n he bit his lip. "No, I don't mean that. I
didn't go to the club. I walked about. I forget what I did.... How
inquisitive you are, Harry! You always want to know what one has been
doing. I always want to forget what I have been doing. I came in at
half-past two, if you wish to know the exact time. I had left my
latch-key at home, and my servant had to let me in. If you want any
corroborative evidence on the subject you can ask him."

Lord Henry shrugged his shoulders. "My dear fellow, as if I cared! Let
us go up to the drawing-room. No sherry, thank you, Mr. Chapman.
Something has happened to you, Dorian. Tell me what it is. You are not
yourself to-night."

"Don't mind me, Harry. I am irritable, and out of temper. I shall come
round and see you to-morrow or next day. Make my excuses to Lady
Narborough. I shan't go upstairs. I shall go home. I must go home."

"All right, Dorian. I daresay I shall see you to-morrow at tea-time. The
Duchess is coming."

"I will try to be there, Harry," he said, leaving the room. As he drove
back to his own house he was conscious that the sense of terror he
thought he had strangled had come back to him. Lord Henry's casual
questioning had made him lose his nerves for the moment, and he wanted
his nerve still. Things that were dangerous had to be destroyed. He
winced. He hated the idea of even touching them.

Yet it had to be done. He realised that, and when he had locked the door
of his library, he opened the secret press into which he had thrust
Basil Hallward's coat and bag. A huge fire was blazing. He piled another
log on it. The smell of the singeing clothes and burning leather was
horrible. It took him three-quarters of an hour to consume everything.
At the end he felt faint and sick, and having lit some Algerian
pastilles in a pierced copper brazier, he bathed his hands and forehead
with a cool musk-scented vinegar.

Suddenly he started. His eyes grew strangely bright, and he gnawed
nervously at his under-lip. Between two of the windows stood a large
Florentine cabinet, made out of ebony, and inlaid with ivory and blue
lapis. He watched it as though it were a thing that could fascinate and
make afraid, as though it held something that he longed for and yet
almost loathed. His breath quickened. A mad craving came over him. He
lit a cigarette and then threw it away. His eyelids drooped till the
long fringed lashes almost touched his cheek. But he still watched the
cabinet. At la