coolly turned his back and
went in search of new sensations.

"And in his search for sensations that would be at once new and
delightful and possess that element of strangeness that is so
essential to romance, he would often adopt certain modes of thought
that he knew to be really alien to his nature, abandon himself to
their subtle influences, and then, having, as it were, caught their
colour and satisfied his intellectual curiosity, leave them with
that curious indifference that is not incompatible with a real
ardour of temperament, and that, indeed, according to certain
modern psychologists, is often a condition of it."[25]

Veil it as he would, his extreme moral corruption became known, crept
out from behind skilful concealments, and was borne by the breath of
gossip and scandal--whispering of its enormities. He was black-balled in
a West End Club,

"and when brought by a friend into a smoking-room of the Carlton,
the Duke of Berwick and another gentleman got up in a marked manner
and went out. Curious stories became current about him after he had
passed his twenty-fifth year. ... Men would whisper to each other
in corners, or pass him with a sneer, or look at him with cold,
searching eyes. Of such insolences and attempted slights, he, of
course, took no notice; and in the opinion of most people his frank
manner, his charming, boyish smile, and the infinite grace of that
wonderful youth that seemed never to leave him were in themselves a
sufficient answer to the calumnies (for so they called them) that
were circulated about him."[26]

The life at length culminates in the commission of a crime of the most
cruel, treacherous, and dastardly character. It is successfully
concealed. The extraordinary coolness, even peace of mind, which Dorian
experiences after this deed of horror is powerfully depicted. But he
does feel a few momentary, weak qualms of conscience. He spares one of
his victims, and he thinks of beginning a new life. Then imagining
himself becoming purified he longs to see how his silent recorder looks.
He expects to find some wonderful improvement in the aspect of the
loathsome hidden self he has created, so he repairs to its hiding place.
It is more loathsome than ever, and presents new aspects of ugliness. In
a moment of supreme disgust and aversion he seizes a knife to destroy
it. By so doing he ends