THE STRANGE CASE OF DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE by Robert Louis Stevenson | FULL AUDIOBOOK

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this recording is by David Barnes The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
by Robert Louis Stevenson chapter one story of the door
Mr utterson the lawyer was a man of rugged countenance that was never lighted by a smile cold
scanty and embarrassed in discourse backward in sentiment lean long Dusty dreary and yet somehow
lovable at Friendly meetings and when the wine was to his taste something eminently human beaconed
from his eye something indeed which never found its way into his talk but which spoke not only in
the silent symbols of the after dinner face but more often and loudly in the acts of his life
he was austere with himself drank gin when he was alone to mortify a taste for vintages
and though he enjoyed the theater had not crossed the doors of one for 20 years but he had an
approved tolerance for others sometimes wondering almost With Envy at the high pressure of spirits
involved in their misdeeds and in any extremity inclined to help rather than to reprove I inclined
to Cain's heresy he used to say quaintly I let my brother go to the devil in his own way
in this character it was frequently his fortune to be the last reputable acquaintance
and the last good influence in the lives of downgoing men and to such as these so long
as they came about his Chambers he never marked a shade of change in his demeanor
no doubt the feat was easy to Mr Otterson for he was undemonstrative at the best
and even his friendships seem to be founded in a similar catholicity of good nature it is the
mark of a modest man to accept his friendly Circle ready made from the hands of opportunity and that
was the lawyer's way his friends were those of his own blood or Those whom he had known the longest
his affections like Ivy were the growth of time they implied no aptness in the object
hence no doubt the bond that United him to Mr Richard Enfield his distant Kinsmen the
well-known man about town it was a not to crack for many what these two could see in each other
or what subject they could find in common it was reported by those who encountered them in
their Sunday walks that they said nothing looked singularly dull and would hail with
obvious relief the appearance of a friend for all that the two men put the greatest store by these
excursions counted them the chief Jewel of each week and not only set aside occasions of pleasure
but even resisted the calls of business that they might enjoy them uninterrupted
it chanced on one of these rambles that their way LED them down a by Street in a busy quarter
of London the street was small and what is called quiet but it drove a thriving trade
on the weekdays the inhabitants were all doing well it seemed and all endlessly hoping to do
better still and laying out the surplus of their gains in cockatry so that the shop
front stood along that thoroughfare with an air of invitation like rows of smiling sales women
even on Sunday when it veiled its more florid charms and lay comparatively empty of Passage
the street Shone out in contrast to its dingy neighborhood like a fire in a forest
and with its freshly painted shutters well-polished brasses and general
cleanliness and gaiety of note instantly caught and pleased the eye of the passenger
two doors from one corner on the left hand going east the line was broken by the entry of a court
and just at that point a certain Sinister block of building thrust forward its Gable on the street
it was two stories high showed no window nothing but a door on the lower story
and a blind forehead of discolored wall on the upper and bore in every feature the marks have
prolonged and sordid negligence the door which was equipped with neither Bell nor knocker was
blistered and disdained tramps slouched into the recess and struck matches on the panels
children kept sharp upon the steps the Schoolboy had tried his knife on the moldings and for close
on a generation no one had appeared to drive away these random visitors or to repair their ravages
Mr Enfield and the lawyer were on the other side of the by Street
but when they came abreast of the entry the former lifted up his Cane and pointed
did you ever remark that door he asked and when his companion had replied in the affirmative
it is connected in my mind and did he with a very odd story indeed I said Mr Otterson with
a slight change of voice and what was that well it was this way returned Mr Enfield I was coming
home from some place at the end of the world about three o'clock of a black winter morning
and my way lay through a part of town where there was literally nothing to be seen But lamps
Street after Street and all the folks asleep Street after Street all lighted
up as if for a procession and all as empty as a church till At Last I got into that state
of mind when a man listens and listens and begins to long for the sight of a policeman
all at once I saw two figures one a little man who was stomping along Eastward at a good walk and the
other a girl of maybe eight or ten who was running as hard as she was able down a cross street
well sir the two ran into one another naturally enough at the corner
and then came the horrible part of the thing for the man trampled calmly over the girl's body and
left her screaming on the ground it sounds nothing to hear but it was hellish to see it wasn't like
a man it was like some damned juggernaut I gave a view hello took to my heels colored my
Gentleman and brought him back to where there was already quite a group about the screaming child
he was perfectly cool and made no resistance but gave me one look so
ugly that it brought out the sweat on me like running the people who turned out with a girl's
own family and pretty soon the doctor for whom she'd been sent put in his appearance
well the child was not much the worst more frightened according to the sore bones
and there you might have supposed would be an end to it but there was one curious circumstance
I had taken a loathing to my gentleman at first sight so had the child's family which was only
natural but the doctor's case was what struck me he was the usual cotton dry apoca 3 of no
particular age and color with a strong Edinburgh accent and about as emotional as a bagpipe
well sir he was like the rest of us every time he looked at my prisoner I saw that sore bones turn
sick and white with the desire to kill him I knew what was in his mind just as he knew what was in
mine and killing being out of the question we did the next best we told the man we could and would
make such a scandal out of this I should make his name stink from one end of London to the other
if he had any friends or any credit we undertook that he should lose them
and all the time as we were pitching it in red hot we were keeping the women off him as best we could
for they were as wild as harpies I never saw a circle of such hateful faces
and there was the man in the Middle with a kind of black sneering coolness
frightened too I could see that but carrying it off sir really likes Satan
if you choose to make Capital out of this accident said he I'm naturally helpless no
gentleman but wishes to avoid a scene says he name your figure well we screwed him up
to a hundred pounds for the child's family he would have clearly liked to stick out but there
was something about the lot of us that meant mischief and at last he struck the next thing
was to get the money and where do you think he carried us but to that place with the door
whipped out a key went in and presently came back with the matter of 10 pounds in gold and a check
for the balance at Coots drawn payable to Bearer and signed with a name that I can't mention though
it's one of the points of my story but it was a name at least very well known and often printed
the figure was stiff but the signature was good for more than that if it was only genuine
I took the liberty of pointing out to my gentleman that the whole business looked apocryphal
and that a man does not in real life walk into a Cellar Door at four in the morning and come out
of it with another man's check for close upon a hundred pounds but he was quite easy and sneering
set your mind at rest says he I will stay with you till the banks open and cash the check myself
so we all set off the doctor and the child's father and our friend and myself and passed
the rest of the night in my Chambers the next day when we had breakfasted went in a body to the bank
I gave him the check myself and said I had every reason to believe it was a forgery
not a bit of it the check was genuine Tut Tut said Mr utterson I see you feel as I do said Mr Enfield
yes it's a bad story for my man was a fellow that nobody could have to do with a really damnable man
and the person that Drew the check is the very pink of the proprieties
celebrated too and what makes it worse one of your fellows who do what they call good
blackmail I suppose an honest man paying through the nose for some of the Capers of his youth
blackmail house is what I call that place with the door in consequence though even that you
know is far from explaining all he added and with the words fell into a vein of musing
from this he was recalled by Mr Otterson asking rather suddenly and you don't know
if the drawer of the check lives there the likely place isn't it returned Mr
Enfield but I happen to have noticed his address he lives in some square or other
and you never asked about the place with the door said Mr Otterson no sir I had a delicacy
was the reply I feel very strongly about putting questions it partakes too much of the style of the
day of judgment you start a question and it's like starting a stone you sit quietly on the top of a
hill and Away the stone goes starting others and presently some bland old bird the last you would
have thought of is knocked on the head in his own back garden and the family have to change
their name no sir I make it a rule of mine the more it looks like queer Street the less I ask
a very good rule too said the lawyer but I have studied the place for myself continued Mr Enfield
it seems scarcely a house there is no other door and nobody goes in or out of that one but once
in a great while the gentleman of my adventure there are three Windows looking on the court on
the first floor none below the windows are always shot but they're clean and then there is a chimney
which is generally smoking so somebody must live there and yet it's not so sure for the buildings
are so packed together about that court that it's hard to say where one ends and another begins
the pair walked on again for a while in silence and then Enfield said Mr Otterson that's a good
rule of yours yes I think it is returned Enfield and for all of that continued the lawyer there's
one point I want to ask I want to ask the name of that man who walked over the child
well said Mr Enfield I can't see what harm it would do it was a man by the name of Hyde
hmm said Mr rotterson what sort of a man is he to see he's not easy to describe there is
something wrong with his appearance something displeasing something downright detestable
I never saw a man I so disliked and yet I scarce know why he must be deformed somewhere he gives
a strong feeling of deformity although I can't specify the point he's an extraordinary looking
man and yet I really can name nothing out of the way no sir I can make no hand of it
I can't describe him and it's not for want of memory for I declare I can see him this moment
Mr Otterson again walked some way in silence and obviously under a weight of consideration
you are sure he used a key he inquired at last my dear sir began Enfield surprised out of himself
yes I know said utterson I know it must seem strange the fact is if I do not ask you the
name of the other party it is because I know it already you see Richard your tail has gone home
if you have been in exact in any point you had better corrected I think you might have warned me
returned the other with the touch of sollorness but I've been pedantically exact as you call it
the fellow had a key and what's more he has it still I saw him use it not a week ago
Mr Otterson sighed deeply but said never a word and the young man presently resumed
here is another lesson to say nothing said he I'm ashamed of my long tongue let us make a bargain
never to refer to this again with all my heart said the lawyer I shake hands on that Richard
chapter 2 search for Mr Hyde
that evening Mr Otterson came home to his Bachelor house in somber spirits
and sat down to dinner without relish it was his costume of a Sunday when his meal was over
to sit close by the fire a volume of some dry Divinity on his reading desk until the clock of
the neighboring Church rang out the hour of 12 when he would go soberly and gratefully to bed
on this night however as soon as the cloth was taken away he took up a candle and went into his
business room there he opened his safe took from the most private part of it a document
endorsed on the envelope as Dr jekyll's will and sat down with a clouded brow to study its contents
the will was holograph for Mr Otterson though he took charge of it now that it was made had
refused to lend the least assistance in the making of it it provided not only that in the
case of the decease of Henry Jekyll MD DCL lld FRS Etc all his possessions were to pass into
the hands of his friend and benefactor Edward Hyde but that in case of Dr jekyll's disappearance or
unexplained absence for any period exceeding three calendar months the said Edward Hyde
should step into the said Henry jekyll's shoes without further delay and free from any burden
or obligation beyond the payment of a few small sums to the members of the doctor's household
this document had long been the lawyer's eyesore it offended him both as a lawyer
and as a lover of the sane and customary sides of Life To Whom the fanciful was the immodest
and hitherto it was his ignorance of Mr Hyde that had swelled his indignation
Now by a sudden turn it was his knowledge it was already bad enough when the name was but
a name of which he could learn no more it was worse when it began to be clothed upon with
detestable attributes and out of the shifting insubstantial Mists that had so baffled his eye
their leaptop the sudden definite presentment of a fiend I thought it was madness he said
as he replaced the obnoxious paper in the safe and now I begin to fear it is disgrace
with that he blew out his candle put on a great coat and set forth in the direction of Cavendish
square that Citadel of medicine where his friend the great Dr Lanyon had his house and received
his crowding patience if anyone knows it will be Lanyon he had thought the solemn Butler knew and
welcomed him he was subjected to no stage of delay but ushered direct from the door to the
dining room where Dr Lanyon sat alone over his wine he was a hearty healthy Dapper red-faced
gentleman with a shock of hair prematurely white and a boisterous and decided manner at sight of Mr
Otterson he sprang up from his chair and welcomed him with both hands the geniality as was the way
of the man was somewhat theatrical to the eye but it reposed on genuine feeling for these two
were old friends old mates both at school and college both thorough respecters of themselves
and of each other and what does not always follow men who thoroughly enjoyed each other's company
after a little rambling talk the lawyer led up to the subject which so disagreeably preoccupied
his mind I suppose Lanyon he said you and I must be the two oldest friends that Henry Jekyll has
I wish the friends were younger chuckled Dr Lanyon but I suppose we are and what of that
I see little of him now indeed said Otterson I thought you had a bond of common interest
we had was the reply but it is more than 10 years since Henry Jekyll became too fanciful for me
you began to go wrong wrong in the mind and though of course I continued to take an interest in him
