The Picture of Dorian Gray Chapter 18

Dorian stays in the next day, worrying about James coming to kill him. After a while, however, he begins to think it was merely his imagination. He feels a bit better knowing that someone would have seen James, if he had truly been there. He is thrust into another fit of anxiety when he thinks about his imagination having the power to create such awful images. After several days, he finally leaves his house and goes to a shooting party, where he walks along with Geoffrey Clouston, Gladys' brother. They see a hare crossing the path and at the last moment Dorian tells Geoffrey not to shoot it, however it is too late; as the hare runs into a bush, Geoffrey shoots it and hits it, along with a man who had been in the bushes. The man has died, and when Dorian talks with Lord Henry, Lord Henry tells him how awful it was that the beater was there, for now the topic of conversation will be quite tiring. Dorian is convinced that it is an omen, but Lord Henry tells him that there is no such thing. Dorian has a worried look on his face and Lord Henry asks him if he is in trouble, which he says he is not. Gladys comes up, and mentions that she heard that Dorian tried to stop Geoffrey from shooting the hair. He replies that he did, and he is not sure why. Lord Henry says, "Now if Geoffrey had done the thing on purpose, how interesting he would be! I should like to know someone who had committed a real murder." Chapter 18, pg. 233 At this, Dorian becomes faint again, but pretends he has not heard what Lord Henry said. He leaves, and Lord Henry asks Gladys if she is in love with Dorian. She cannot give him a straight answer.

In his room, Dorian cannot shake the feeling he has been having, and decides to pack and go to town. As he is about to leave, his gamekeeper comes to see him; they cannot identify the body of the man who has been shot. Dorian asks the gamekeeper if he is sure the man was not one of his men; he was not. Dorian asks where the body is, and quickly goes to the stable to see the body for himself. When he gets there, the face is covered with a handkerchief. He asks a servant to remove it, and is filled with joy when he sees that it is the body of Sibyl's brother, James.