道林.格雷的画像 英文版 The Picture of Dorian Gray
奥斯卡.王尔德 Oscar Wilde
CHAPTER II Page 2
"My dear fellow, I congratulate you most warmly, " he said. --"Mr.Gray, come and look at yourself. "
The lad started, as if awakened from some dream. "Is it reallyfinished?" he murmured, stepping down from the platform.
"Quite finished, " said Hallward. "And you have sat splendidly to-day. I am awfully obliged to you. "
"That is entirely due to me, " broke in Lord Henry. "Isn't it, Mr.Gray?"
Dorian made no answer, but passed listlessly in front of his pictureand turned towards it. When he saw it he drew back, and his cheeksflushed for a moment with pleasure. A look of joy came into hiseyes, as if he had recognized himself for the first time. He stoodthere motionless, and in wonder, dimly conscious that Hallward wasspeaking to him, but not catching the meaning of his words. Thesense of his own beauty came on him like a revelation. He had neverfelt it before. Basil Hallward's compliments had seemed to him to bemerely the charming exaggerations of friendship. He had listened tothem, laughed at them, forgotten them. They had not influenced hisnature. Then had come Lord Henry, with his strange panegyric onyouth, his terrible warning of its brevity. That had stirred him atthe time, and now, as he stood gazing at the shadow of his ownloveliness, the full reality of the description flashed across him.Yes, there would be a day when his face would be wrinkled and wizen,his eyes dim and colorless, the grace of his figure broken anddeformed. The scarlet would pass away from his lips, and the goldsteal from his hair. The life that was to make his soul would marhis body. He would become ignoble, hideous, and uncouth.
As he thought of it, a sharp pang of pain struck like a knifeacross him, and made each delicate fibre of his nature quiver. Hiseyes deepened into amethyst, and a mist of tears came across them.He felt as if a hand of ice had been laid upon his heart.
"Don't you like it?" cried Hallward at last, stung a little by thelad's silence, and not understanding what it meant.
"Of course he likes it, " said Lord Henry. "Who wouldn't like it? Itis one of the greatest things in modern art. I will give youanything you like to ask for it. I must have it. "
"It is not my property, Harry. "
"Whose property is it?"
"Dorian's, of course. "
"He is a very lucky fellow. "
"How sad it is!" murmured Dorian Gray, with his eyes still fixed uponhis own portrait. "How sad it is! I shall grow old, and horrid, anddreadful. But this picture will remain always young. It will neverbe older than this particular day of June. . . . If it was only theother way! If it was I who were to be always young, and the picturethat were to grow old! For this--for this--I would give everything!Yes, there is nothing in the whole world I would not give!"
"You would hardly care for that arrangement, Basil, " cried LordHenry, laughing. "It would be rather hard lines on you. "
"I should object very strongly, Harry. "
Dorian Gray turned and looked at him. "I believe you would, Basil.You like your art better than your friends. I am no more to you thana green bronze figure. Hardly as much, I dare say. "
Hallward stared in amazement. It was so unlike Dorian to speak likethat. What had happened? He seemed almost angry. His face wasflushed and his cheeks burning.
"Yes, " he continued, "I am less to you than your ivory Hermes or yoursilver Faun. You will like them always. How long will you like me?Till I have my first wrinkle, I suppose. I know, now, that when oneloses one's good looks, whatever they may be, one loses everything.Your picture has taught me that. Lord Henry is perfectly right.Youth is the only thing worth having. When I find that I am growingold, I will kill myself. "
to you before itexisted.
Hallward turned pale, and caught his hand. "Dorian! Dorian!" hecried, "don't talk like that. I have never had such a friend as you,and I shall never have such another. You are not jealous of materialthings, are you?"
"I am jealous of everything whose beauty does not die. I am jealousof the portrait you have painted of me. Why should it keep what Imust lose? Every moment that passes takes something from me, andgives something to it. Oh, if it was only the other way! If thepicture could change, and I could be always what I am now! Why didyou paint it? It will mock me some day, --mock me horribly!" The hottears welled into his eyes; he tore his hand away, and, flinginghimself on the divan, he buried his face in the cushions, as if hewas praying.
"This is your doing, Harry, " said Hallward, bitterly.
"My doing?"
"Yes, yours, and you know it. "
Lord Henry shrugged his shoulders. "It is the real Dorian Gray, --that is all, " he answered.
"It is not. "
"If it is not, what have I to do with it?"
"You should have gone away when I asked you. "
"I stayed when you asked me. "
"Harry, I can't quarrel with my two best friends at once, but betweenyou both you have made me hate the finest piece of work I have everdone, and I will destroy it. What is it but canvas and color? Iwill not let it come across our three lives and mar them. "
Dorian Gray lifted his golden head from the pillow, and looked at himwith pallid face and tear-stained eyes, as he walked over to the dealpainting-table that was set beneath the large curtained window. Whatwas he doing there? His fingers were straying about among the litterof tin tubes and dry brushes, seeking for something. Yes, it was thelong palette-knife, with its thin blade of lithe steel. He had foundit at last. He was going to rip up the canvas.
