Transcribed from the 1913 Methuen and Co. edition by David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org LORD ARTHUR SAVILE’S CRIME THE PORTRAIT OF MR. W. H. AND OTHER STORIES BY OSCAR WILDE * * * * * METHUEN & CO. LTD. 36 ESSEX STREET W.C. LONDON _Tenth Edition_ * * * * * _First Published_— _Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime_, _The _1887_ Canterville Ghost_, _The Sphinx without a Secret_, _and the Model Millionaire_ _Issued in Collected Form_ _1891_ _The Portrait of Mr. W. H._ _1889_ _First Issued by Methuen and Co._ _March_ _1908_ (_Limited Edition on Handmade Paper and Japanese Vellum_) _Third Edition_ (_F’cap. 8vo 5s. net_) _September_ _1908_ _Fourth Edition_ (_5s. net_) _October_ _1909_ _Fifth Edition_ (_5s. net_) _March_ _1911_ _Sixth and Seventh Editions_ (_F’cap. 8vo _April_ _1912_ 1s. net_) _Eighth Edition_ (_1s. net_) _September_ _1912_ _Ninth Edition_ (_1s.net_) _May_ _1913_ _Tenth Edition_ (_5s. net_) _1913_ CONTENTS PAGE LORD ARTHUR SAVILE’S CRIME 3 THE CANTERVILLE GHOST 65 THE SPHINX WITHOUT A SECRET 121 THE MODEL MILLIONAIRE 133 THE PORTRAIT OF MR. W. H. 145 LORD ARTHUR SAVILE’S CRIME A STUDY OF DUTY CHAPTER I IT was Lady Windermere’s last reception before Easter, and Bentinck House was even more crowded than usual. Six Cabinet Ministers had come on from the Speaker’s Levée in their stars and ribands, all the pretty women wore their smartest dresses, and at the end of the picture-gallery stood the Princess Sophia of Carlsrühe, a heavy Tartar-looking lady, with tiny black eyes and wonderful emeralds, talking bad French at the top of her voice, and laughing immoderately at everything that was said to her. It was certainly a wonderful medley of people. Gorgeous peeresses chatted affably to violent Radicals, popular preachers brushed coat-tails with eminent sceptics, a perfect bevy of bishops kept following a stout prima-donna from room to room, on the staircase stood several Royal Academicians, disguised as artists, and it was said that at one time the supper-room was absolutely crammed with geniuses. In fact, it was one of Lady Windermere’s best nights, and the Princess stayed till nearly half-past eleven.