The Gothic mood intensifies in this chapter as a miserable rain falls over London's shadowy streets. Dorian Gray seeks oblivion to forget Basil's murder, craving the dens of opium and vice tucked away in the city's darkness.
As the night deepens, Dorian finds himself accosted by a stranger who accuses him of causing his sister's suicide years before. At gunpoint, Dorian pleads for a chance to prove his innocence. When his assailant James Vane examines Dorian’s youthful face unchanged after nearly two decades, he realizes he was mistaken.
Dorian escapes, but soon overhears a prostitute declare him the infamous lover who ruined her youth. The twist reveals the eternal youth granted to Dorian by his portrait also curses him by disguising his sins. James Vane swears to find the man who drove his sister to despair, not realizing Dorian Gray is in fact his correct target.
What will come when the truth emerges? Will James Vane uncover Dorian’s eldritch secret? The suspense lingers as this provocative chapter draws to its murky close in London's midnight shadows.
