Each hideous detail came back to him with added horror. Out of the black cave of Time, terrible and swathed in scarlet, rose the image of his sin.

– Oscar Wilde

The Picture of Dorian Gray, Chapter 18. Dorian, who remains in his house for a number of days, is haunted by the horror of his killing of his friend Basil in a "wild hour of madness." He recalls in vivid detail the "ghastly" memory of the scene. A metaphor is used to compare time to a black cave wrapped in scarlet red, out of which his terrible sin rises.