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“ I fear you are right , ” answered Mr . Erskine . “ I myself used to have literary ambitions , but I gave them up long ago . And now , my dear young friend , if you will allow me to call you so , may I ask if you really meant all that you said to us at lunch ? ” “ I quite forget what I said , ” smiled Lord Henry . “ Was it all very bad ? ” “ Very bad indeed . In fact I consider you extremely dangerous , and if anything happens to our good duchess , we shall all look on you as being primarily responsible . But I should like to talk to you about life . The generation into which I was born was tedious . Some day , when you are tired of London , come down to Treadley and expound to me your philosophy of pleasure over some admirable Burgundy I am fortunate enough to possess . ” “ I shall be charmed . A visit to Treadley would be a great privilege . It has a perfect host , and a perfect library . ” “ You will complete it , ” answered the old gentleman with a courteous bow . “ And now I must bid good - bye to your excellent aunt . I am due at the Athenaeum . It is the hour when we sleep there . ” “ All of you , Mr . Erskine ? ” “ Forty of us , in forty arm - chairs . We are practising for an English Academy of Letters . ” Lord Henry laughed and rose . “ I am going to the park , ” he cried . As he was passing out of the door , Dorian Gray touched him on the arm . “ Let me come with you , ” he murmured . “ But I thought you had promised Basil Hallward to go and see him , ” answered Lord Henry . “ I would sooner come with you ; yes , I feel I must come with you . Do let me . And you will promise to talk to me all the time ? No one talks so wonderfully as you do . ” “ Ah ! I have talked quite enough for to - day , ” said Lord Henry , smiling . “ All I want now is to look at life . You may come and look at it with me , if you care to . ” CHAPTER IV . One afternoon , a month later , Dorian Gray was reclining in a luxurious arm - chair , in the little library of Lord Henry’s house in Mayfair . It was , in its way , a very charming room , with its high panelled wainscoting of olive - stained oak , its cream - coloured frieze and ceiling of raised plasterwork , and its brickdust felt carpet strewn with silk , long - fringed Persian rugs . On a tiny satinwood table stood a statuette by Clodion , and beside it lay a copy of Les Cent Nouvelles , bound for Margaret of Valois by Clovis Eve and powdered with the gilt daisies that Queen had selected for her device . Some large blue china jars and parrot - tulips were ranged on the mantelshelf , and through the small leaded panes of the window streamed the apricot - coloured light of a summer day in London .
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