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"They must interest you, Dorian. Every gentleman is interested in

his good name. You don't want people to talk of you as something

vile and degraded. Of course, you have your position, and your

wealth, and all that kind of thing. But position and wealth are

not everything. Mind you, I don't believe these rumours at all.

At least, I can't believe them when I see you. Sin is a thing

that writes itself across a man's face. It cannot be concealed.

People talk sometimes of secret vices. There are no such things.

If a wretched man has a vice, it shows itself in the lines of his

mouth, the droop of his eyelids, the moulding of his hands even.

Somebody-I won't mention his name, but you know him-came to me

last year to have his portrait done. I had never seen him before,

and had never heard anything about him at the time, though I have

heard a good deal since. He offered an extravagant price. I

refused him. There was something in the shape of his fingers that

I hated.