for old sake's sake as they say I see and have seen devilish little of the man such unscientific
Balderdash added the doctor flushing suddenly purple would have estranged Daemon and pythius
this little Spirit of temper was somewhat of relief to Mr Otterson they have only differed
on some point of science he thought and being a man of no scientific passions except in the
matter of conveyancing he even added it is nothing worse than that he gave his friend a
few seconds to recover his composure and then approached the question he had come to put
did you ever come across a protege of his one hide he asked
hide repeated Lanyon no never heard of him since my time
that was the amount of information that the lawyer carried back with him to the Great
Dark bed on which he tossed to and fro until the small hours of the morning began to grow large
it was a night of little ease to his toiling mind toiling in mere darkness and besieged by questions
six o'clock struck on the bells of the church that was so conveniently near to Mr utterson's dwelling
and still he was digging at the problem hitherto it had touched him on the intellectual side alone
but now his imagination also was engaged or rather enslaved and as he lay and tossed in
the gross darkness of the night and the curtained room Mr enfield's tale went by before his mind in
a scroll of lighted pictures he would be aware of the great field of lamps of a nocturnal City
then of the figure of a man walking swiftly then of a child running from the doctors and then these
met and that human Juggernaut trod the child down and passed on regardless of her screams
or else he would see a room in a rich house where his friend lay asleep dreaming and
smiling at his dreams and then the door of that room would be opened the curtains
of the bed plucked apart the sleeper recalled and lo there would stand by his side a figure
to whom power was given and even at that dead hour he must rise and do its bidding
the figure in these two phases haunted the lawyer all night
and if at any time he dozed over it was bought to see it Glide more stealthily through sleeping
houses or move them more swiftly and still the more swiftly even to dizziness through wider
labyrinths of lamplighted city and at every street corner crush a child and leave her screaming
and still the figure had no face by which he might know it even in his dreams it had no face or one
that baffled him and melted before his eyes and thus it was that there sprang up and grew a pace
in the lawyer's mind a singularly strong almost an inordinate curiosity to behold the features
of the real Mr Hyde if he could but one set his eyes on him he thought the mystery would lighten
and perhaps roll away altogether as well as the habits of mysterious things when well examined
he might see a reason for his friend's strange preference or bondage call it which you please
and even for the startling Clauses of the will and at least it would be a face worth seeing the
face of a man who was without bowels of Mercy a face which had bought to show itself to raise up
in the mind of the unimpressionable Enfield a spirit of enduring hatred
from that time forward Mr utterson began to haunt the door in the by Street of Shops
in the morning before office hours at noon when business was plenty and times scarce at night
under the face of the fogged City Moon by all lights and at all hours of solitude or Concourse
the lawyer was to be found on his chosen post if he be Mr Hyde he had thought I shall be Mr seek
and at last his patience was rewarded it was a fine dry night Frost in the air the streets as
clean as a ballroom floor the lamps unshaken by any wind drawing a regular pattern of light
and Shadow by 10 o'clock when the shops were closed Dubai Street was very solitary
and in spite of the low growl of London from all around very silent
small sounds carried far domestic sounds out of the houses were clearly audible on either side
of the roadway and the Rumor of the approach of any passenger preceded him by a long time
Mr Otterson had been some minutes at his post when he was aware of an odd light footstep Drawing Near
in the course of his nightly patrols he had long grown accustomed to the
quaint effect with which the footfalls of a single person while he is still a
great way off suddenly spring out distinct from the vast hum and clatter of the city
yet his attention had never before been so sharply and decisively arrested and it was with a strong
superstitious provision of success that he withdrew into the entry of the Court the steps
Drew swiftly nearer and swelled out suddenly louder as they turned the End of the Street
the lawyer looking forth from the entry could soon see what manner of man he had to deal with
he was small and very plainly dressed and the look of him even at that distance went somehow
strongly against the Watcher's inclination but he made straight for the door crossing
the roadway to save time and as he came he drew a key from his pocket like one approaching home
Mr Otterson stepped out and touched him on the shoulder as he passed Mr Hyde I think Mr Hyde
shrank back with a hissing intake of the breath but his fear was only momentary and though he
did not look the lawyer in the face he answered coldly enough that is my name what do you want
I see you are going in return the lawyer I'm an old friend of Dr jekylls Mr Otterson of gaunt
Street you must have heard my name and meeting you so conveniently I thought you might admit me
you will not find Dr Jekyll he is from home replied Mr Hyde blowing in the key
and then suddenly but still without looking up how do you know me he asked on your side said Mr
Otterson will you do me a favor with pleasure replied the other what shall it be
will you let me see your face said the lawyer Mr Hyde appeared to hesitate and then as if
upon some sudden reflection fronted about with an air of defiance and the pair stared at each
other pretty fixedly for a few seconds now I shall know you again said Mr Otterson it may be useful
yes returned Mr Hyde it is as well we have met and I propose you should have my address and he gave
a number of a street in SoHo good God thought Mr utterson can he too have been thinking of the will
but he kept his feelings to himself and only granted an acknowledgment of the address
and now said the other how do you know me by description was the reply whose description
we have common friends said Mr Otterson common friends uttered Mr Hyde a little Horsley who are
they Jekyll for instance said the lawyer he never told you cried Mr Hyde with a flush of
anger I did not think he would have lied comes Mr otters and that is not fitting language the
other snarled aloud with a Savage laugh and the next moment with extraordinary quickness he had
unlocked the door and disappeared into the house the lawyer stood a while when Mr Hyde had left him
the picture of disquietude then he began slowly to mount the street pausing every
step or two and putting his hand to his brow like a man in mental perplexity
the problem he was thus debating as he walked was one of a class that is rarely solved Mr
Hyde was pale and dwarfish he gave an impression of deformity without any nameable malformation
he had a displeasing smile he had borne himself to the lawyer with a sort of murderous mixture
of timidity and boldness and he spoke with a husky whispering and somewhat Broken Voice
all these were points against him but not all of these together could explain the hitherto
unknown disgust loathing and fear with which Mr Otterson regarded him there must be something
else said the perplexed gentleman there is something more if I could find a name for it
God bless me the man seems hardly human something troglodytic shall we say
or can it be the old story of Dr Phil or is it the mere Radiance of a foul soul that thus
transpires through and transfigures its clay continent the last I think for oh my poor old
Harry Jekyll If Ever I read Satan's signature upon a face it is on that of your new friend
round the corner from the by Street there was a square of ancient handsome houses now for the
most part decayed from their higher state and let in flats and Chambers to all sorts and conditions
of men mapping grave as Architects Shady lawyers and the Agents of obscure Enterprises
one house however second from the corner was still occupied entire and at the door of this
which wore a great air of wealth and comfort though it was now plunged in darkness except
for the fan light Mr Otterson stopped and knocked A well-dressed elderly servant opened the door
is Dr Jekyll at home Paul asked the lawyer I will see Mr Otterson said Paul admitting
the visitor as he spoke into a large low-roofed comfortable Hall paved with flags warmed after
the fashion of a country house by a bright open fire and furnished with costly cabinets of Oak
will you wait here by the fire sir or shall I give you a light in the dining room
here thank you said the lawyer and he drew near and leaned on the tall fender
this Hall in which he was now left alone was a pet fancy of his friend the doctors
and Otterson himself was one to speak of it as the pleasantest room in London
but tonight there was a shodder in his blood the face of Hyde sat heavy in his memory
he felt what was rare with him a nausea and distaste of life
and in the Gloom of his spirits he seemed to read a menace in the flickering of the
firelight on the polished cabinets and the uneasy starting of the shadow on the roof
he was ashamed of his relief when Paul presently returned to announce that Dr Jekyll was gone out
I saw Mr Hyde go in by the old dissecting room door Paul he said is that right when Dr
Jekyll is from home quite right Mr utterson Sir replied the servant Mr Hyde has a key
your master seems to Repose a great deal of trust in that young man Paul
resumed the other amusingly yes sir he do indeed said Paul we all have orders to obey him I do not
think I ever met Mr Hyde asked artisan Odie knows her he never dines here replied the butler indeed
we see very little of him on this side of the house he mostly comes and goes by the laboratory
well good night Paul good night Mr utterson and the lawyer set out Homewood with a very
heavy heart poor Harry Jekyll he thought my mind misgives me he is in deep Waters he was wild when
he was young a long while ago to be sure but in the law of God there is no statute of limitations
by it must be that the ghost of some old sin the cancer of some concealed disgrace
punishment coming pede claudo years after memory has forgotten and self-love condones the fault
and the lawyer scared by the thought brooded a while on his own past groping in all the corners
of memory lest by chance some Jack in the Box of an old iniquity should leap to light there
his past was fairly blameless few men could read the roles of their life with less apprehension
yet he was humbled to the Dust by the many ill things he had done and raised up again
into a sober and fearful gratitude by the many that he had come so near to doing yet avoided
and then by a return on his former subject he conceived a spark of hope
this Mr Hyde if he was studded thought he must have secrets of his own black Secrets
by the look of him Secrets compared to which poor jekyll's worst would be like sunshine
things cannot continue as they are it turns me cold to think of this creature stealing like a
thief to Harry's bedside poor Harry what Awakening and the danger of it
for if this Hyde suspects the existence of the will he may grow impatient to inherit I I must
put my shoulder to the wheel if Jekyll will but let me he added if Jekyll will only let me for
once more he saw before his Mind's Eye as clear as a transparency the strange Clauses of the will
chapter 3. Dr Jekyll was quite at ease
a fortnight later by excellent Good Fortune the doctor gave one of his Pleasant dinners to some
five or six old cronies all intelligent reputable men and all judges of good wine
and Mr Otterson so contrived that he remained behind after the others had Departed
this was no new Arrangement but a thing that had befallen many scores of times
where Otterson was liked he was liked well hosts loved to detail the dry lawyer
when the light-hearted and the loose tongue had already their foot on the threshold
they liked to sit a while in his unobtrusive company practicing for Solitude sobering
their minds in the man's Rich silence after the expense and strain of gaiety
to this rule Dr Jekyll was no exception and as he now sat on the opposite side of the fire a large
well-made smooth-faced man of 50 with something of a sledge cast perhaps but every Mark of capacity
and kindness You Could See by his looks that he cherished Mr utterson a sincere and warm affection
I've been wanting to speak to you Jekyll began the latter
you know that will of yours a close Observer might have gathered that the topic was distasteful
but the doctor carried it off gaily my poor utterson he said you are unfortunate in such
a client I never saw a man so distressed as you were by my will unless it were that hide-bound
pedant Lanyon at what he called my scientific heresies oh I know he's a good fellow you needn't
frown an excellent fellow and I always mean to see more of him but a hide-bound pendant
for all that an ignorant blatant patent I was never more disappointed in any man than Lanyon
you know I never approved of it pursued utterson ruthlessly disregarding the fresh topic
my will yes certainly I know that said the doctor a trifle sharply you told me so
well I tell you so again continued the lawyer I have been learning something of young Hyde
the large handsome face of Dr Jekyll grew pale to the very lips and there came a Blackness about his
eyes I do not care to hear more said he this is a matter I thought we had agreed to stop
what I heard was abominable said artisan it can make no change you do not understand my position
return the doctor with a certain incoherency of manner I'm painfully situated utterson my position
is a very strange a very strange one it is one of those Affairs that cannot be mended by talking
Jekyll said Artisan you know me I'm a man to be trusted make a clean breast of this
in confidence and I make no doubt I can get you out of it my good utterson said the doctor this
is very good of you this is downright good of you and I cannot find words to thank you in I
believe you fully I would trust you before any man alive I before myself if I could make the choice
but indeed it isn't what you fancy it is not so bad as that and just to put your
good-hearted rest I will tell you one thing the moment I choose I can be rid of Mr Hyde
I give you my hand upon that and I thank you again and again
and I will just add one little word utterson that I'm sure you'll take in good part this is
a private matter and I beg of you to let it sleep Artisan reflected a little looking in the fire
I have no doubt you are perfectly right he said at last getting to his feet
well but since we have touched upon the business and for the last time I hope continued the doctor
there is one point I should like you to understand I have really a very great interest in poor hide
I know you have seen him he told me so and I fear he was rude
but I do sincerely take a great a very great interest in that young man and if I am taken
away Artisan I wish you to promise me that you will bear with him and get his rights for him
I think you would if you knew all and it would be a weight of my mind if you would promise
I can't promise that I shall ever like him said the lawyer I don't ask that pleaded Jekyll laying
his hand upon the other's arm I ask only for justice I only ask you to help him for my
sake when I am no longer here Artisan heaved an irrepressible sigh well he said I promise
the end of chapter 3
chapter 4 the Kuru murder case
nearly a year later in the month of October 18 something London was startled by a crime
of singular ferocity and rendered all the more notable by the high position of the victim
the details were few and startling
a maidservant living alone in a house not far from the river had gone upstairs to bed about 11.
