts. Time being dead, racednimbly on in front, and dragged a
hideous future from its grave and showedit to him. He stared at it.
Its very horror made him stone.At last the door opened and his
(15:28):
servant entered. He turned glazed eyesupon him, mister Crampbell, Sir,
said the man. A sigh ofrelief broke from his parched lips, and
the color came back to his cheeks. Asked him to come in at once,
Francis, He felt that he washimself again. His mood of cowardice
(15:52):
had passed away. The man bowedand retired. In a few moments,
Alan Campbell walked in, looking verystern and rather pale, his pallor being
intensified by his coal black hair anddark eyebrows. Allan, this is kind
(16:12):
of you. I thank you forcoming. I had intended never to enter
your house again, Dre. Butyou said it was a matter of life
and death. His voice was hardand cold. He spoke with slow deliberation.
There was a look of contempt inthe steady, searching gaze that he
(16:33):
turned on Dorian. He kept hishands in the pockets of his astrohan coat
and seemed not to have noticed thegesture with which he had been greeted.
Yes, it is a matter oflife and death. Allan, and a
more than one person sit down.Campbell took a chair by the table,
and Dorian sat opposite to him.The two men's eyes met in door Rians
(17:00):
there was infinite pity. He knewthat what he was going to do was
dreadful. After a strained moment ofsilence, he leaned across and said,
very quietly, but watching the effectof each word upon the face of him.
He had sent for Alan. Ina locked room at the top of
(17:22):
his house, a room to whichnobody but myself has access, a dead
man is seated at a table.He's been dead ten hours now. Don't
stir and don't look at me likethat. Who the man is, why
he died, how he died,and matters that do not concern you.
What you have to do is thisstop Gray. I don't want to know
(17:45):
anything further. Whether what you havetold me is true or not true doesn't
concern me. I entirely decline tobe mixed up in your life. Keep
your horrible secrets to yourself. Theydon't interest me any more, Allan.
They will have to interest you.This one will have to interest you.
(18:06):
I am awfully sorry for you,Allan, but I can't help myself.
You are the one man who isable to save me. I am forced
to bring you into the matter.I have no option, Allan. You
are scientific, You know about chemistryand things of that kind. You have
made experiments. What you have gotto do is to destroy the thing that
(18:26):
is upstairs, to destroy it sothat not a vestige of it will be
left. Nobody saw this person comeinto the house. Indeed, at the
present moment he is supposed to bein Paris. He will not be missed
for months. When he is missed, there must be no trace of him
found here. You allan, youmust change him and everything that belongs to
(18:51):
him into a handful of ashes thatI may scatter in the air. You
are mad, Dorian, Ah,I was waiting for you to call me,
Dorrian. You are mad. Itell you mad, to imagine that
I would raise a finger to helpyou, mad to make this monstrous confession.
I will have nothing to do withthis matter, whatever it is.
(19:12):
Do you think I am going toperil my reputation for you? What is
it to me? What devil's workyou're up to? It was suicide,
Allen, I am glad of that. But who drove him to it?
You? I should fancy. Doyou still refuse to do this for me?
Of course I refuse. I willhave absolutely nothing to do with it.
(19:34):
I don't care what shame comes fromyou. You deserve it all.
I should not be sorry to seeyou disgraced, publicly disgraced. How dare
you ask me? Of all menin the world to mix myself up in
this horror. I should have thoughtin you more about people's characters. Your
friend, Lord Henry Whotton, can'thave taught you much about psychology. Whatever
(19:59):
else he has taught you, nothingwill induce me to stir a step to
help you. You have come tothe wrong man. Go to some of
your friends. Don't come to me. Alan. It was murder. I
killed him. You don't know whathe had made me suffer. Whatever my
life is. He had more todo with the making and marry of it
(20:21):
than poor Harry has had. Hemay not have intended it, the result
was the same murder. Good God, Dorian, is that what you have
come to? I shall not informupon you. It is not my business.
Besides, without my stirring in thematter, you are certain to be
arrested. Nobody ever commits a crimewithout doing something stupid. But I will
(20:45):
have nothing to do with it.You must have something to do with it.
Wait, wait a moment. Listento me, only listen allan.
All I ask of you is toperform a certain scientific each periment you go
to hospital and dead houses, andthe horrors that you do there don't affect
you. If in some hideous dissectingroom or fettered laboratory. You found this
(21:08):
man lye on a leaden table withred gutters scooped out in it for the
blood to flow through, you wouldsimply look upon him as an admirable subject.
