It was long past midday when Dorian woke up. His servant brought him tea and his letters but he did not read them. Yesterday seemed like a bad dream. But when he went downstairs he saw the covered picture. Should he uncover it, he wondered. Had the face in the picture really changed? Did he want to know? He lit a cigarette and thought for a while. Yes. He had to know. He lifted the cover. There was no mistake.  The portrait had really changed. He could not explain it could not understand it. It was impossible but it had happened. Dorian felt sick and ashamed. He did not know what to do or what to think. Finally he sat down and wrote a long letter to Sybil Vane. He covered page after page with wild words of love. Then suddenly he heard Lord Henry’s voice at the door. Dorian jumped up and covered the picture.
"My dear boy," said Lord Henry as he came in, "I’m so sorry but you must not think too much about her."
"Do you mean about Sybil Vane?" asked Dorian, "There’s nothing to be sorry about. I want to be good and I’m going to be happy. I shall marry Sybil Vane. I’m not going to break my promise to her."
"Marry Sybil Vane?" Lord Henry stared at Dorian. "Didn’t you get my letter?"
"I haven’t read my letters today," said Dorian slowly.
Lord Henry walked across the room and took Dorian’s hand in his own. "Dorian," he said quietly, "Don’t be frightened. My letter told you that Sybil Vane is dead. She killed herself at the theatre last night."
"No, that’s impossible," cried Dorian. He pulled his hands away and stared at Lord Henry with wild eyes. "This is terrible, Harry. I have murdered Sybil Vane."
"She killed herself", said Lord Henry calmly. "You didn’t murder her. She killed herself because she loved you. It’s very sad of course, but you mustn’t think too much about it. You must come and have dinner with me."
"Harry, listen! Last night I told her that I didn’t want to see her again. But after I left her I realized how cruel I had been. I decided to go back to her to marry her. And now she is dead. Harry, what shall I do? You don’t know the danger that I am in."
"My dear Dorian," said Lord Henry, "marriage with Sybil Vane was not for you. No, no, marriages like that are never successful. The man quickly becomes unhappy and bored. Of course, he is kind to his wife. We can always be kind to people we are not interested in. But the woman soon discovers that her husband is bored and then she either becomes terribly unfashionable or wears very expensive hats that another woman’s husband has to pay for."
The young man walked up and down the room. "I suppose, that’s true," he said unhappily. "But, Harry, I don’t think that I’m cruel. Do you?"
Lord Henry smiled. He told Dorian what he wanted to hear. And when he told him clever amusing stories about the women he himself had loved. He said that Sybil Vane’s death was a beautiful end to a love story for an actress. "The girl never really lived," he continued, "so she never really died. Don’t cry for Sybil Vane. She was less real than Juliet."
After awhile Dorian Gray looked up. "You have explained me to myself, Harry," he said slowly. "How well you know me. But we won’t talk of this again. It’s been a wonderful lesson for me. That’s all."
When Lord Henry had left Dorian uncovered the picture again. He had to choose between a good life and a bad life, he thought. But then he realized that, in fact, he had already chosen. He would stay young forever and enjoy every wild pleasure that life could give him. The face in the picture would grow old and ugly, and unkind but he would stay beautiful forever. He covered the picture again and smiled. An hour later he was at Lord Henry’s house and Lord Henry was smiling at his side.