第178页 / 共490页

They talked to each other across the theatre and shared their

oranges with the tawdry girls who sat beside them. Some women

were laughing in the pit. Their voices were horribly shrill and

discordant. The sound of the popping of corks came from the bar.

"What a place to find one's divinity in!" said Lord Henry.

"Yes!" answered Dorian Gray. "It was here I found her, and she is

divine beyond all living things. When she acts, you will forget

everything. These common rough people, with their coarse faces

and brutal gestures, become quite different when she is on the

stage. They sit silently and watch her. They weep and laugh as

she wills them to do. She makes them as responsive as a violin.

She spiritualizes them, and one feels that they are of the same

flesh and blood as one's self."

"The same flesh and blood as one's self! Oh, I hope not!"

exclaimed Lord Henry, who was scanning the occupants of the

gallery through his opera-glass.