although a fog rolled over the city in the small hours the early part of the night was cloudless
and the lane which the maids window overlooked was brilliantly lit by the full moon it seems
she was romantically given for she sat down upon her box which stood immediately onto the window
fell into a dream of musing never she used to say with streaming tears when she narrated
The Experience never had she felt more at peace with all men or thought more kindly of the world
and as she so sat she became aware of an aged and beautiful gentleman with white hair Drawing
Near along the lane and advancing to meet him another and very small gentleman to whom At
first she paid less attention when they had come within speech which was just under the maid's eyes
the older men bowed and accosted the other with a very pretty manner of politeness
it did not seem as if the subject of his address were of great importance
indeed from his pointing it sometimes appeared as if he were only inquiring his way
but the moon Shone on his face as he spoke and the girl was pleased to watch it
it seemed to breathe such an innocent and Old World kindness of disposition
yet with something high too as of a well-founded self-content
presently her I wandered to the other and she was surprised to recognizing him a certain Mr Hyde
who had once visited her master and for whom she had conceived a dislike he had in his hand
a heavy cane with which he was trifling but he answered never a word and seemed to listen
with an ill-contained impatience then all of a sudden he broke out in a great flame of anger
stamping with his foot brandishing the cane and carrying on as the maid described it like a madman
the Old Gentleman took a step back with the air of one very much surprised and a trifle hurt
and at that Mr Hyde broke out of all bounds and clogged him to the Earth
and next moment with ape-like Fury he was trampling his victim underfoot and hailing
down the storm of blows under which the bones were audibly shattered and the body
jumped upon the roadway at the horror of these sights and sounds the maid fainted
it was two o'clock when she came to herself and called for the police the murderer was gone long
ago but there lay his victim in the middle of the lane incredibly mangled the stick with which
the deed had been done although it was of some rare and very tough and heavy wood had broken
in the middle under the stress of this insensate cruelty and one splintered half had rolled in the
neighboring gutter the other without doubt had been Carried Away by the murderer a purse and a
gold watch were found upon the victim but no cards or papers except a sealed and stamped envelope
which he had been probably carrying to the Post and which bore the name and address of Mr utterson
this was brought to the lawyer the next morning before he was out of bed and he had no sooner
seen it and been told the circumstances then he shot out a solemn lip I shall say nothing till
I have seen the body said he this may be very serious have the kindness to wait while I dress
and with the same grave countenance he hurried through his breakfast and drove to the police
station whether the body had been carried as soon as he came into the cell he nodded
yes said he I recognize him I am sorry to say that this is Sir Danvers Karu good God sir
exclaimed the officer is it possible and the next moment is I light it up with professional ambition
this will make a deal of noise he said and perhaps you can help us to the man
and he briefly narrated what the maid had seen and showed the broken stick Mr Otterson had already
quailed at the name of Hyde but when the stick was laid before him he could doubt no longer
broken and battered as it was he recognized it for one that he had himself presented many years
before to Henry Jekyll is this Mr Hyde a person of small stature he inquired particularly small and
particularly Wicked looking is what the maid calls him said the officer Mr Otterson reflected and
then raising his head if you will come with me in my cab he said I think I can take you to his house
it was by this time about nine in the morning and the first fog of the season a great chocolate
colored pole lowered over heaven but the wind was continually charging and routing these embattled
Vapors so that as the cab crawled from Street to Street Mr Otterson beheld The Marvelous number
of degrees and Hues of Twilight for here it would be dark like the back end of evening
and there would be a glow of a rich lurid Brown like the light of some strange conflagration
and here for a moment the fog would be quite broken up and a Haggard shaft of daylight would
glance in between the swirling wreaths the Dismal quarter of Soho seen under these changing glimpses
with its muddy ways and slattenly passengers and its lamps which had never been extinguished
or had been kindled afresh to combat this mournful reinvasion of Darkness seemed in
the lawyer's eyes like a district of some City in a nightmare the thoughts of his mind besides
were of the gloomiest die and when he glanced at the companion of his drive he was conscious of
some touch of that Terror of the law and the Law's officers which may at times assail the most honest
as the cab Drew up before the address indicated the fog lifted a little and showed him a dingy
Street a gin Palace a low French Eating House a shop for the retail of Penny numbers and
toppany salads many ragged children huddled in the doorways and many women of many different
nationalities passing out key in hand to have a morning glass and the next moment the fog settled
down again upon that part as brown as Umber and cuts him off from his blaggardly surroundings this
was the home of Henry jekyll's favorite of a man who was heir to a quarter of a million Sterling
an ivory-faced and silvery-haired old woman opened the door she had an evil face smoothed
by hypocrisy but her manners were excellent yes she said this was Mr Hyde's but he was
not at home he had been in that night very late but had gone away again in less than an hour
there was nothing strange in that his habits were very irregular and he was often absent
for instance it was nearly two months since she had seen him till yesterday very well then we
wish to see his rooms said the lawyer and when the woman began to declare it was impossible
I had better tell you who this person is he added this is inspector new common a Scotland Yard
a flash of odious Joy appeared upon the woman's face ah said she he's in trouble what has he done
Mr Otterson and the inspector exchanged glances he don't seem a very popular character observed
the latter and now my good woman just let me and this gentleman have a look about us
in the whole extent of the house which bought for the old woman remained otherwise empty Mr
Hyde had only used a couple of rooms but these were furnished with luxury and good
taste a closet was filled with wine the plate was of silver the napery excellent
a good picture hung up on the walls a gift as utterson supposed from Henry Jekyll who
was much of a connoisseur and the carpets were of many Plies and agreeable in color
at this moment however the rooms bore every Mark of having been recently and hurriedly ransacked
clothes lay about the floor with their pockets inside out lock fast drawers stood open
and on the half they lay a pile of gray ashes as though many papers had been burned
from these Embers the inspector disinterred the butt end of a green checkbook which had resisted
the action of the fire the other half of the stick was found behind the door and as this
clinched his suspicions the officer declared himself delighted a visit to the bank where
several thousand pounds were found to be lying to the murderer's credit completed his gratification
you may depend on it sir he told Mr Otterson I have him in my hand he must have lost his head
or he would never have left the stick or above all burned the checkbook why money's life to
the man we have nothing to do but wait for him at the bank and get out the hand bills
this last however was not so easy of accomplishment
for Mr Hyde had numbered few familiars even the master of the servant made had only seen him twice
his family could nowhere be traced he had never been photographed and the few who could describe
him differed widely as common observers will only on one point were they agreed and that
was The Haunting sense of unexpressed deformity with which The Fugitive impressed his beholders
chapter 5 incident of the letter
it was late in the afternoon when Mr utterson found his way to Dr jekyll's door
where he was at once admitted by Paul and carried down by the kitchen offices and across a yard
which had once been a garden to the building which was indifferently known as the laboratory or the
dissecting rooms the doctor had bought the house from The Heirs of a celebrated surgeon and his own
tastes being rather chemical than anatomical had changed the destination of the block at
the bottom of the garden it was the first time that the lawyer had been received in that part
of his friend's quarters and he eyed the dingy windowless structure with curiosity and gazed
round with a distasteful sense of strangeness as he crossed the theater once crowded with eager
students and now lying gaunt and Silent the tables Laden with chemical apparatus the floor strewn
with crates and littered with packing straw and the light falling dimly through the foggy cupola
at the further end a flight of stairs mounted to a door covered with red bays and through this Mr
Otterson was at last received into the doctor's cabinet it was a large room fitted round with
glass presses furnished among other things with a Cheval glass and a business table
and looking out upon the court by three Dusty Windows barred with iron the fire burned in
the great a lamp was set lighted on the chimney Shelf for even in the houses the fog began to
lie thickly and there close up to the warmth sat Dr Jekyll looking deadly sick he did not
rise to meet his visitor but held out a cold hand and obeyed him welcome in a changed voice
and now said Mr Otterson as soon as Paul had left them you have heard the news the doctor shuddered
they were crying it in the Square he said I heard them in my dining room
one word said the lawyer Karu was my client but so are you and I want to know what I'm doing
you have not been mad enough to hide this fellow Artisan I swear to God cried the doctor I swear to
God I will never set eyes on him again I bind my honor to you that I am done with him in this world
it is all at an end and indeed he does not want my help
you do not know him as I do he is safe he is quite safe mark my words he will never more be heard of
the lawyer listened gloomily he did not like his friend's feverish manner you seem pretty sure of
him he said and for your sake I hope you may be right if it came to a trial your name might appear
I am quite sure of him replied Jekyll I have grounds for certainty that I cannot share with
anyone but there is one thing of which you may advise me I have I have received a letter
and I'm at a loss whether I should show it to the police I should like to leave it in
your hands Otterson you would judge wisely I'm sure I have so great a trust in you
you fear I suppose that it might lead to his detection asked the lawyer
no said the other I cannot say that I care What Becomes of hide I am quite done with him
I was thinking of my own character which this hateful business has rather exposed
Artisan ruminated a while he was surprised at his friend's selfishness and yet relieved by it
well said he at last let me see the letter the letter was written in an old upright hand and
signed Edward Hyde and it signified briefly enough that the writer's benefactor Dr Jekyll
whom he had long so unworthily repaid for a thousand generosities need labor under
no alarm for his safety as he had means of escape on which he placed a sure dependence
the lawyer liked this letter well enough it put a better color on the intimacy
than he had looked for and he blamed himself for some of his past suspicions
have you the envelope he asked I burned it replied Jekyll before I thought what I was about but it
bore no postmark the note was handed in shall I keep this and sleep upon it our status on
I wish you to judge for me entirely was the reply I have lost confidence in myself
well I shall consider return to the lawyer and now one word more it was Hyde who dictated the terms
in your will about that disappearance the doctor seemed seized with a qualm of faintness he shot
his mouth tight and nodded I knew it said utterson he meant to murder you you have had a fine Escape
I have had what is far more to the purpose returned to the doctor solemnly I have had
a lesson oh God utterson what a lesson I have had and he covered his face for
a moment with his hands on his way out the lawyer stopped and had a word or two with Paul
by the by said he there was a letter handed in today what was the messenger like
but Paul was positive nothing had come except by post and only circulars by that he added
this news sent off the visitor with his fears renewed
plainly the letter had come by the laboratory door possibly indeed it had been written in the cabinet
and if that were so it must be differently judged and handled with the more caution
the Newsboys as he went were crying themselves hoarse along the footways special edition shocking
murder of an MP that was the funeral oration of one friend and client and he could not help a
certain apprehension lest the good name of another should be sucked down in the Eddie of the Scandal
it was at least a ticklish decision that he had to make and self-reliant as he was by habit he
began to cherish a longing for advice it was not to be had directly but perhaps he thought
it might be fished for presently after he sat on one side of his own Hearth with Mr guest
his head clerk upon the other and midway between at a nicely calculated distance from the fire a
bottle of a particular old wine that had long dwelt unsawned in the foundations of his house
fog still slept on the wing above the drowned city where the lamps glimmered like carbuncles
and through the muffle and smother of these Fallen clouds the procession of the town's
life was still rolling in through the great arteries with the sound as of A Mighty Wind
but the room was gay with firelight in the bottle the acids were long ago resolved the Imperial dye
had softened with time as the color grows richer in stained windows and the glow of hot Autumn
afternoons on Hillside Vineyards was ready to be set free and to disperse the fogs of London
insensibly the lawyer melted there was no man from whom he kept fewer Secrets than Mr guest
and he was not always sure that he kept as many as he meant
guests had often been on business to the doctors he knew Paul he could scarcely have failed to
hear of Mr Hyde's familiarity about the house he might draw conclusions was it not as well then
that he should see a letter which put that mystery to rights and above all since guest
being a great student and critic of handwriting would consider the step natural and obliging
the clerk besides was a man of counsel he would scarce read so stranger document
without dropping a remark and by that remark Mr Otterson might shape his future course
this is a sad business about Sir Danvers he said yes sir indeed it has elicited a great
deal of public feeling returned guest the man of course was mad
I should like to hear your views on that replied Artisan I have a document here in
his handwriting it is between ourselves for iscares knew what to do about it
it is an ugly business at the best but there it is quite in your way a murderer's autograph
guest's eyes brightened and he sat down at once and studied it with passion
no sir he said not mad but it is an odd hand and by all accounts a very odd writer added the lawyer
just then the servant entered with a note is that from Dr Jekyll sir inquired the clerk I thought I
knew the writing anything private Mr Otterson only an invitation to dinner why do you want to see it
one moment I thank you sir and the clerk laid the two sheets of paper alongside
and sedulously compared their contents thank you sir he said at last returning both
it's a very interesting autograph there was a pause during which Mr Otterson struggled
with himself why did you compare them guests he inquired suddenly well sir he returned the clerk
there's a rather singular resemblance the two hands are in many points identical
only differently sloped rather quaint said artisan it is as you say rather quaint returned guest
I wouldn't speak of this note you know said the master no sir said the clerk I understand
but no sooner was Mr Otterson alone that night then he locked
the note into his safe where it reposed from that time forward