With a stifled sob he leaped from the couch, and, rushing over toHallward, tore the knife out of his hand, and flung it to the end ofthe studio. "Don't, Basil, don't!" he cried. "It would be murder!"
"I am glad you appreciate my work at last, Dorian, " said Hallward,coldly, when he had recovered from his surprise. "I never thoughtyou would. "
"Appreciate it? I am in love with it, Basil. It is part of myself,I feel that. "
"Well, as soon as you are dry, you shall be varnished, and framed,and sent home. Then you can do what you like with yourself. " And hewalked across the room and rang the bell for tea. "You will havetea, of course, Dorian? And so will you, Harry? Tea is the onlysimple pleasure left to us. "
"I don't like simple pleasures, " said Lord Henry. "And I don't likescenes, except on the stage. What absurd fellows you are, both ofyou! I wonder who it was defined man as a rational animal. It wasthe most premature definition ever given. Man is many things, but heis not rational. I am glad he is not, after all: though I wish youchaps would not squabble over the picture. You had much better letme have it, Basil. This silly boy doesn't really want it, and I do. "
"If you let any one have it but me, Basil, I will never forgive you!"cried Dorian Gray. "And I don't allow people to call me a sillyboy. "
"You know the picture is yours, Dorian. I gave it to you before itexisted. "
"And you know you have been a little silly, Mr. Gray, and that youdon't really mind being called a boy. "
"I should have minded very much this morning, Lord Henry. "
"Ah! this morning! You have lived since then. "
There came a knock to the door, and the butler entered with the tea-tray and set it down upon a small Japanese table. There was arattle of cups and saucers and the hissing of a fluted Georgian urn.Two globe-shaped china dishes were brought in by a page. Dorian Graywent over and poured the tea out. The two men sauntered languidly tothe table, and examined what was under the covers.
"Let us go to the theatre to-night, " said Lord Henry. "There is sureto be something on, somewhere. I have promised to dine at White's,but it is only with an old friend, so I can send him a wire and saythat I am ill, or that I am prevented from coming in consequence of asubsequent engagement. I think that would be a rather nice excuse:it would have the surprise of candor. "
"It is such a bore putting on one's dress-clothes, " mutteredHallward. "And, when one has them on, they are so horrid. "
"Yes, " answered Lord Henry, dreamily, "the costume of our day isdetestable. It is so sombre, so depressing. Sin is the only color-element left in modern life. "
"You really must not say things like that before Dorian, Harry. "
"Before which Dorian? The one who is pouring out tea for us, or theone in the picture?"
"Before either. "
"I should like to come to the theatre with you, Lord Henry, " said thelad.
"Then you shall come; and you will come too, Basil, won't you?"
"I can't, really. I would sooner not. I have a lot of work to do. "
"Well, then, you and I will go alone, Mr. Gray. "
"I should like that awfully. "
Basil Hallward bit his lip and walked over, cup in hand, to thepicture. "I will stay with the real Dorian, " he said, sadly.
"Is it the real Dorian?" cried the original of the portrait, runningacross to him. "Am I really like that?"
"Yes; you are just like that. "
"How wonderful, Basil!"
"At least you are like it in appearance. But it will never alter, "said Hallward. "That is something. "
"What a fuss people make about fidelity!" murmured Lord Henry.
"And, after all, it is purely a question for physiology. It hasnothing to do with our own will. It is either an unfortunateaccident, or an unpleasant result of temperament. Young men want tobe faithful, and are not; old men want to be faithless, and cannot:that is all one can say. "
"Don't go to the theatre to-night, Dorian, " said Hallward. "Stop anddine with me. "
"I can't, really. "
"Why?"
"Because I have promised Lord Henry to go with him. "
"He won't like you better for keeping your promises. He alwaysbreaks his own. I beg you not to go. "
Dorian Gray laughed and shook his head.
"I entreat you. "
The lad hesitated, and looked over at Lord Henry, who was watchingthem from the tea-table with an amused smile.
"I must go, Basil, " he answered.
"Very well, " said Hallward; and he walked over and laid his cup downon the tray. "It is rather late, and, as you have to dress, you hadbetter lose no time. Good-by, Harry; good-by, Dorian. Come and seeme soon. Come to-morrow. "
"Certainly. "
"You won't forget?"
"No, of course not. "
"And . . . Harry!"
"Yes, Basil?"
like that awfully. " suppose. I know!
"Remember what I asked you, when in the garden this morning. "
"I trust you. "
"I wish I could trust myself, " said Lord Henry, laughing. --"Come, Mr.Gray, my hansom is outside, and I can drop you at your own place. --Good-by, Basil. It has been a most interesting afternoon. "
As the door closed behind them, Hallward flung himself down on asofa, and a look of pain came into his face.