As he left the room, Dorian Gray smiled to himself. What a dangerous moment that had been! Poor
Basil! Although he had told his own secret, he had not discovered Dorian’s
secret. But the picture… he must hide it away at once. No one must ever see it
again.
He had the covered portrait carried upstairs to a small room at the top of the house.
Then he locked the door and kept the key himself. He felt safe now, because only his
eyes would see the terrible changes in that beautiful face. When he returned to
the room downstairs, he picked up a book that Lord Henry had lent him. He sat
down and began to read. It was a story of a Frenchman who had spent his life
searching for beauty and pleasure – pleasure of all kinds, both good and bad.
Dorian read for hours. It was a frightening book, full of strange ideas and
dangerous dreams – dreams that slowly became real for Dorian.
Dorian read this book many times. In fact, he could not stop reading it, and over
the years, it became more and more interesting to him. He felt that the Frenchman’s
life was a mirror of his own.