what he thought Henry Jekyll forged for a murderer and his blood ran cold in his veins
chapter 6 remarkable incident of Dr Lanyon
time ran on thousands of pounds were offered in reward for the death of Sir Danvers was resented
as a public injury but Mr Hyde had disappeared out of the Ken of the police as though he had
never existed much of his past was Unearthed indeed and all disreputable Tales came out of
the man's cruelty at once so callous and violent of his vile life of his strange Associates of the
hatred that seems to have surrounded his career but of his present whereabouts not a whisper
from the time he had left the house in SoHo on the morning of the murder
he was simply blotted out and gradually As Time Drew on Mr Otterson began to recover
from the hotness of his alarm and to grow more at quiet with himself the death of Sir Danvers
was to his way of thinking more than paid for by The Disappearance of Mr Hyde now that that
evil influence had been withdrawn a new life began for Dr Jekyll he came out of his seclusion renewed
relations with his friends became once more their familiar guest and Entertainer
and whilst he had always been known for Charities he was now no less distinguished for religion
he was busy he was much in the open air he did good his face seemed to open and brighten as
if with an inward consciousness of service and for more than two months the doctor was at peace
on the 8th of January utterson had dined at the doctors with a small party Lanyon had been there
and the face of the host had looked from one to the other as in the old days when the trio were
inseparable friends on the 12th and again on the 14th the door was shot against the lawyer
the doctor was confined to the house Paul said and saw no one
on the 15th he tried again and was again refused and having now been used for the last two months
to see his friend almost daily he found this return of solitude to weigh upon his spirits
the fifth night he had in guest to dine with him and the sixth he betook himself to Dr lanyon's
there at least he was not denied admittance but when he came in he was shocked at the change which
had taken place in the doctor's appearance he had his death warrant written legibly upon his face
The Rosy man had grown pale his flesh had fallen away he was visibly Bolder and older and yet it
was not so much these tokens of a swift physical Decay that arrested the lawyers notice as a look
in the eye and quality of manner that seemed to testify to some deep-seated Terror of the Mind
it was unlikely that the doctor should fear death and yet that was what Artisan was tempted
to suspect yes he thought he is a doctor he must know his own State and that his days are counted
and the knowledge is more than he can bear and yet we're not a son remarked on his ill
looks it was with an air of great firmness that Lanyon declared himself a doomed man
I have had a shock he said and I shall never recover
it is a question of weeks well life has been Pleasant I liked it yes sir I used to like it
I sometimes think if we knew all we should be more glad to get away
Jekyll is ill too observed Otterson have you seen him but lanyon's face changed and he held up a
trembling hand I wish to see or hear no more of Dr Jekyll he said in a loud unsteady voice I am quite
done with that person and I beg that you will spare me any illusion to one whom I regard as dead
top Tut said Mr utterson and then after a considerable pause can't I do anything he
inquired we are three very old friends Lanyon we shall not live to make others
nothing can be done returned Lanyon ask himself
he will not see me said the doctor I'm not surprised that that was the reply someday
utterson after I am dead you may perhaps come to learn the right and wrong of this I cannot tell
you and in the meantime if you can sit and talk with me of other things for God's sake stay and do
so but if you cannot keep clear of this accursed topic then in God's name go for I cannot bear it
as soon as he got home Artisan sat down and wrote to Jekyll complaining of his exclusion
from the house and asking the cause of this unhappy break with Lanyon and the next day
brought him a long answer often very pathetically worded and sometimes Darkly mysterious in drift
the quarrel with Lanyon was incurable I do not blame our old friend Jekyll wrote but I share
his view that we must never meet I mean from henceforth to lead a life of extreme seclusion
you must not be surprised nor must you doubt my friendship if my door is often shot even to you
you must suffer me to go my own dark way I have brought on myself a punishment and a
danger that I cannot name if I am the chief of Sinners I am the chief of sufferers also
I could not think that this Earth contained a place for sufferings and Terrors so unmanning
and you can do but one thing utterson to lighten this Destiny and that is to respect my silence
Artisan was amazed the dark influence of Hyde had been withdrawn
the doctor had returned to his old tasks and amities a week ago the prospect had smiled with
every promise of a cheerful and an honored age and now in a moment friendship and peace of mind
and the whole tenor of his life were wrecked so great and unprepared to change pointed to Madness
but in view of lanyon's manner and words they must lie for it some deeper ground
a week afterwards Dr Lanyon took to his bed and in something less than a fortnight he was dead
the night after the funeral at which he had been sadly affected Otterson locked the door
of his business room and sitting there by the light of a Melancholy candle Drew out and set
before him an envelope addressed by the hand and sealed with the Seal of his dear friend
private for the hands of J.G utterson alone and in case of his pre-dece to be destroyed unread
so it was emphatically superscribed and the lawyer dreaded to behold the contents
I have Buried one friend today he thought what if this should cost me another
and then he condemned the fear as a disloyalty and broke the seal
within there was another enclosure likewise sealed and marked upon the cover as not to be
opened till the death or disappearance of Dr Henry Jekyll Artisan could not trust his eyes
yes it was disappearance here again as in the Mad will which he had long ago restored to its author
here again were the idea of a disappearance and the name of Henry Jekyll bracketed
but in the will that idea had sprung from the Sinister suggestion of the man hide
it was set there with a purpose all too plain and horrible written by the hand of Lanyon
what could it mean her great curiosity came on the trustee to disregard the prohibition and
dive at once to the bottom of these Mysteries but professional honor and Faith to his dead
friend were stringent obligations and the packet slept in the inmost corner of his private safe
it is one thing to mortify curiosity another to conquer it and it may be doubted if from
that day forth Artisan desired the Society of his surviving friend with the same eagerness
he thought of him kindly but his thoughts were disquieted and fearful he went to call indeed but
he was perhaps relieved to be denied admittance perhaps in his heart he preferred to speak with
Paul upon the doorstep and surrounded by the air and sounds of the Open City rather than to
be admitted into that house of voluntary bondage and to sit and speak with its inscrutable recluse
Paul had indeed no very pleasant news to communicate the doctor it appeared now more
than ever confined himself to the cabinet over the laboratory where he would sometimes even sleep
he was out of spirits he had grown very silent he did not read it seemed as
if he had something on his mind utterson became so used to the unvarying character
of these reports that he fell off little by little in the frequency of his visits
chapter 7 incident at the window
he chanced on Sunday when Mr Otterson was on his usual walk with Mr Enfield that their way lay once
again through the by Street and that when they came in front of the door both stopped to gaze
at it well said Enfield that store is at an end at least we shall never see more of Mr Hyde I
hope not said utterson did I ever tell you that I once saw him and shared your feeling of repulsion
it was impossible to do the one without the other returned Enfield and by the way what
an ass you must have thought me not to know that this was a back way to Dr jekyll's it was partly
your own fault that I found out even when I did so you found it out did you said utterson but if
that be so we may step into the court and take a look at the windows to tell you the truth I am
uneasy about poor Jekyll and even outside I feel as if the presence of a friend might do him good
the court was very cool and a little damp and full of premature Twilight
although the sky high up overhead was still bright with sunset the middle one of the three
Windows was halfway open and sitting close beside it taking the air with an infinite sadness of mean
like some disconsolate prisoner Artisan saw Dr Jekyll what Jekyll he cried I trust you're better
I am very low utterson replied the doctor Drew really very low it will not last long thank God
you stayed too much indoors said the lawyer you should be out whipping up the circulation like
Mr Enfield and me this is my cousin Mr Enfield Dr Jekyll come now get your hat and take a quick
turn with us you are very good side the other I should like to very much but no no no it is
quite impossible I dare not but indeed utterson I am very glad to see you this is really a great
pleasure I would ask you and Mr Enfield up but the place is really not fit why then said the lawyer
good-naturedly the best thing we can do is to stay down here and speak with you from where we are
that is just what I was about to venture to propose return to the doctor with a smile
but the words were hardly uttered before the smile was struck out of his face and succeeded by an
expression of such abject Terror and despair has froze the very blood of the two gentlemen below
they saw it but for a glimpse for the window was instantly thrust down but that Glimpse
had been sufficient and they turned and left the court without a word in silence too they
traversed the by Street and it was not until they had come into a neighboring thoroughfare
where even upon a Sunday there were still some stirrings of life that Mr Otterson at last turned
and looked at his companion they were both pale and there was an answering Horror in their eyes
God forgive us God forgive us said Mr rotterson but Mr Enfield only nodded his head very seriously
and walked on once more in silence end of chapter 7. chapter 8 the last night
Mr Otterson was sitting by his Fireside one evening after dinner
when he was surprised to receive a visit from Paul bless me Paul what brings you here he cried
and then taking a second look at him what ails you he added is the doctor ill
Mr Otterson said the man there is something wrong take a seat and here is a glass of wine
for you said the lawyer now take your time and tell me plainly what you want
you know the doctor's ways sir replied Paul and how he shuts himself up well he shot up again
in the cabinet and I don't like it sir I wish I may die if I like it Mr Otterson sir I'm afraid
now my good man said the lawyer be explicit what are you afraid of I've been afraid for about a
week returned Paul doggedly disregarding the question and I can bear it no more
the man's appearance amply bore out his words his manner was altered for the worse and except for
the moment when he'd first announced his Terror he had not once looked the lawyer in the face
even now he sat with the glass of wine untasted on his knee and his eyes directed to a corner of
the floor I can bear it no more he repeated come said the lawyer I see you have some
good reason Paul I see there is something seriously amiss try to tell me what it is
I think there's been Foul Play said Paul Horsley Foul Play cried the lawyer a good deal
frightened and rather inclined to be irritated in consequence what Foul Play What Does the man mean
I don't say Sir was the answer but will you come along with me and see for yourself
Mr utterson's only answer was to rise and get his hat in great coats
but he observed with Wonder the greatness of the relief that appeared upon the butler's face
and perhaps with no less that the wine was still untasted when he set it down to follow
it was a wild cold seasonable night of March with a Pale Moon lying on her back as though
the wind had tilted her and a flying rack of the most diaphanous and lorny texture
the Wind made Talking difficult and flecked the blood into the face
it seemed to have swept the streets unusually bare of passengers besides for Mr Otterson
thought he had never seen that part of London so deserted he could have wished it otherwise never
in his life had he been conscious of so sharp a wish to see and touch his fellow creatures
for struggle as he might there was born in upon his mind a crushing anticipation of calamity
the square when they got there was all full of wind and dust and the thin trees in the garden
were lashing themselves against the railing Paul who had kept all the way a piece or two a head
now pulled up in the middle of the pavement and in spite of the biting weather took off
his hat and mopped his brow with the red pocket handkerchief but for all the hurry of his coming
these were not the Dews of exertion that he wiped away but the moisture or some strangling anguish
for his face was white and his voice when he spoke harsh and broken
well sir he said here we are and God grant there be nothing wrong amen Paul said the lawyer
thereupon the servant knocked in a very guarded manner the door was opened on the chain
and a voice asked from within is that you Paul it's all right said Paul open the door
the hall when they entered it was brightly lighted up the fire was built high and about the
Hearth the whole of the servants men and women stood huddled together like a flock of sheep
at the site of Mr Otterson the housemaid broke into hysterical whimpering and the
cook crying out bless God it's Mr Otterson ran forward as if to take him in her arms
what what are you all here said the lawyer p vishly
very irregular very unseemly your master would be far from pleased they're all afraid said Paul
blank silence followed no one protesting only the maid lifted up her voice and now wept loudly hold
your tongue Paul said to her with a ferocity of accent that testified to his own jangled nerves
and indeed when the girl had so suddenly raised the note of her lamentation they had all started
and turned towards the inner door with faces of dreadful expectation and now continued
the butler addressing the knife boy reach me a candle and we'll get this through hands at once
and then he begged Mr Otterson to follow him and led the way to the back Garden
now sir said he you come as gently as you can I want you to hear and I don't want you to be heard
and see here sir if by any chance he was to ask you in don't go
Mr otterson's nerves at this unlooked for termination gave a jerk that nearly threw him from
his balance but he recollected his courage and followed the butler into the laboratory building
and through the surgical theater with its Lumber of crates and bottles to the foot of the stair
here Paul motioned him to stand on one side and listen
while he himself setting down the candle and making a great and obvious call on his resolution
mounted the steps and knocked with a somewhat uncertain hand on the red Bays of the cabinet door
Mr rotterson Sir asking to see you he called and even as he did so once more violently signed to
the lawyer to give ear a voice answered from within tell him I cannot see anyone
it answered complainingly thank you sir said Paul with a note of something like Triumph in his voice
and taking up his candle he led Mr Otterson back across the yard and into the great kitchen
where the fire was out and The Beetles were leaping on the floor
sir he said looking Mr Otterson in the eyes was that my Master's Voice it seems much changed
replied the lawyer very pale but giving look for look changed well yes I think so said the butler
have I been 20 years in this man's house to be deceived about his voice no sir Masters made a
way with he was made away with eight days ago when we heard him cry out upon the name of God
and who's in there instead of him and why it stays there is a thing that cries to Heaven Mr utterson
this is a very strange tale Paul this is rather a wild tale my man said Mr Otterson
biting his finger suppose it were as you suppose supposing Dr Jekyll to have been well murdered
what could induce the murderer to stay that won't hold water it doesn't commend itself to reason
well Mr Otterson you are a hard man to satisfy but I'll do it yet said Paul
