As he left the room, Dorian Gray smiled to himself.  Poor Basil!  How little he knew of the true reason!  And how strange it was that, instead of having been forced to reveal his own secret, he had succeeded, almost by chance, in wresting a secret from his friend!  How much that strange confession explained to him!  The painter’s absurd fits of jealousy, his wild devotion, his extravagant panegyrics, his curious reticences—­ he understood them all now, and he felt sorry.  There seemed to him to be something tragic in a friendship so coloured by romance.

He sighed and touched the bell.  The portrait must be hidden away at all costs.  He could not run such a risk of discovery again.  It had been mad of him to have allowed the thing to remain, even for an hour, in a room to which any of his friends had access.

CHAPTER 10

When his servant entered, he looked at him steadfastly and wondered if he had thought of peering behind the screen.  The man was quite impassive and waited for his orders.  Dorian lit a cigarette and walked over to the glass and glanced into it.  He could see the reflection of Victor’s face perfectly.  It was like a placid mask of servility.  There was nothing to be afraid of, there.  Yet he thought it best to be on his guard.

Speaking very slowly, he told him to tell the house-keeper that he wanted to see her, and then to go to the frame-maker and ask him to send two of his men round at once.  It seemed to him that as the man left the room his eyes wandered in the direction of the screen.  Or was that merely his own fancy?

After a few moments, in her black silk dress, with old-fashioned thread mittens on her wrinkled hands, Mrs. Leaf bustled into the library.  He asked her for the key of the schoolroom.

“The old schoolroom, Mr. Dorian?” she exclaimed.  “Why, it is full of dust.  I must get it arranged and put straight before you go into it.  It is not fit for you to see, sir.  It is not, indeed.”

“I don’t want it put straight, Leaf.  I only want the key.”

“Well, sir, you’ll be covered with cobwebs if you go into it.  Why, it hasn’t been opened for nearly five years—­not since his lordship died.”

He winced at the mention of his grandfather.  He had hateful memories of him.  “That does not matter,” he answered.  “I simply want to see the place—­ that is all.  Give me the key.”

“And here is the key, sir,” said the old lady, going over the contents of her bunch with tremulously uncertain hands.  “Here is the key.  I’ll have it off the bunch in a moment.  But you don’t think of living up there, sir, and you so comfortable here?”

“No, no,” he cried petulantly.  “Thank you, Leaf.  That will do.”

She lingered for a few moments, and was garrulous over some detail of the household.  He sighed and told her to manage things as she thought best.  She left the room, wreathed in smiles.