The picture of Dorian Gray - The Friend (Sixth Part)
The conversation among the fashionable people at
Lady Agatha’s lunch was quick and clever. Lord Henry talked in his lazy,
amusing way, and knew that Dorian Gray was watching and listening. After a while
the conversation turned to a friend’s plans to marry an American girl. ‘Why
can’t these American women stay in their own country? They’re always telling
us that it’s a paradise for women,’ said Lord Burdon. ‘It is,’ said Lord
Henry. ‘That’s the reason why they’re so happy to escape from it.’
‘They say,’ laughed the man next to Lady Agatha, ‘that when good Americans
die, they go to Paris.’ ‘Really! And where do bad Americans go to when they
die? Asked Lady Agatha. ‘They go to America,’ said Lord Henry.
People smiled and the
conversation moved on to other things. Lord Henry took ideas and played with
them; he gave them wings and they flew like brightly coloured birds around the
room. People laughed and smiled and told him that he should be more serious. But
Dorian Gray never took his eyes away from Lord Henry. After lunch Lord Henry
said that he was going to the park and as he left the room, Dorian Gray touched
his arm. ‘May I come with you?’ he asked. ‘But I thought you’d promised
to go and see Basil Hallward,’ Lord Henry replied. ‘Yes, but I’d prefer to
come with you. Please let me,’ said Dorian. ‘I want to listen to you
talking. Nobody speaks as well as you do.’ ‘Ah! I’ve talked enough for
today.’ Lord Henry smiled. ‘But you may come with me if you want to’.
