End of Project Gutenberg's Against The Grain, by Joris-Karl Huysmans
[Transcriber's Note, to forestall future queries:
This translation, as printed, omits two sections: chapter 6 entirely, and a few paragraphs near the end of chapter 9 (totalling 2500 words, or about 4%).
In chapter 6, Des Esseintes is relaxing in a wing-chair in front of the fire, remembering an event. One evening in the Rue de Rivoli he had befriended a young man, taken him to an expensive brothel, and paid for his entertainment. He had explained to the madam how he planned to turn the innocent young man into a murderer: by paying for regular visits and making him accustomed to a luxury he could not afford, then after three months stopping all payment. To maintain his habit, he would be driven to burglary, and perhaps kill someone who happened upon him. Des Esseintes' reflections have only the regret that he did not pursue his scheme closely enough to ensure its success.
Near the end of chapter 9, after musing upon the ventriloquist, Des Esseintes recalls walking along the Avenue de Latour-Maubourg when he was approached by a young man. He remembers this leading to an intense relationship that he looks back upon with a disturbing ambivalence.
Huysmans expressed antipathy to the moral content of these passages in a postface of 1903. ]