Pagina 36 di 490

"Basil," cried Dorian Gray, "if Lord Henry Wotton goes, I shall

go, too. You never open your lips while you are painting, and it

is horribly dull standing on a platform and trying to look

pleasant. Ask him to stay. I insist upon it."

"Stay, Harry, to oblige Dorian, and to oblige me," said Hallward,

gazing intently at his picture. "It is quite true, I never talk

when I am working, and never listen either, and it must be

dreadfully tedious for my unfortunate sitters. I beg you to

stay."

"But what about my man at the Orleans?"

The painter laughed. "I don't think there will be any difficulty

about that. Sit down again, Harry. And now, Dorian, get up on the

platform, and don't move about too much, or pay any attention to

what Lord Henry says. He has a very bad influence over all his

friends, with the single exception of myself."