all this last week you must know him or it or whatever it is that lives in that cabinet has been
crying night and day for some sort of medicine and cannot get it to his mind it was sometimes his
way the Masters that is to write his orders on a sheet of paper and throw it on the stair we've had
nothing else this week back nothing but papers and a closed door and the Very meals left there to be
smuggled in when no one was looking well sir every day I and twice and Thrice in the same day there
have been orders and complaints and I've been sent flying to all the wholesale Chemists in town
every time I brought the stuff back there would be another paper telling me to return it because it
was not pure and another order to a different firm this drug is wanted bitter bad sir whatever for
have you any of these papers asked Mr Otterson Paul felt in his pocket and handed out a crumpled
note which the lawyer bending nearer to the candle carefully examined its contents ran thus
Dr Jekyll presents his compliments to messes more
he assures them that their last sample is impure and quite useless for his present purpose
in the year 18 something Dr J purchased a somewhat large quantity from Mrs M he now begs them to
search with the most sedulous care and should any of the same quality be left to forward it to him
at once expense is no consideration the importance of this to Dr J can hardly be exaggerated
so far the letter had run composedly enough but here with a sudden splotter of the pen The
Writer's emotion had broken loose for God's sake he had added find me some of the old
this is a strange note said Mr Otterson and then sharply how do you come to have it open
the man at Moors was main angry sir and he threw it back to me like so much dirt returned Paul
this is unquestionably the doctor's hand do you know resumed the lawyer
I thought it looked like it said the servant rather sulkily and then with another voice
but what matters hand of right he said I've seen him seen him repeated Mr utterson well
that's it said Paul it was this way I came suddenly into the theater from the garden
it seems he'd slipped out to look for this drug or whatever it is for the cabinet door was open
and there he was at the far end of the room digging among the crates he looked up when I
came in gave a kind of cry and whipped upstairs into the cabinet it was bought for one minute
that I saw him but the hair stood upon my head like quills sir if that was my master why had
he a mask upon his face if it was my master why did he cry out like a rat and run from me
I have served him long enough and then the man paused and passed his hand over his face
these are all very strange circumstances said Mr Otterson but I think I begin to see daylight
your master Paul is plainly seized with one of those maladies that both torture
and transform the sufferer hence for what I know the alteration of his voice hence the
mask and his avoidance of his friends hence his eagerness to find this drug by means of which
the poor soul retains some hope of ultimate recovery God grants that he be not deceived
there is my explanation it is sad enough Paul I and her Pauling to consider but it is plain
and natural hangs together well and delivers us from all exorbitant alarms sir said the butler
turning to a sort of mottled power that thing was not my master and there's the truth my master
here he looked around him and began to whisper he's a tall fine build of a man and this was more
of a dwarf Artisan attempted to protest oh sir cried Paul do you think I do not know my master
after 20 years do you think I do not know where his head comes to in the cabinet door where I saw
him every morning of my life no sir that thing in the mask was never Dr Jekyll God knows what
it was but it was never Dr Jekyll and it is the belief of my heart that there was murder done
Paul replied the lawyer if you say that it will become my duty to make certain
much as I desire to spare your Master's feelings much as I am puzzled by this note which seems to
prove him to be still alive I shall consider it my duty to break in that door ah Mr rotterson that's
talking cried the butler and now comes the second question resume Dotson who is going to do it
why you and me sir what's the undaunted reply that is very well said returned
the lawyer and whatever comes of it I shall make it my business to see you are no loser
there is an ax in the theater continued Paul and you might take the kitchen poker for yourself
the lawyer took that rude but weighty instrument into his hand and balanced it do you know Paul he
said looking up that you and I are about to place ourselves in a position of some peril
you may say so sir indeed returned the butler it is well then that we should be Frank said the
other we both think more than we have said let us make a clean breast this masked figure that
you saw did you recognize it well sir it went so quick and the creature was so doubled up that I
could hardly swear to that was the answer but if you mean was it Mr Hyde why yes I think it
was you see it was much of the same bigness and it had the same quick light way with it
and then who else could have got him by the laboratory door you've not forgot sir that at the
time of the murder he still had the key with him but that's not all I don't know Mr utterson if you
ever met this Mr Hyde yes said the lawyer I once spoke with him then you must know as well as the
rest of us that there was something queer about that gentleman something that gave a man a turn I
don't know rightly how to say it Beyond this that you felt it in your marrow kind of cold and thin
I own I felt something of what you describe said Mr Otterson quite so sir returned Paul
well when that masked thing like a monkey jumped from among the chemicals and whipped into the
cabinet it went down my spine like ice oh I know it's not evidence Mr utterson I'm book learned
enough for that but a man has his feelings and I give you my Bible word it was Mr Hyde
I I said the lawyer my fears inclined to the same point evil I fear founded evil was sure to
come of that conviction I truly I believe you I believe poor Harry is killed and I believe
his murderer for what purpose God Alone can tell is still lurking in his victim's room
well let our name be vengeance call Bradshaw the footman came at the summons very white and nervous
pull yourself together Bradshaw said the lawyer this suspense I know is telling upon all of you
but it is now Our intention to make an end of it Paul here and I are going to force our way into
the cabinet if all is well my shoulders are broad enough to Bear the blame meanwhile lest anything
should really be amiss or any malefactor seek to escape by the back you and the boy Must Go
Round the Corner with a pair of good sticks and take your post at the laboratory door
we give you 10 minutes to get to your stations as Bradshaw left the lawyer looked at his watch and
now Paul let us get to ours he said and taking the poker under his arm he led the way into the yard
the scud had banked over the moon and it was now quite dark the wind which only broke in
Puffs and drafts into that deep well of building tossed the light of the candle to and fro about
their steps until they came into the shelter of the theater where they sat down silently to wait
London homed solemnly all around but nearer at hand the Stillness
was only broken by the sound of a footfall moving to and fro along the cabinet floor
so it will walk all day sir whispered Paul I and the better part of the night
only when a new sample comes from the chemist there's a bit of a break ah it's an ill conscience
that's such an enemy to rest ah sir there's blood fouling shed in every step of it but hawk again a
little closer put your heart into your ears Mr Otterson and tell me is that the doctor's foot
the steps fell lightly and oddly with a certain swing for all they went so slowly
it was different indeed from the heavy creaking tread of Henry Jekyll
Artisan side is there never anything else he asked Paul nodded once he said once I heard it weeping
weeping how's that said the lawyer conscious of a sudden chill of Horror weeping like a woman or
a lost soul said the butler I came away with that upon my heart that I could have wept too
but now the 10 minutes Drew to an end Paul disinterred the ax from under a sack of packing
straw the candle was set upon the nearest table to light them to the attack and they drew near
with baited breath to wear that patient foot was still going up and down up and down in the quiet
of the night Jekyll cried Otterson with a loud voice I demand to see you he paused a moment
but there came no reply I give you fair warning our suspicions are aroused and I must and shall
see you he resumed if not by fair means then by foul if not of your consent then by Brute Force
Artisan said the voice for God's sake have mercy
Ah that's not jekyll's voice it's hide cried utterson down with the door Paul
swung the ax over his shoulder the blow shook the building and the red Bay's door leaped against
the lock and hinges a dismal Screech as of mere animal Terror rang from the cabinet up went the
ax again and again the panels crashed and the flame bounded four times the blow fell but the
wood was tough and the fittings were of excellent workmanship and it was not until the fifth that
the lock burst in Sunder and the wreck of the door fell inwards on the carpet the procedures
appalled by their own Riot and the Stillness that had succeeded stood back a little and peered in
there lay the cabinet Before Their Eyes in the quiet Lamplight a good fire glowing and chattering
on the half the kettle singing its thin strain a draw or two open papers neatly set forth on the
business table and nearer the fire the things laid out for tea the quietest room you would have said
and but for the glazed presses full of chemicals the most common place that night in London
right in the midst there lay the body of a man sorely contorted and still twitching
they drew near on tiptoe turned it on its back and beheld the face of Edward Hyde
he was dressed in clothes far too large for him clothes of the doctor's bigness the cords off his
face still moved with the semblance of life but life was quite gone and by the crushed file in
the hand and the strong smell of kernels that hung upon the air alterson knew that he was looking on
the body of a self-destroyer we have come too late he said sternly whether to save or punish
Hyde is gone to his account and it only remains for us to find the body of your master
the far greater proportion of the building was occupied by the theater
which filled almost the whole ground story and was lighted from above
and by the cabinet which formed an upper story at one end and looked upon the court
a corridor joined the theater to the door on the by Street and with this the cabinet communicated
separately by a second flight of stairs there were besides a few dark closets and a spacious cellar
all these they now thoroughly examined each closet needed but a glance for all were empty
and all by the dust that fell from their doors had stood long unopened the seller indeed was
filled with crazy Lumber mostly dating from the times of the surgeon who was jekyll's predecessor
but even as they opened the door they were advertised of the uselessness of further search
by the fall of a perfect match of cobweb which had four years sealed up the entrance
nowhere was there any trace of Henry Jekyll dead or alive
pool stamped on the flags of the corridor he must be buried here he said hearkening to the sound
or he may have fled said utterson and he turned to examine the door in the by Street
it was locked and lying nearby on the flags they found the key already stained with rust
this does not look use observed the lawyer use echoed Paul do not see sir it is broken much as if
a man had stamped on it I continued utterson and the fractures too are Rusty the two men looked at
each other with a scare this is beyond me Paul said the lawyer let us go back to the cabinet
they mounted the stair in silence and still with an occasional or struck glance at the dead body
proceeded more thoroughly to examine the contents of the cabinet
at one table there were traces of chemical work various measured heaps of some white salt being
laid on glass sources as though for an experiment in which the unhappy man had been prevented
that is the same drug that I was always bringing him said Paul and even as he spoke the kettle with
the startling noise boiled over this brought them to the Fireside where the easy chair was
drawn cozily up and the tea things stood ready to the sitter's Elbow the very sugar in the cup
there were several books on a Shelf one lay beside the teething's open and
Otterson was amazed to find it a copy of Papaya's work for which Jekyll had several
times expressed a great esteem annotated in his own hand with startling blasphemies
next in the course of their review of the chamber the Searchers came to the Cheval glass
into whose depth they looked with an involuntary horror but it was so turned as to show them
nothing but the rosy Globe playing on the roof the fire sparkling in a hundred repetitions along the
glazed front of the presses and their own pale and fearful countenances stooping to look in
this glass have seen some strange things sir whispered Paul and surely none Stranger Than
itself echoed the lawyer in the same tones for what did Jekyll he caught himself up at
the word with a start and then Conquering the weakness what could Jekyll want with it he said
you may say that said Paul next they turned to the business table on the desk among the neat
array of papers a large envelope was uppermost and bore in the doctor's hand the name of Mr
Otterson the lawyer unsealed it and several enclosures fell to the floor the first was a
will drawn in the same eccentric terms as the one which he had returned six months before to serve
as a testament in case of death and as a deed of gift in case of disappearance but in place of the
name of Edward Hyde the lawyer with Indescribable amazement read the name of Gabriel John utterson
he looked at Paul and then back at the paper and last of all at the dead manifactor stretched upon
the carpet My head goes round he said he has been all these days in possession he had no
cause to like me he must have raged to see himself displaced and he has not destroyed this document
he caught up the next paper it was a brief note in the doctor's hand and dated at the top
oh Paul the lawyer cried he was alive and here this day
he cannot have been disposed of in so short a space he must be still alive he must have fled
and then why fled and how and in that case can we venture to declare this suicide
Oh we must be careful I foresee that we may yet involve your master in some dire catastrophe
why don't you read it sir said Paul because I fear replied the lawyer solemnly God grant that I have
no cause for it and with that he brought the paper to his eyes and read as follows
my dear Otterson when this shall fall into your hands I shall have disappeared
under what circumstances I have not the penetration to foresee but my instinct and
all the circumstances of my nameless situation tell me that the end is sure and must be early
go then and first read The Narrative which Lanyon warned me he was to place in your hands and if
you care to hear more turn to the confession of your unworthy and unhappy friend Henry Jekyll
there was a third enclosure asked utterson
here sir said Paul and gave into his hands a considerable packet sealed in several places
the lawyer put it into his pocket I would say nothing of this paper
if your master has fled or is dead we may at least save his credit it is now ten I must go home and
read these documents in quiet but I shall be back before midnight when we shall send for the police
they went out locking the door of the theater behind them
and utterson once more leaving the servants gathered about the fire in the hall trudged
back to his office to read the two narratives in which this mystery was now to be explained
chapter 9. Dr lanyon's narrative
on the 9th of January now four days ago I received by the evening delivery a
registered envelope addressed in the hand of my colleague and old school companion Henry Jekyll
I was a good deal surprised by this for we were by no means in the habit of Correspondence
I had seen the man dined with him indeed the night before
and I could imagine nothing in our intercourse that should justify the formality of registration
the contents increased my Wonder for this is how the letter ran 10th of December 18 something
dear Lanyon you are one of my oldest friends and although we may have differed at times
on scientific questions I cannot remember at least on my side any break in our affection
