صفحة 186 من 490

"Go away, Harry," cried the lad. "I want to be alone. Basil, you

must go. Ah! can't you see that my heart is breaking?" The hot

tears came to his eyes. His lips trembled, and rushing to the

back of the box, he leaned up against the wall, hiding his face

in his hands.

"Let us go, Basil," said Lord Henry with a strange tenderness in

his voice, and the two young men passed out together.

A few moments afterwards the footlights flared up and the curtain

rose on the third act. Dorian Gray went back to his seat. He

looked pale, and proud, and indifferent. The play dragged on, and

seemed interminable. Half of the audience went out, tramping in

heavy boots and laughing. The whole thing was a fiasco. The last

act was played to almost empty benches. The curtain went down on

a titter and some groans.