em into the sunlight. He turned away in horror. It seemed
to him that misfortune followed wherever he went. He heard Sir Geoffrey
ask if the man was really dead, and the affirmative answer of the
keeper. The wood seemed to him to have become suddenly alive with faces.
There was the trampling of myriad feet, and the low buzz of voices. A
great copper-breasted pheasant came beating through the boughs overhead.

After a few moments, that were to him, in his perturbed state, like
endless hours of pain, he felt a hand laid on his shoulder. He started,
and looked round.

"Dorian," said Lord Henry, "I had better tell them that the shooting is
stopped for to-day. It would not look well to go on."

"I wish it were stopped for ever, Harry," he answered, bitterly. "The
whole thing is hideous and cruel. Is the man...?"

He could not finish the sentence.

"I am afraid so," rejoined Lord Henry. "He got the whole charge of shot
in his chest. He must have died almost instantaneously. Come; let us go
home."

They walked side by side in the direction of the avenue for nearly fifty
yards without speaking. Then Dorian looked at Lord Henry, and said, with
a heavy sigh, "It is a bad omen, Harry, a very bad omen."

"What is?" asked Lord Henry. "Oh! this accident, I suppose. My dear
fellow, it can't be helped. It was the man's own fault. Why did he get
in front of the guns? Besides, it's nothing to us. It is rather awkward
for Geoffrey, of course. It does not do to pepper beaters. It makes
people think that one is a wild shot. And Geoffrey is not; he shoots
very straight. But there is no use talking about the matter."

Dorian shook his head. "It is a bad omen, Harry. I feel as if something
horrible were going to happen to some of us. To myself, perhaps," he
added, passing his hand over his eyes, with a gesture of pain.

The elder man laughed. "The only horrible thing in the world is _ennui_,
Dorian. That is the one sin for which there is no forgiveness. But we
are not likely to suffer from it, unless these fellows keep chattering
about this thing at dinner. I must tell them that the subject is to be
tabooed. As for omens, there is no such thing as an omen. Destiny does
not send us heralds. She is too wise or too cruel for that. Besides,
what on earth could happen to you, Dorian? You have everything in the
world that a man can want. There is no one who would not be delighted to
change places with you."

"There is no one with whom I w