You would not turn a hair.You would not believe that you are
doing anything wrong. On the contrary, you would probably feel you are benefiting
the human race, or increasing thesum of knowledge in the world, or
(21:30):
gratifying intellectual curiosity, or something ofthat kind. What I want you to
do is merely what you have oftendone before. Indeed, to destroy a
body must be far less horrible thanwhat you are accustomed to work at.
And remember it is the only pieceof evidence against me. If it is
(21:52):
discovered. I am lost, andit is sure to be discovered unless you
help me. I have no desireto help you. You forget that I
am simply indifferent to the whole thing. Its nothing to do with me.
Alan, I entreat you. Thinkof the position I'm in. Just before
you came, I almost fainted withterror. You may not terry yourself some
(22:15):
day, No, don't think ofthat. Look at the matter purely from
the scientific point of view. Youdon't inquire where the dead things on which
you experiment come from. Don't inquirenow. I've told you too much as
it is, But I beg ofyou to do this. We were friends
once, Allan. Don't speak aboutthose days, Dorian. They are dead
(22:40):
the dead linger. Sometimes the manupstairs will not go away. He is
sitting at the table with bowed headand outstretched arms. Alan, Alan,
if you don't come to my assistance, I am ruined. Why they will
hang me? Alan, don't youunderstand they will hang me for what I've
done. There is no good inprolonging this scene. I absolutely refuse to
(23:04):
do anything in a matter. Itis insane. If you to ask me
you refuse. Yes, I entreatyou, Alan, it is useless.
The same look of pity came intoDorrian Gray's eyes. Then he stretched out
his hand, took a piece ofpaper and wrote something on it. He
(23:25):
read it over twice, folded itcarefully, and pushed it across the table.
Having done this, he got upand went over to the window.
Campbell looked at him in surprise,and then took up the paper and opened
it. As he read it,his face became ghastly, pale and he
(23:47):
fell back in his chair. Ahorrible sense of sickness came over him.
He felt as if his heart wasbeating itself to death in some empty hollow.
After two or three minutes of terriblesilence, Dorian turned round and came
and stood behind him, putting hishand upon his shoulder. I am so
(24:11):
sorry for you, Allan, hemurmured. Do you leave me no alternative?
I have a letter written already hereit is you see the address.
If you don't help me, Imust send it. If you don't help
me, I will send it.You know what the result will be.
But you are going to help me. It is impossible for you to refuse
(24:33):
now. I tried to spare you. You will do me the justice to
admit that you are stern, harshoffensive. You treated me as no man
has ever dared to treat me,no living man at any rate. I
bore it all. Now it istime for me to dictate terms. Campbell
(24:55):
buried his face in his hands,and a shudder passed through him. Yes,
it is my turn to dictate terms, Allan. You know what they
are. The thing is quite simple. Come, don't work yourself into this
fever. The thing has to bedone, face it and do it.
(25:15):
A groan broke from Campbell's lips,and he shivered all over. The ticking
of the clock on the mantelpiece seemsto him to be dividing time into separate
atoms of agony, each of whichwas too terrible to be borne. He
felt as if an iron ring wasbeing slowly tightened round his forehead, as
(25:40):
if the disgrace with which he wasthreatened had already come upon him. The
hand upon his shoulder weighed like ahand of lead. It was intolerable.
It seemed to crush him. Come, Allan, you must decide at once.
I cannot do it, he saidmechanically, as though words could alter
(26:03):
things. You must, you haveno choice. Don't delay, He hesitated
a moment. Is there a firein the room upstairs? Yes, there
is a gas fire with ashbistess.I shall have to go home and get
some things from the laboratory. No, Allan, you must not leave the
(26:23):
house. Right out on a sheetof notepaper, what you want, and
my servant will take a cab andbring the things back to you. Campbell
scrawled a few lines, blotted them, and addressed an envelope to his assistant.
Dorian took the note up and readit carefully. Then he rang the
bell and gave it to his valet, with orders to return as soon as
(26:47):
possible and to bring the things withhim. As the hall door shut,
Campbell started nervously, and, havinggot up from the chair, went over
to the chimney piece. He wasshivering with a kind of ague. For
nearly twenty minutes, neither of themen spoke. A fly buzzed noisily about
(27:11):
the room, and the ticking ofthe clock was like the beat of a
hammer. As the chime struck one, Campbell turned round and, looking at
Dorian, Gray saw that his eyeswere filled with tears. There was something
in the purity and refinement of thatsad face that seemed to enrage him.
