Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1896-10-10
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PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY
NJ OSCAR WILDE.

Tue KEY III MS pocket. ne Iclt Sdlc low.
No one would ever look on the horrible
thing. No eye but his would ever see his
shame.
On reaching the library he found that it
was Just after five o'clock. and that the tea
had been already brought up. On q little
table of dark, perfumed wood thickly in
crusted with nacre, q present from his
guardians wife. Lady Radley, who had
spent the preceding winter in Cairo, was
lying a note from Lord Henry. and beside
IL was a book bound IN yellow paper. the
cover slightly torn ind the edges soi!ed. A
copy Of the third edition Of the 81. Jdmes's
Gazette had been placed on tho tea-tray. IL
was evident that Victor had returned. He
wondered il he had met the mon in the hall
as they were leaving the house and had
wormed out Of them what thov had been do
ing. He would be sure to miss the picture
had no doubt missed 1t already, while he
had been laying tho tca-tbings. The screen
had not been replaced. and the blank space
on the wall was visible. Perhaps some
night he might find him creeping upstairs
and trying TO force the door Of the room. II
was "a horrible thing 10 have a spy in ones
house. He had heard of rich men who had
been b~lackmailed all their lives by some
servant who had read a letter, on overheard
q conversation, or picked up a card with an
address, or found beneath n pillow u
withered flower on a bit of crumpled lace.
He sighed, and, having poured himself
out some tea, opened Lord HenrJ's note.
II was simply TO say that he sent him round
the evening paper, and "a book that might
interest him, and that hc would be at the club
at eight, fifteen. He opened the "St. James'sr
languidly. and looked ~lauguidly through il.
A red pcncil-mark on the fifth page caught
his eye. He read the following paragraph:
INQUEST on AN ACTRESS inquest was
hold tllis morning at the Bell Tavern. Hoxtou
Road. hy Mr.. DANNY. the district coroner. on
the body a sieyi vane; a y8ung actress re-
A verdict % death by misadventurc was re-
turned. Considerable sympathy was expressed
for the mother OF the decreased, who was great
ly affected during the giving Of her W evil
dencc. and that OF DR.. Birrel. who had made
post-mortem examination Of the deceased"
He frowned slightly, and tearing the
paper in two, went across the room
and flung the pieces into a gilt basket. How
ugly it was And how horribly real ugliness
made things, He felt a little annoyed with
Lord Henry for having sent him the account
And 1t was certainly stupid Of him to nave
marked IL with a red pencil. Victor might
nave read 1t. The man knew more than
enough English for that.
Perhaps he had read it. and had begun TO
suspect something. And, yet, what did it
matteri What had Dorian Gray TO do with
Sibyl Vane's death! There was nothing To
fear. Dorian Gray had not killed her.
His eye fell on the yellow book that Lord
Henry had sent him. What was il, he won
dered. He went toward the little pearl
colored octagonal stand, that had always
looked TO him like the work Of some strange
Egyptian bees who wrought In silver and
took the volume up He flung himself into
an armchair, and began to turn over the
leaves. After a few minutes, he became
absorbed. II was the strangest book he had
ever read. II seemed to him that in ex-
quisite raiment, and to the delicate sound OF
flutes, the sins Of the world were passing IN
dimly dreamed of were suddenly made real
TO him. Things Of which he had never
dreamed were gradually revealed.
IL was a novel without a plot, and with
only one character, being, indeed, simply a
psychological study Of a certain young
Partisan, who spent his life trying TO realize
in the nineteenth century all the passions
and modes of thought that belonged to every
century except his own, and to sum up, as
IL were, IN himself the various moods
through which the world-spirit had ever
passed, loving for their mere artifciality
those renunciations that men have unwisely
called virtue, as much as those natural re-
bellions that wise men still call sin. The
style in which it was written was that
curious jeweled style, vivid and obscure at
once, full of dyyot and Of archaisms, Of
technical expressions and Of elaborate para
phrases, that characterizes the work of some
OF the finest artists of the French school Of
Deoadents. There were In it metaphors as
monstrous as orchids, and as evil in color.
The life of the senses was described in the
terms Of mystical philosophy. One hardly
knew at times whether one was reading the
spiritual ecstasies of some medieval saint
or the morbid confessions OF a modern sin
ner. II was a poisonous book. The heavy
odor OF incense seemed to cling about its
g and to trouble the brain. The mere
cadence Of the sentences, the subtle monot-
ony of their music, so full as it was of com
pick ~refrains and movements deliberately re-
peated, produced in the mind of the lad, as
he passed from chapter to chapter, a form
Of r~everie, a malady of dreaming that made
him unconscious Of the falling day and the
creeping shadows.
Cloudiess and pierced by one solitary star,
q copper-green sky cleaned through the
windows. He read ON by its wan light
till he could read no more. Then after his
valet had reminded him several times of the
iateness Of the hour. he got up, and, going
into the next room, placed the book on the
little F1orentine table hat always stood at
his bedside, and began TO dress for dinner.
II was almost nine o'clock before he
reached the club, where he found Lord
Henry sitting alone, in the morning room,
looking very bored.
II am so sorry, Harry" he cried, but
really 1t is entirely your fault. That book
you sent me so fascinated me tina | forgot
what the time was"
~ thought you would like it," replied his
host, rising from his chair.
IL didn't say / liked it, Harry. l said it
fascinated me. There is q great difference. y
"Ah, II you have discovered that, you have
discovered q great DEAL" murmured Lord
Henry, with his curious smile. Come, let
us 20 in to dinner. II is dreadfully late,
and l am afraid the c~hampagns will be too
much iced"