there was never a day when if you had said to me Jekyll my life my honor my reason depend on you
I would not have sacrificed my fortune or my left hand to help you Lanyon my life my
honor my reason are all at your mercy if you fail me tonight I am lost you might suppose
after this preface that I am going to ask you for something dishonorable to Grant judge for yourself
I want you to postpone all other engagements for tonight I even if you were summoned to
the bedside of an emperor to take a cab unless your Carriage should be actually at the door
and with this letter in your hand for consultation to drive straight to my house
Paul my butler has his orders you will find him waiting your arrival with a locksmith
the door of my cabinet is then to be forced and you are to go in alone to open the glazed press
letter e on the left hand breaking the lock if it be shot and to draw out with all its contents
as they stand the fourth draw from the top or which is the same thing the third from the bottom
in my extreme distress of mind I have a morbid fear of misdirecting you but even
if I am in error you may know the right draw by its contents some powders a file and a paper book
the draw I beg of you to carry back with you to Cavendish Square exactly as it stands
this is the first part of the service now for the second you should be back if you set out at
once on the receipt of this long before midnight but I will leave you that amount of margin not
only in the fear of one of those obstacles that can neither be prevented nor foreseen
but because an hour when your servants are in bed is to be preferred for what will then remain to do
at midnight then I will have to ask you to be alone in your Consulting room
to admit with your own hand into the house a man who will present himself in my name
and to place in his hands the draw that you will have brought with you from my cabinet
then you will have played your part and earned my gratitude completely
five minutes afterwards if you insist upon an explanation you will have understood that these
arrangements are of capital importance and that by the neglect of one of them fantastic as they must
appear you might have charged your conscience with my death or the Shipwreck of my reason
confident as I am that you will not trifle with this appeal my heart
sinks and my hand trembles at the bare thought of such a possibility
think of me at this hour in a strange place laboring under a Blackness of distress that
no fancy can exaggerate and yet well aware that if you will but punctually serve me my
troubles will roll away like a story that is told serve me my dear Lanyon and save your friend HJ
P.S I had already sealed this up when a fresh Terror struck my soul it is possible that the
post office May Fail me and this letter not come into your hands until tomorrow morning
in that case dear Lanyon do my errand when it shall be most convenient for you in the course
of the day and once more expect my messenger at midnight it may then already be too late and if
that night passes without event you will know that you have seen the last of Henry Jekyll
upon the reading of this letter I made sure my colleague was insane
but till that was proved beyond the possibility of doubt I felt bound to do as he requested
the less I understood of this Virago the less I was in a position to judge of its importance
and an appeal so worded could not be set aside without a grave responsibility
I Rose accordingly from table got into a handsome and drove straight to jekyll's house
the butler was awaiting my arrival he had received by the same post as mine
a registered letter of instruction and had sent it once for the locksmith and a carpenter
the Tradesmen came while we were yet speaking and we moved in a body to Old Dr denman's surgical
theater from which as you are doubtless aware jekyll's private cabinet is most conveniently
entered the door was very strong the lock excellent the carpenter avowed he would
have great trouble and have to do much damage if Force were to be used and the locksmith was
near despair but this last was a handy fellow and after two hours work the door stood open
the Press marked e was unlocked and I took out the drawer had it filled up with straw and tied
in a sheet and returned with it to Cavendish Square here I proceeded to examine its contents
the powders were neatly enough made up but not with the nicety of the dispensing chemist
so that it was plain they were of jekyll's private manufacture and when I opened one of
the rappers I found what seemed to me a simple crystalline salt of a white color the file to
which I next turned my attention might have been about half full of a Blood Red Liquor which was
highly pungent to the sense of smell and seemed to me to contain phosphorus and some volatile ether
at the other ingredients I could make no guess the book was an ordinary version book
and contained little but a series of dates these covered a period of
many years but I observed that the entries ceased nearly a year ago and quite abruptly
here and there a brief remark was appended to a date usually no more than a single word
double occurring perhaps six times in a total of several hundred entries
and once very early in the list and followed by several marks of exclamation total failure
all this though it wetted my curiosity told me little that was definite
there were a file of some tincture a paper of some salt and the record of a series of
experiments that had led like too many of jekyll's Investigations to no end of practical usefulness
how could the presence of these articles in my house affect either the honor the sanity or the
life of my flighty colleague if his messenger could go to one place why could he not go to
another and even granting some impediment why was this gentleman to be received by me in secret
the more I reflected the more convinced I grew that I was dealing with a case of cerebral disease
and though I dismissed my servants to bed I loaded an old revolver that
I might be found in some posture of self-defense
12 o'clock had scarce rang out over London air the knocker sounded very gently on the door
I went myself at the summons and found a small man crouching against the pillars of the Portico
are you come from Dr Jekyll I asked he told me yes by a constrained gesture and when I had Biden
him Enter he did not obey me without a searching backward glance into the darkness of the square
there was a policeman not far off advancing with his Bullseye open and at the site I thought my
visitor started and made greater haste these particulars struck me I confessed disagreeably and
as I followed him into the bright lights of the Consulting room I kept my hand ready on my weapon
here at last I had a chance of clearly seeing him I had never set eyes on him before so much was
certain he was small as I have said I was struck besides with the shocking expression of his face
with his remarkable combination of great muscular activity and great apparent debility of
Constitution and last but not least with the odd subjective disturbance caused by his neighborhood
this bore some resemblance to incipient rigor and was accompanied by a marked sinking of the pulse
at the time I set it down to some idiosyncratic personal distaste and merely wondered at the
acuteness of the symptoms but I have since had reason to believe the cause to lie much deeper
in the nature of man and to turn on some Noble a hinge than the principle of hatred
this person who had thus from the first moment of his entrance struck in me what I can only describe
as a disgustful curiosity was dressed in a fashion that would have made an ordinary person laughable
his clothes that is to say although they were of rich and sober fabric were enormously too large
for him in every measurement the trousers hanging on his legs and rolled up to keep them from the
ground the waist of the coat below his haunches and the collar sprawling wide over his shoulders
strange to relate this ludicrous accoutrement was far from moving me to laughter
rather as there was something abnormal and misbegotten in the very essence of the creature
that now faced me something seizing surprising and revolting this fresh disparity seemed but
to fit in with and to reinforce it so that to my interest in the man's nature and character
there was added a curiosity as to his origin his life his fortune and status in the world
these observations though they have taken so greater space to be set down were yet
the work of a few seconds my visitor was indeed on fire with somber excitement
have you got it he cried have you got it and so Lively was his impatience that he even laid his
hand upon my arm and sought to shake me I put him back conscious at his Touch of a certain icy Pang
along my blood comes her said I you forget that I have not yet the pleasure of your acquaintance
be seated if you please and I showed him an example and sat down myself in my custom receipt
and with as fair and imitation of my ordinary manner to a patient as the lateness of the house
the nature of my preoccupations and the horror I had of my visitor would suffer me to muster
I beg your pardon Dr Lanyon he replied civilly enough
what he say is very well founded and my impatience has shown its heels to my politeness
I come here at the instance of your colleague Dr Henry Jekyll on a piece of business of some
moment and I understood he paused and put his hand to his throat and I could see in spite of
his collected manner that he was wrestling against the approaches of the hysteria I understood a draw
but here I took pity on my visitors suspense and some perhaps on my own growing curiosity
there it is Sir said I pointing to the draw where it lay on the floor behind a table
and still covered with the sheet he sprang to it and then paused and laid his hand upon his heart
I could hear his teeth great with the convulsive action of his jaws and his face was so ghastly
to see that I grew alarmed both for his life and reason compose yourself said I
he turned a dreadful smile to me and as if with the decision of Despair plucked away the sheet
at sight of the contents he uttered one loud SOB of such immense relief that I sat petrified
and the next moment in a voice that was already fairly well under control
have you a graduated glass he asked I Rose from my place with something of an effort and gave him
what he asked he thanked me with a smiling nod measured out a few minims of the red tincture
and added one of the powders the mixture which was at first of a reddish hue began in proportion as
the crystals melted to brighten in color to F of s audibly and to throw off small fumes of vapor
suddenly and at the same moment the ebulation ceased and the compound changed to a dark purple
which faded again more slowly to a watery green my visitor who had watched those Metamorphoses with
a Keen Eye smiled set down the glass upon the table and then turned and looked upon me with
an air of scrutiny and now said he to settle what remains will you be wise will you be guided will
you suffer me to take this glass in my hand and to go forth from your house without further Pali
or has the greed of curiosity too much command of you think before you answer
for it shall be done as you decide as you decide you shall be left as you were before
and neither richer nor wiser unless the sense of service rendered to a man in Mortal distress may
be counted as a kind of riches of the Soul or if you shall so prefer to choose a new province
of knowledge and new avenues to fame and power shall be laid open to you here in this room upon
this instant and your sight shall be blasted by a prodigy to stagger the unbelief of Satan
sir said I affecting a coolness that I was far from truly possessing you speak enigmas
and you will perhaps not wonder that I hear you with no very strong impression of belief
but I have gone too far in the way of inexplicable services to pause before I see the end
It is Well replied my visitor Lanyon you remember your vows what follows is under the Seal of our
profession and now you who have so long been bound to the most narrow and material views you who have
denied the virtue of transcendental medicine you who have derided your superiors behold
he put the glass to his lips and drank at one gulp a cry followed he reeled staggered
clutched at the table and held on staring with injected eyes gasping with open mouth
and as I looked there came I thought a change he seemed to swell his face became suddenly black and
the features seemed to melt and alter and the next moment I had sprung to my feet and leaped Back
Against The Wall my arm raised to Shield me from that Prodigy my mind submerged in Terror oh God
I screamed and oh God again and again for there before my eyes pale and shaken and half fainting
and groping before him with his hands like a man restored from death there stood Henry Jekyll
what he told me in the next hour I cannot bring my mind to set on paper
I saw what I saw I heard what I heard and my soul sickened at it
and yet now when that sight is faded from my eyes I ask myself if I believe it
and I cannot answer my life is shaken to its roots sleep has left me the deadliest Terror
sits by me at all hours of the day and night I feel that my days are numbered and that I must die
and yet I shall die incredulous as for the moral turpitude that man unveiled to me
even with tears of penitence I cannot even in memory dwell on it without a start of Horror
I will say but one thing utterson and that if you can bring your mind to credit it will be
more than enough the creature who crept into my house that night was on jekyll's own confession
known by the name of Hyde and hunted for in every corner of the land as the murderer of Karu
end of chapter nine
chapter 10. Henry jekyll's full statement of the case
I was born in the year 18 something to a large Fortune endowed besides with excellent parts
inclined by nature to Industry fond of the respect of the wise and good among my fellow men
and thus as might have been supposed with every guarantee of an honorable and distinguished future
and indeed the worst of my faults was a certain impatient gaiety of disposition
such as has made the happiness of many but such as I found it hard to reconcile with my imperious
desire to carry my head high and where a more than commonly grave countenance before the public
hence it came about that I concealed my pleasures and that when I reached years of
reflection and began to look round me and take stock of my progress and position in the world
I stood already committed to a profound duplicity of life
many a man would have even blazoned such irregularities as I was guilty of but from
the high views that I had set before me I regarded and hid them with an almost morbid sense of Shame
it was thus rather the exacting nature of my aspirations than any particular degradation in
my faults that made me what I was and with even a deeper trench than in the majority
of men severed in me those provinces of Good and Evil which divide and compound man's dual nature
in this case I was driven to reflect deeply and inveterately on that hard law of Life
which lies at the root of religion and is one of the most plentiful Springs of distress
though so profound a double dealer I was in no sense a hypocrite both sides of me were
in dead earnest I was no more myself when I laid aside restraint and plunged in shame than when I
labored in the eye of day at the furtherance of knowledge or the relief of sorrow and suffering
and it chanced that the direction of my scientific studies which led wholly towards
the Mystic and the transcendental reacted and shed a strong light on this consciousness of
The Perennial War among my members with every day and from both sides of my intelligence the
moral and the intellectual I thus Drew steadily nearer to that truth by whose
partial Discovery I have been doomed to such a dreadful shipwreck that man is not truly one
but truly two I say to because the state of my own knowledge does not pass beyond that point
others will follow others will outstrip me on the same lines and I Hazard the guess that
man will be ultimately known for a mere polity of multifarious incongruous and independent denizens
I for my part from the nature of my life advanced infallibly in One Direction and in One Direction
only it was on the moral side and in my own person that I learned to recognize the thorough
and primitive duality of man I saw that of the two Natures that contended in the field of my
Consciousness even if I could rightly be said to be either it was only because I was radically both
and from an early date even before the course of my scientific discoveries had begun to
suggest the most naked possibility of such a miracle I had learned to dwell with pleasure
as a beloved Daydream on the thought of the separation of these elements if each I told
