That evening, at eight-thirty, exquisitely dressed and wearing a large button-hole of Parma violets, Dorian Gray was ushered into Lady Narborough’s drawing-room by bowing servants. His forehead was throbbing with maddened nerves, and he felt wildly excited, but his manner as he bent over his hostess’s hand was as easy and graceful as ever. Perhaps one never seems so much at one’s ease as when one has to play a part. Certainly no one looking at Dorian Gray that night could have believed that he had passed through a tragedy as horrible as any tragedy of our age. Those finely shaped fingers could never have clutched a knife for sin, nor those smiling lips have cried out on God and goodness. He himself could not help wondering at the calm of his demeanor, and for a moment felt keenly the terrible pleasure of a double life.

– Oscar Wilde

The Picture of Dorian Gray, Chapter 15. From looking at Dorian Gray’s magnificently dressed and easy and graceful appearance at Lady Narborough’s party, there is said to be no hint that he had just passed through a horrible tragedy. The writing here is ironic, because Dorian caused the tragedy that night, when he brutally stabbed his friend Basil to death.