tabbed Basil Hallward. He
had cleaned it many times, till there was no stain left upon it. It was
bright, and glistened. As it had killed the painter, so it would kill
the painter's work, and all that that meant. It would kill the past, and
when that was dead he would be free. It would kill this monstrous
soul-life, and, without its hideous warnings, he would be at peace. He
seized the thing, and stabbed the picture with it.

There was a cry heard, and a crash. The cry was so horrible in its agony
that the frightened servants woke, and crept out of their rooms. Two
gentlemen, who were passing in the Square below, stopped, and looked up
at the great house. They walked on till they met a policeman, and
brought him back. The man rang the bell several times, but there was no
answer. Except for a light in one of the top windows, the house was all
dark. After a time, he went away and stood in an adjoining portico and
watched.

"Whose house is that, constable?" asked the elder of the two gentlemen.

"Mr. Dorian Gray's, sir," answered the policeman.

They looked at each other, as they walked away and sneered. One of them
was Sir Henry Ashton's uncle.

Inside, in the servants' part of the house, the half-clad domestics were
talking in low whispers to each other. Old Mrs. Leaf was crying and
wringing her hands. Francis was as pale as death.

After about a quarter of an hour, he got the coachman and one of the
footmen and crept upstairs. They knocked, but there was no reply. They
called out. Everything was still. Finally, after vainly trying to force
the door, they got on the roof, and dropped down on to the balcony. The
windows yielded easily; their bolts were old.

When they entered they found, hanging upon the wall, a splendid portrait
of their master as they had last seen him, in all the wonder of his
exquisite youth and beauty. Lying on the floor was a dead man, in
evening dress, with a knife in his heart. He was withered, wrinkled, and
loathsome of visage. It was not till they had examined the rings that
they recognised who it was.

THE END

* * *

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

PIRATED EDITIONS

Owing to the number of unauthorised editions of "THE PICTURE OF DORIAN
GRAY" issued at various times both in America and on the Continent of
Europe, it has become necessary to indicate which are the only
authorised editions of Oscar Wilde's masterpiece.

Many of the pirated editions are incomplete in that they omit t