myself could but be housed in separate identities life would be relieved of all that was unbearable
the unjust might go his way delivered from the aspirations and remorse of his more upright twin
and the just could walk steadfastly and securely on his upward path doing the good things in which
he found pleasure and no longer exposed to disgrace and penitence by the hands of his
extraneous evil it was the curse of mankind that these incongruous [ __ ] were thus bound together
that in the agonized womb of Consciousness these polar twins should be continuously struggling
how then were they disconnected
I was so far in my Reflections when as I have said a side light began to shine upon the subject from
the laboratory table I began to perceive more deeply than it has ever yet been stated the
trembling immateriality the mist-like transience of this seemingly so solid body in which we walk
are tired certain agents I have found to have the power to shake and to pluck back that fleshly
vestment even as a wind might toss the curtains of a pavilion for two good reasons I will not
enter deeply into this scientific branch of My Confession first because I have been made to
learn that the doom and burden of our life is bound Forever on man's shoulders and when the
attempt is made to cast it off it but returns upon us with more unfamiliar and more awful pressure
secondly because as my narrative will make a last too evident my discoveries were incomplete
enough then that I not only recognize my natural body for the mere Aura and defulgence of certain
of the powers that made up my spirit but managed to compound the drug by which these Powers should
be dethroned from their Supremacy and a second form and countenance substituted nonetheless
natural to me because they were the expression and bore the stamp of lower elements in my soul
I hesitated long before I put this Theory to the test of practice I knew well that I risked death
for any drug that so potently controlled and shook the very Fortress of identity
might by the least scruple of an overdose or at the least in opportunity in the moment of
exhibition utterly blot out that immaterial Tabernacle which I looked to it to change
but the temptation of a discovery so singular and profound at last overcame the suggestions of alarm
I had long since prepared my tincture I purchased it once from a firm of wholesale chemists a large
quantity of a particular salt which I knew from my experiments to be the last ingredient required and
late one occursed night I compounded the elements watched them boil and smoke together in the glass
and when the abolition had subsided with a strong glow of Courage drank off the potion
the most racking pangs succeeded a grinding in the bones deadly nausea
and a horror of the spirit that cannot be exceeded at the hour of birth or death
then these agonies began swiftly to subside and I came to myself as if out of a great sickness
there was something strange in my Sensations something indescribably new and from its very
novelty incredibly sweet I felt younger lighter happier in body within I was conscious of a heady
recklessness a current of disordered sensual images running like a Mill Race in my fancy
a solution of the bonds of obligation and unknown but not an innocent freedom of the Soul
I knew myself at the first breath of this new life to be more wicked tenfold more wicked sold
a slave to my original sin and the thought in that moment braced and delighted me like wine
I stretched out my hands exalting in the freshness of these Sensations and in the ACT I was suddenly
aware that I had lost in stature there was no mirror at that date in my room that which stands
beside me as I write was brought there later on and for the very purpose of these transformations
the night however was far gone into the morning the morning black as it was was nearly ripe for
the conception of the day the inmates of my house were locked in the most rigorous hours of Slumber
and I determined flushed as I was with hope and Triumph to venture in my new shape as far as to
my bedroom I crossed the yard wherein the constellations looked down upon me I could
have thought with Wonder the first creature of that sort that they are on sleeping vigilance
had yet disclosed to them I stole through the corridors a stranger in my own house
and coming to my room I saw for the first time the appearance of Edward Hyde
I must hear speak by Theory alone saying not that which I know but that which I suppose to be most
probable the evil side of my nature to which I had now transferred the stamping efficacy
was less robust and less developed than the good which I had just deposed again
in the course of my life which had been after all nine tenths a life of effort virtue and control
it had been much less exercised and much less exhausted and hence I think it came about that
Edward Hyde was so much smaller slighter and younger than Henry Jekyll even as good shown
upon the countenance of the one evil was written broadly and plainly on the face of the other
evil besides which I must still believe to be the lethal side of man
had left on that body an imprint of deformity and decay And yet when I looked upon that ugly Idol
in the glass I was conscious of no repugnance rather of a leap of welcome this too was myself
it seemed natural and human in my eyes it bore a livelier image of the spirit it seemed more
Express and single than the imperfect and divided countenance I had been hithered to accustomed to
call mine and in so far I was doubtless right I have observed that when I wore the semblance
of Edward Hyde none could come near to me at first without a visible misgiving of the flesh
this as I take it was because all human beings as we meet them are commingled out of Good and Evil
and Edward Hyde alone in the ranks of mankind was Pure Evil
I lingered but a moment at the mirror the second and conclusive experiment had yet to be attempted
it yet remained to be seen if I had lost my identity Beyond Redemption and must
flee before daylight from a house that was no longer mine and hurrying back to my cabinet I
once more prepared and drank the cop once more suffered the pangs of dissolution
and came to myself once more with the character the stature and the face of Henry Jekyll
that night I had come to the Fatal Crossroads had I approached My Discovery in a more noble spirit
had I risked the experiment while under the Empire of generous or Pious aspirations all must have
been otherwise and from these agonies of death and birth I had come forth an angel instead of a fiend
the drug had no discriminating action it was neither diabolical nor divine
it but shook the doors of the prison House of my disposition and like the captives of Philippi
that which stood within ran forth at that time my virtues slumbered my evil kept awake by ambition
was alert and Swift to seize the occasion and the thing that was projected was Edward Hyde
hence although I had now two characters as well as two appearances one was wholly evil
and the other was still the old Henry Jekyll that incongruous compound of whose reformation
and Improvement I had already learned to despair the movement was thus wholly toward the worse
even at that time I had not yet conquered my aversion to the dryness of a life of study
I would still be merrily disposed at times and as my Pleasures were to say the least undignified
and I was not only well known and highly considered but growing towards the elderly man
this incoherency of my life was daily growing more unwelcome it was on this side that my new
power tempted me until I fell in slavery I had but to drink the cup to doff at once the body
of the noted professor and to assume like a thick cloak that of Edward hide I smiled at the notion
it seemed to me at the time to be humorous and I made my preparations with the most studious care
I took and furnished that house in SoHo to which Hyde was tracked by the police
and engaged as housekeeper a creature whom I well knew to be silent and unscrupulous
on the other side I announced to my servants that a Mr Hyde whom
I described was to have full Liberty and Power about my house in the Square
and to Parry mishaps I even called and made myself a familiar object in my second character
I next Drew up that will to which you so much objected so that if anything befell me in the
person of Dr Jekyll I could enter on that of Edward Hyde without pecuniary loss and thus
fortified as I supposed on every side I began to profit by the strange immunities of my position
men have before hired Bravos to transact their crimes while their own person and
reputation sat under shelter I was the first that ever did so for his pleasures
I was the first that could thus plod in the public eye with a load of genial respectability and in a
moment like a school boy strip off these lendings and spring head long into the sea of Liberty
but for me in my impenetrable mantle the safety was complete think of it I did not even exist let
me butt Escape into my laboratory door give me but a second or two to mix and swallow the draft that
I had always standing ready and whatever he had done Edward Hyde would pass away like the stain
of breath upon a mirror and there in his stead quietly at home trimming the midnight lamp in his
study a man who could afford to laugh at suspicion would be Henry Jekyll the pleasures which I made
haste to seek in my disguise were as I have said undignified I would scarce use a harder term
but in the hands of Edward Hyde they soon began to turn towards the Monstrous when I would come
back from these excursions I was often plunged into a kind of Wonder at my vicarious depravity
this familiar that I called out of my own soul and sent forth alone to do his good pleasure
was of being inherently malign and villainous his Every Act and thought centered on self
drinking pleasure with Bastille lividity from any degree of torture to another
Relentless like a man of stone Henry Jekyll stood at times aghast before the acts of Edward Hyde
but the situation was apart from ordinary laws and insidiously relaxed the grasp of conscience
it was hide after all and hide alone that was guilty Jekyll was no worse he woke again to his
good qualities seemingly unimpaired he would even make haste where it was possible to undo the evil
done by Hyde and thus his conscience slumbered into the details of the infamy at which I thus
connived for even now I can scarce grant that I committed it I have no design of entering I mean
what to point out the warnings and the successive steps with which my chastisement approached
I met with one accident which as it brought on no consequence I shall no more than mention
an act of Cruelty to a child aroused against me the anger of a passerby whom I recognized
the other day in the person of your Kinsmen the doctor and the child's family joined him there
were moments when I feared for my life and at last in order to pacify their two just resentment
Edward Hyde had to bring them to the door and pay them in a check drawn in the name of Henry Jekyll
but this danger was easily eliminated from the future by opening an account at another
bank in the name of Edward Hyde himself and when by sloping my own hand backward
I had supplied my double with a signature I thought I sat beyond the reach of fate
some two months before the murder of Sir Danvers I had been out for one of my Adventures had returned
at a late hour and woke the next day in bed with somewhat odd Sensations it was in vain I looked
about me in vain I saw the decent furniture and Tall proportions of my room in the Square
in vain that I recognized the pattern of the bed curtains and the design of the mahogany frame
something still kept insisting that I was not where I was that I had not awakened where I seemed
to be but in the little room in SoHo where I was accustomed to sleep in the body of Edward Hyde
I smiled to myself and in my psychological way began lazily to inquire into the elements of
this illusion occasionally even as I did so dropping back in a comfortable morning doze
I was still so engaged when in one of my more wakeful moments my eye fell upon my hand
now the hand of Henry Jekyll as you have often remarked was professional in shape and size it
was large firm white and calmly but the hand which I now saw clearly enough in the yellow
light of a mid London morning lying half shut on the bed clothes was lean corded knockly of
a Dusky power and thickly shaded with a smart growth of hair it was the hand of Edward Hyde
I must have stared upon it for near half a minute sunk as I was in the mere stupidity
of Wonder before Terror woke up in my breast as sudden and startling as the crash of symbols and
bounding from my bed I rushed to the Mirror at the site that met my eyes my blood was changing into
something exquisitely thin and icy yes I had gone to bed Henry Jekyll I had awakened Edward Hyde
how was this to be explained I asked myself and then with another bound of Horror
how was it to be remedied it was well on in the morning the servants were up all my drugs were
in the cabinet a long journey down two pairs of stairs through the back passage across the
open court and through the anatomical theater from where I was then standing horror struck
it might indeed be possible to cover my face but of what use was that when I was unable
to conceal the alteration of my stature and then with an overpowering sweetness of relief it came
back upon my mind that the servants were already used to the coming and going of my second self
I had soon dressed as well as I was able in clothes of my own size
had soon passed through the house where Bradshaw stared and Drew back at seeing Mr Hyde at such
an hour and in such a strange array and 10 minutes later Dr Jekyll had returned
to his old shape and was sitting down with a darkened brow to make a faint of breakfasting
small indeed was my appetite this inexplicable incident this reversal of my previous experience
seemed like the Babylonian finger on the wall to be spelling out the letters of my judgment
and I began to reflect more seriously than ever before on the issues and possibilities of My
Double existence that part of me which I had the power of projecting had lately been much
exercised and nourished it had seemed to me of late as though the body of Edward Hyde had
grown in stature as though when I wore that form I were conscious of a more generous tide of blood
and I began to Spire danger that if this were much prolonged the balance of my nature might
be permanently overthrown the power of voluntary change be forfeited and the character of Edward
Hyde become irrevocably mine the power of the drug had not always equally displayed
once very early in my career it had totally failed me since then I had been obliged on
more than one occasion to double and once with infinite risk of death to treble the amount
and these rare uncertainties had cast hitherto the sole Shadow on my contentment
now however and in the light of that morning's accident I was led to remark that whereas in the
beginning the difficulty had been to throw off the body of Jekyll it had of late gradually but
decidedly transferred itself to the other side all things therefore seemed to point to this
that I was slowly losing hold of my original and better self and becoming slowly Incorporated with
my second and worse between these two I now felt I had to choose my two Natures had memory in common
but all other faculties were most unequally shared between them Jekyll who was composite
now with the most sensitive apprehensions now with a greedy Gusto projected and shared in the
pleasures and Adventures of Hyde but Hyde was indifferent to Jekyll or but remembered him as
the mountain Bandit remembers the cavern in which he conceals himself from Pursuit
Jekyll had more than a father's interest Hyde had more than a son's indifference
to cast in my lot with Jekyll was to die to those appetites which I had long secretly indulged and
had of late begun to Pampa to cast it in with Hyde was to die to a thousand interests and aspirations
and to become at a blow and forever despised and friendless the bargain might appear unequal but
there was still another consideration in the scales for while Jekyll would suffer
smartingly in the fires of abstinence Hyde would be not even conscious of all that he had lost
strange as my circumstances were the terms of this debate are as old and commonplace as man
much the same inducement and alarms cast the die for any tempted and trembling sinner
and it fell out with me as it falls with so vast a majority of my fellows that I
chose the better part and was found wanting in the strength to keep to it
yes I preferred the elderly and discontented doctor surrounded by friends and cherishing
