For every sin that he committed, a stain would fleck and wreck its fairness.

But he would not sin.

The picture, changed or unchanged, would be to him the visible emblem of conscience.

He would resist temptation.

He would not see Lord Henry any more--would not, at any rate, listen to those subtle poisonous theories that in Basil Hallward's garden had first stirred within him the passion for impossible things.