nth. I should think you could easily spare it for that time.
In fact, you are sure to be out of town. And if you keep it always
behind a screen, you can't care much about it."

Dorian Gray passed his hand over his forehead. There were beads of
perspiration there. He felt that he was on the brink of a horrible
danger. "You told me a month ago that you would never exhibit it," he
cried. "Why have you changed your mind? You people who go in for being
consistent have just as many moods as others have. The only difference
is that your moods are rather meaningless. You can't have forgotten that
you assured me most solemnly that nothing in the world would induce you
to send it to any exhibition. You told Harry exactly the same thing." He
stopped suddenly, and a gleam of light came into his eyes. He remembered
that Lord Henry had said to him once, half seriously and half in jest,
"If you want to have a strange quarter of an hour, get Basil to tell you
why he won't exhibit your picture. He told me why he wouldn't, and it
was a revelation to me." Yes, perhaps Basil, too, had his secret. He
would ask him and try.

"Basil," he said, coming over quite close, and looking him straight in
the face, "we have each of us a secret. Let me know yours and I shall
tell you mine. What was your reason for refusing to exhibit my
picture?"

The painter shuddered in spite of himself. "Dorian, if I told you, you
might like me less than you do, and you would certainly laugh at me. I
could not bear your doing either of those two things. If you wish me
never to look at your picture again, I am content. I have always you to
look at. If you wish the best work I have ever done to be hidden from
the world, I am satisfied. Your friendship is dearer to me than any fame
or reputation."

"No, Basil, you must tell me," insisted Dorian Gray. "I think I have a
right to know." His feeling of terror had passed away, and curiosity had
taken its place. He was determined to find out Basil Hallward's mystery.

"Let us sit down, Dorian," said the painter, looking troubled. "Let us
sit down. And just answer me one question. Have you noticed in the
picture something curious?--something that probably at first did not
strike you, but that revealed itself to you suddenly?"

"Basil!" cried the lad, clutching the arms of his chair with trembling
hands, and gazing at him with wild, startled eyes.

"I see you did. Don't speak. Wait till you hear what I have to say.
Dori