Портрет Дориана Грея / The Picture of Dorian Gray

The Grosvenor is really the only place to exhibit a painting like that.”

“I don’t think I shall send it anywhere,” the painter answered, moving his head in that odd way that used to make his friends laugh at him at Oxford. “No, I won’t send it anywhere.”

Lord Henry elevated his eyebrows and looked at him in amazement through the thin blue wreaths of smoke[6 - wreaths of smoke – кольца дыма]. “Not send it anywhere? My dear fellow, why? What odd people you painters are! A portrait like this would set you far above all the young men in England[7 - A portrait like this would set you far above all the young men in England.

 – Этот портрет вознёс бы тебя много выше всех молодых художников Англии.].”

“I know you will laugh at me,” Basil replied, “but I really can’t exhibit it. I have put too much of myself into it[8 - I have put too much of myself into it. – Я вложил в него слишком много самого себя.

].”

Lord Henry stretched himself out on the divan and laughed. “Too much of yourself in it! Upon my word, Basil, this man is truly beautiful. Don’t flatter yourself, Basil: you are not in the least like him[9 - you are not in the least like him – ты ничуть на него не похож].”

“You don’t understand me, Harry,” answered the artist. “I know that perfectly well. Indeed, I should be sorry to look like him.

I am telling you the truth. It is better not to be different from other people. The stupid and ugly have the best of this world. Dorian Gray[10 - Dorian Gray – Дориан Грей]—”

“Dorian Gray? Is that his name?” asked Lord Henry walking across the room towards Basil Hallward.

“Yes, that is his name. I didn’t intend to tell it to you.”

“But why not?”

“Oh, I can’t explain. When I like people immensely, I never tell their names to any one. When I leave town now I never tell my people where I am going.

If I did, I would lose all my pleasure. It is a silly habit, I dare say. I suppose you think that’s very foolish?”

“Not at all,” answered Lord Henry, “not at all, my dear Basil. You seem to forget that I am married, so my life is full of secrets, I never know where my wife is, and my wife never knows what I am doing. When we meet we tell each other the most absurd stories with the most serious faces.