honest hopes and made a Resolute farewell to the Liberty the comparative youth the light step
leaping pulses and secret Pleasures that I had enjoyed in the disguise of Hyde I made this Choice
perhaps with some unconscious reservation for I neither gave up the house in SoHo nor destroyed
the clothes of Edward Hyde which still lay ready in my cabinet for two months however I was true to
my determination for two months I led a life of such severity as I had never before attained to
and enjoyed the compensations of an approving conscience but time began at last to obliterate
the freshness of my alarm the Praises of conscience began to grow into a thing of course
I began to be tortured with throws and longings as of Hyde struggling after freedom and at
last in an hour of moral weakness I once again compounded and swallowed the transforming draft
I do not suppose that when a drunkard reasons with himself upon his vice he is once out of 500
times affected by the dangers that he runs through his brutish physical insensibility
neither had I long as I had considered my position made enough allowance for the complete moral
insensibility and in sense8 Readiness to evil which were the leading characters of Edward Hyde
yet it was by these that I was punished my devil had been long caged he came out roaring
I was conscious even when I took the draft of a more unbridled a more Furious propensity to Ill
it must have been this I suppose that stirred in my soul that Tempest of impatience with which I
listened to the civilities of my unhappy victim I declare at least before God no
man morally sane could have been guilty of that crime upon so pitiful a provocation and that I
struck in no more reasonable Spirit than that in which a sick child may break a plaything
but I had voluntarily stripped myself of all those balancing Instincts by which
even the worst of us continues to walk with some degree of steadiness among Temptations
and in my case to be tempted however slightly was to fall instantly the spirit of Hell awoke in me
and raged with a transport of Glee I mauled the unresisting body tasting Delight from every blow
and it was not till weariness had begun to succeed that I was suddenly in the top fit of my delirium
struck Through the Heart by a cold thrill of Terror a Mist dispersed I saw my life to be
forfeit and fled from the scene of these excesses at once glorying and trembling my lust of evil
gratified and stimulated my love of Life screwed to the topmost peg I ran to the house in SoHo and
to make Assurance doubly sure destroyed my papers thence I set out through the lamplet streets in
the same divided Ecstasy of Mind gloating on my crime light-headedly devising others in the future
and yet still hastening and still hearkening in my wake for the steps of the Avenger
Hyde had a song upon his lips as he compounded the draft and as he drank it pledged the dead man
the pangs of transformation had not done tearing him before Henry Jekyll with streaming tears of
gratitude and remorse had fallen upon his knees and lifted his clasped hands to God
the veil of self-indulgence was rent from hand to foot I saw my life as a whole I followed it
up from the days of childhood when I had walked with my father's hand and through the self-denying
toils of my professional life to arrive again and again with the same sense of unreality at
the Damned horrors of the evening I could have screamed aloud I sought with tears and prayers
to smother down the crowd of hideous images and sounds with which my memory swarmed against me
and still between the petitions the ugly face of my iniquity stared into my soul
as the acuteness of this remorse began to die away it was succeeded by a sense of joy the
problem of my conduct was solved hide was thence forth impossible whether I would or not I was now
confined to the better part of my existence and oh how I rejoiced to think it with what willing
humility I embraced and knew the restrictions of natural life with what sincere renunciation
I locked the door by which I had so often gone and come and ground the key under my heel
the next day came the news that the murder had been overlooked that the
guilt of Hyde was patent to the world and that the victim was a man high in public estimation
it was not only a crime it had been a tragic folly I think I was glad to know it I think I was glad
to have my better impulses thus buttressed and guarded by the Terrors of the scaffold
Jekyll was now my City of Refuge let but hide peep out an instant and the hands of
all men would be raised to take and slay him I resolved in my future conduct to redeem the past
and I can say with honesty that my resolve was fruitful of some good
you know yourself how earnestly in the last months of last year I labored to relieve suffering
you know that much was done for others and that the days passed quietly almost happily for myself
nor can I truly say that I wear it of this beneficent and innocent life
I think instead that I daily enjoyed it more completely
but I was still cursed with my duality of purpose and as the first edge of my penitence wore off
the lower side of me so long indulged so recently chained down began to growl for license
not that I dreamed of resuscitating hide the bare idea of that would startle me to frenzy
no it was in my own person that I was once more tempted to trifle with my conscience
and it was as an ordinary secret sinner that I at last fell before the assaults of Temptation
there comes an end to all things the most capacious measure is filled at last
and this brief condescension to my evil finally destroyed the balance of my soul and yet I was
not alarmed the fall seemed natural like a return to the old days before I had made my discovery
it was a fine clear January day wet underfoot where the frost had melted but cloudless overhead
and the Region's Park was full of winter chiropings and sweet with spring odors
I sat in the sun on a bench the animal Within Me licking the chops of memory
the spiritual side a little drowsed promising subsequent penitence but not yet moved to begin
after all I reflected I was like my neighbors and then I smiled comparing myself with other
men comparing my active Goodwill with the lazy cruelty of their neglect and at the very moment
of that vain glorious thought a quam came over me a horrid nausea and the most deadly shoddering
these passed away and left me faint and then as in its turn the faintness subsided I began to be
aware of a change in The Temper of my thoughts a greater boldness a contempt of danger a solution
of the bonds of obligation I looked down my clothes hung formlessly on My Shrunken limbs
the hand that lay on my knee was corded and hairy I was once more Edward Hyde a moment before I had
been safe of all men's respect wealthy beloved the cloth laying for me on the dining room at home
and now I was the common Quarry of mankind hunted houseless a known murderer thrall to The Gallows
my reason wavered but it did not fail me utterly I have more than once observed that in my second
character my faculties seemed sharpened to a point and my spirits more tensely elastic
thus it came about that where Jekyll perhaps might have succumbed Hyde Rose to the importance
of the moment my drugs were in one of the presses of my cabinet how was I to reach them
that was the problem that crushing my temples in my hands I set myself to solve the laboratory door
I had closed if I sought to enter by the house my own servants would consign me to The Gallows
I saw I must employ another hand and thought of Lanyon how was he to be reached how persuaded
supposing that I escaped capture in the streets how was I to make my way into his presence and
how should I an unknown and displeasing visitor Prevail on the famous physician to Rifle the study
of his colleague Dr Jekyll than I remembered that of my original character one part remained to me
I could write my own hand and once I had conceived that kindling spark the way that I must follow
became lighted up from end to end thereupon I arranged my clothes as best I could and summoning
a passing handsome drove to an Hotel in Portland Street the name of which I chance to remember
at my appearance which was indeed comical enough however tragic of Fate these garments covered
the driver could not conceal his Mirth I gnashed my teeth upon him with a gust of devilish Fury and
the smile withered from his face happily for him yet more happily for myself for in another instant
I had certainly dragged him from his perch at the Inn as I entered I looked about me with so black
accountants as to make the attendance tremble not a look did they Exchange in my presence
but obsequiously took my orders led me to a private room and brought me wherewithal to write
hide in danger of his life was a creature new to me shaken with inordinate anger strung to
the pitch of murder lusting to inflict pain yet the creature was astute mastered his Fury
with a great effort of the will composed his two important letters one to Lanyon and one to Paul
and that he might receive actual evidence of their being posted sent them out with
directions that they should be registered vents forward he sat all day over the
fire in the private room gnawing his nails there he dined sitting alone with his fears
the waiter visibly quailing before his eye and thence when the night was fully come
he set forth in the corner of a closed cab and was driven to and fro about the streets of the city
he I say I cannot say I that child of Hell had nothing human nothing lived in him but fear and
hatred and when at last thinking the driver had begun to grow suspicious he discharged the cab
and ventured on foot a tired in his misfitting clothes an object marked out for observation
into the midst of the nocturnal passengers these two base passions raged within him like a tempest
he walked fast hunted by his fears chattering to himself skulking through the less frequented
thoroughfares counting the minutes that still divided him from Midnight
once a woman spoke to him offering I think a box of Lights he smoked her in the face and she fled
when I came to myself at lanyon's the horror of my old friend perhaps affected me somewhat
I do not know it was at least but a drop in the sea to the abhorrence with which I looked
back upon these hours a change had come over me it was no longer the fear of The Gallows
it was the horror of being Hyde that racked me I received lanyon's condemnation partly in a dream
it was partly in a dream that I came home to my own house and got into bed
I slept after the prostration of the day with astringent and profound Slumber which not even the
nightmares that wronged me could Avail to break I awoke in the morning shaken weakened but refreshed
I still hated and feared the thought of the brute that slept Within Me
and I had not of course forgotten the appalling dangers of the day before
but I was once more at home in my own house and close to my drugs
and gratitude for my Escape Sean so strong in my soul that it almost rivaled the brightness of Hope
I was stepping leisurely across the court after breakfast
drinking the chill of the air with pleasure when I was seized again with those Indescribable
Sensations that Herald did the change and I had bought the time to gain the
shelter of my cabinet before I was once again raging and freezing with the passions of Hyde
it took on this occasion a double dose to recall me to myself and alas six hours after
as I sat looking sadly in the fire the pangs returned and the drug had to be readministered
in short from that day forth it seemed only by a great effort as of gymnastics and only under
the immediate stimulation of the drug that I was able to wear the countenance of Jekyll
at all hours of the day and night I would be taken with the premonitory shodder
above all if I slept or even dozed for a moment in my chair it was always as hide that I awakened
under the strain of this continually impending doom and by the sleeplessness to which I now
condemned myself I even beyond what I had thought possible to man I became in my own person a
creature eaten up and emptied by fever languidly weak both in body and mind and solely occupied by
one thought the horror of my other self but when I slept or when the virtue of the medicine wore off
I would leap almost without transition for the pangs of transformation grew daily less marked
into the possession of a fancy brimming with images of Terror a soul boiling with causeless
hatreds and a body that seemed not strong enough to contain the Raging energies of life
the powers of Hyde seemed to have grown with the sickliness of Jekyll and certainly the hate
that now divided them was equal on each side with Jekyll it was a thing of vital instinct
he had now seen the full deformity of that creature that shared with him some of the
phenomena of consciousness and was coheir with him to death and Beyond these links of community
which in themselves made the most poignant part of his distress he thought of hide for all his
energies of life as of something not only hellish but inorganic this was the shocking thing that the
Slime of the pit seemed to utter cries and voices that the amorphous dust gesticulated and sinned
that what was dead and had no shape would usurp the offices of life
and this again that that Insurgent horror was knit to him closer than a wife closer than an eye
lay caged in his flesh where he heard it Mata and felt it struggle to be born and at every
hour of weakness and in the confidence of Slumber prevailed against him and deposed him out of life
the hatred of Hyde for Jekyll was of a different order his Terror of The Gallows drove him
continually to commit temporary suicide and return to his subordinate station of a part instead of
a person but he loathed the necessity he loathed the despondency into which Jekyll was now fallen
and he resented the dislike with which he was himself regarded
hence the ape-like tricks that he would play me scrawling in my own hand blasphemies on the pages
of my books burning the letters and destroying the portrait of my father and indeed had it not
been for his fear of death he would long ago have ruined himself in order to involve me in the ruin
but his love of life is wonderful I go further I who sicken and freeze at the mere thought of him
when I recall the objection and passion of this attachment and when I know how he fears my power
to cut him off by Suicide I find it in my heart to pity him it is useless and the time awfully
fails me to prolong this description no one has ever suffered such torments let that suffice
and yet even to these habit brought no not alleviation but a certain callousness of soul
a certain acquiescence of despair and My Punishment might have gone on for years but for
the last Calamity which has now fallen and which has finally severed me from my own face and nature
my provision of the salt which had never been renewed since the date of the first experiment
began to run low I sent out for a fresh Supply and mixed the draft the abolition followed and
the first change of color not the second I drank it and it was without efficacy you will learn
from Paul how I have had London ransacked it was in vain and I'm now persuaded that
my first Supply was impure and that it was that unknown impurity which lent efficacy to the draft
about a week has passed and I am now finishing this statement under the influence of the last
of the old powders this then is the last time short of a miracle that Henry Jekyll
can think his own thoughts or see his own face now how sadly altered in the glass
nor must I delay too long to bring my writing to an end for if my narrative
has hitherto escaped destruction it has been by a combination of great prudence and great good luck
should the throes of change take me in the act of writing it Hyde will tear it in pieces but if
some time shall have elapsed after I have laid it by his wonderful selfishness and circumscription
to the moment will probably save it once again from the action of his ape-like spite
and indeed the Doom that is closing on us both has already changed and crushed him
half an hour from now when I shall again and forever re-indue that hated personality
I know how I shall sit shoddering and weeping in my chair or continue with
the most strained and fierce struck Ecstasy of listening to Pace up and down this room
my last Earthly refuge and give ear to every sound of Menace will hide die upon the scaffold
or will he find the courage to release himself at the last moment God knows I am careless
this is my true hour of death and what is to follow concerns another than myself
here then as I lay down the pen and proceed to seal up My Confession
I bring the life of that unhappy Henry Jekyll to an end
of the Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
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