(27:37):
You are infamous, absolutely infamous,he muttered. Hush, Allan, you
have saved my life, said Dorian, your life, good, heavens,
what a life that is. Youhave gone from corruption to corruption, and
now you have culminated in crime.In doing what I am going to do,
(27:59):
what you force me to do.It is not of your life that
I'm thinking, ah Alan, murmuredDorian with a sigh. I wish you
had a thousandth part of the pityfor me that I have for you.
He turned away as he spoke andstood looking out at the garden. Campbell
made no answer. After about tenminutes, a knock came to the door,
(28:23):
and the servant entered, carrying alarge mahogany chest of chemicals with a
long coil of steel and platinum wireand two rather curiously shaped iron clamps.
Shall I leave the things here,sir? He asked Campbell. Yes,
said Dorian. And I'm afraid,Francis, that I have another errand for
(28:45):
you. What is the name ofthe man at Richmond who supplies Silby with
orchards? Harm sir, Yes,Hardened, you must go down to Richmond
at once see Hardened personally, andin descend twice as many orchards as I
ordered, and to have as fewwhite ones as possible. In fact,
(29:06):
I don't want any white ones.It is a lovely day, Francis,
and Richmond is a very pretty place, otherwise I wouldn't bother you about it,
notable, sir, At what timeshall I be back? Dorrian looked
at Campbell. How long would yourexperiment take? Ellen? He said,
in a calm indifferent voice. Thepresence of a third person in the room
(29:29):
seems to give him extraordinary courage.Campbell frowned and bit his lip. It
will take about five hours, heanswered. It will be time enough.
Then if you are back at halfpast seven, Francis or stay, just
leave my things out for dressing.You can have the evening to yourself.
I am not downing at home,so I shall not want you. Thank
(29:52):
you, sir, said the manleaving the room. Now, Ellen,
there is not a moment to belost. How Harry, this chest is,
I'll take it for you. Youbring the other things. He spoke
rapidly and in an authoritative manner.Campbell felt dominated by him. They left
(30:14):
the room together. When they reachedthe top landing, Dorian took out the
key and turned it in the lock. Then he stopped and a troubled look
came into his eyes. He shuddered. I don't think I can go in
Allan, he murmured, it isnothing to me. I don't require you,
(30:37):
said Campbell coldly. Loriian half openedthe door. As he did so,
he saw the face of his portraitleering in the sunlight. On the
floor in front of it. Thetorn curtain was lying. He remembered that
the night before he had forgotten,for the first time in his life,
(30:57):
to hide the face etal canvas,and was about to rush forward when he
drew back with a shudder. Whatwas that loathsome red dew that gleamed,
wet and glistening on one of thehands, as though the canvas had sweated
(31:18):
blood. How horrible it was.More horrible, it seemed to him for
the moment than the silent thing thathe knew was stretched across the table,
the thing whose grotesque, misshapen shadowon the spotted carpet showed him that it
had not stirred, but was stillthere as he had left it. He
(31:42):
heaved a deep breath, opened thedoor a little wider, and with half
closed eyes and averted head, walkedquickly in, determined that he would not
look even once upon the dead man, and stooping down and taking up the
gold and purple hanging, he flungit right over the picture. There he
(32:07):
stopped, feeling afraid to turn round, and his eyes fixed themselves on the
intricacies of the pattern before him.He heard Campbell bringing in the heavy chest
and the irons and the other thingsthat he had required for his dreadful work.
He began to wonder if he andBasil Hallward had ever met, and
(32:31):
if so, what they had thoughtof each other. Leafna, said a
stern voice behind him. He turnedand hurried out, just conscious that the
dead man had been thrust back intothe chair and that Campbell was gazing into
a glistening yellow face. As hewas going downstairs, he heard the key
(32:54):
being turned in the lock. Itwas long after seven when Campbell came back
into the library. He was pale, but absolutely calm. I have done
what you asked me to do,he muttered, and now goodbye. Let
us never see each other again.You have saved me from ruin, Allen.
(33:19):
I cannot forget that, said Doriansimply. As soon as Campbell had
left, he went upstairs. Therewas a horrible smell of nitric acid in
the room, but the thing thathad been sitting at the table was gone.
(33:42):
End of Chapter fourteen.
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