Search for Mr. Hyde

by Robert Louis Stevenson

　　THAT evening Mr. Utterson came home to his bachelor house in sombrespirits and sat down to dinner without relish. It was his custom ofa Sunday, when this meal was over, to sit close by the fire, avolume of some dry divinity on his reading-desk, until the clock ofthe neighbouring church rang out the hour of twelve, when he wouldgo soberly and gratefully to bed. On this night, however, as soon asthe cloth was taken away, he took up a candle and went into hisbusiness-room. There he opened his safe, took from the most privatepart 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 washolograph, for Mr. Utterson, though he took charge of it now that itwas made, had refused to lend the least assistance in the making ofit; it provided not only that, in case of the decease of HenryJekyll, M.D., D.C.L., LL.D., F.R.S., etc., all his possessions wereto 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 periodexceeding three calendar months," the said Edward Hyde should stepinto the said Henry Jekyll's shoes without further delay and freefrom any burthen or obligation, beyond the payment of a few smallsums to the members of the doctor's household. This document hadlong been the lawyer's eyesore. It offended him both as a lawyer andas a lover of the sane and customary sides of life, to whom thefanciful was the immodest. And hitherto it was his ignorance of Mr.Hyde that had swelled his indignation; now, by a sudden turn, it washis knowledge. It was already bad enough when the name was but aname of which he could learn no more. It was worse when it began tobe clothed upon with detestable attributes; and out of the shifting,insubstantial mists that had so long baffled his eye, there leapedup the sudden, definite presentment of a fiend."I thought it was madness," he said, as he replaced the obnoxiouspaper 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 setforth in the direction of Cavendish Square, that citadel ofmedicine, where his friend, the great Dr. Lanyon, had his house andreceived his crowding patients. "If any one knows, it will beLanyon," he had thought.The solemn butler knew and welcomed him; he was subjected tono stage of delay, but ushered direct from thedoor to the dining-room where Dr. Lanyon sat alone over his wine.This was a hearty, healthy, dapper, red-faced gentleman, with ashock of hair prematurely white, and a boisterous and decidedmanner. At sight of Mr. Utterson, he sprang up from his chair andwelcomed him with both hands. The geniality, as was the way of theman, was somewhat theatrical to the eye; but it reposed on genuinefeeling. For these two were old friends, old mates both at schooland college, both thorough respecters of themselves and of eachother, and, what does not always follow, men who thoroughly enjoyedeach other's company.After a little rambling talk, the lawyer led up to the subjectwhich so disagreeably pre-occupied his mind."I suppose, Lanyon," said he "you and I must be the two oldestfriends that Henry Jekyll has?""I wish the friends were younger," chuckled Dr. Lanyon. "But Isuppose we are. And what of that? I see little of him now." Indeed?" said Utterson. "I thought you had a bond of commoninterest.""We had," was the reply. "But it is more than ten years since HenryJekyll became too fanciful for me. He began to go wrong, wrong inmind; and though of course I continue to take an interest in him forold sake's sake, as they say, I see and I have seen devilish little of the man. Such unscientificbalderdash," added the doctor, flushing suddenly purple, "would haveestranged Damon and Pythias."This little spirit of temper was somewhat of a relief to Mr.Utterson. "They have only differed on some point of science," hethought; and being a man of no scientific passions (except in thematter of conveyancing), he even added: "It is nothing worse thanthat!" He gave his friend a few seconds to recover his composure,and then approached the question he had come to put. "Did you evercome across a protege of his -- one Hyde?" he asked."Hyde?" repeated Lanyon. "No. Never heard of him. Since my time."That was the amount of information that the lawyer carried backwith 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 anight of little ease to his toiling mind, toiling in mere darknessand besieged by questions.Six o 'clock struck on the bells of the church that was soconveniently near to Mr. Utterson's dwelling, and still he wasdigging at the problem. Hitherto it had touched him on theintellectual side alone; but now his imagination also was engaged,or rather enslaved; and as he lay and tossed in the gross darknessof the night and the curtained room, Mr. Enfield's tale went bybefore his mind in a scroll of lighted pictures. He would be awareof the great field of lamps of a nocturnal city; then of the figureof a man walking swiftly; then of a child running from the doctor's;and then these met, and that human Juggernaut trod the child downand passed on regardless of her screams. Or else he would see a roomin a rich house, where his friend lay asleep, dreaming and smilingat his dreams; and then the door of that room would be opened, thecurtains of the bed plucked apart, the sleeper recalled, and lo!there would stand by his side a figure to whom power was given, andeven at that dead hour, he must rise and do its bidding. The figurein these two phases haunted the lawyer all night; and if at any timehe dozed over, it was but to see it glide more stealthily throughsleeping houses, or move the more swiftly and still the moreswiftly, even to dizziness, through wider labyrinths of lamplightedcity, and at every street-corner crush a child and leave herscreaming. And still the figure had no face by which he might knowit; even in his dreams, it had no face, or one that baffled him andmelted before his eyes; and thus it was that there sprang up andgrew apace in the lawyer's mind a singularly strong, almost aninordinate, curiosity to behold the features of the real Mr. Hyde.If he could but once set eyes on him, he thought the mystery wouldlighten and perhaps roll altogether away, as was the habit ofmysterious things when well examined. He might see a reason for his friend'sstrange preference or bondage (call it which you please) and evenfor the startling clause of the will. At least it would be a faceworth seeing: the face of a man who was without bowels of mercy: aface which had but to show itself to raise up, in the mind of theunimpressionable Enfield, a spirit of enduring hatred.From that time forward, Mr. Utterson began to haunt the door in theby-street of shops. In the morning before office hours, at noon whenbusiness was plenty, and time scarce, at night under the face of thefogged city moon, by all lights and at all hours of solitude orconcourse, 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; thelamps, unshaken, by any wind, drawing a regular pattern of lightand shadow. By ten o'clock, when the shops were closed, theby-street was very solitary and, in spite of the low growl ofLondon from all round, very silent. Small sounds carried far;domestic sounds out of the houses were clearly audible on eitherside of the roadway; and the rumour of the approach of anypassenger preceded him by a long time. Mr. Utterson had been someminutes at his post, when he was aware of an odd, light footstep drawing near. In the course of hisnightly patrols, he had long grown accustomed to the quaint effectwith which the footfalls of a single person, while he is still agreat way off, suddenly spring out distinct from the vast hum andclatter of the city. Yet his attention had never before been sosharply and decisively arrested; and it was with a strong,superstitious prevision of success that he withdrew into the entryof the court.The steps drew swiftly nearer, and swelled out suddenly louder asthey turned the end of the street. The lawyer, looking forth fromthe 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 atthat distance, went somehow strongly against the watcher'sinclination. But he made straight for the door, crossing theroadway to save time; and as he came, he drew a key from his pocketlike one approaching home.Mr. Utterson stepped out and touched him on the shoulder as hepassed." Mr. Hyde, I think?"Mr. Hyde shrank back with a hissing intake of the breath. But hisfear was only momentary; and though he did not look the lawyer inthe face, he answered coolly enough: "That is my name. What do youwant?""I see you are going in," returned the lawyer. "I am an old friendof Dr. Jekyll's -- Mr. Utter- son of Gaunt Street -- you must have heard my name; and meeting youso 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 did you know me?" he asked."On your side," said Mr. Utterson, "will you do me a favour?""With pleasure," replied the other. "What shall it be?""Will you let me see your face?" asked the lawyer.Mr. Hyde appeared to hesitate, and then, as if upon some suddenreflection, fronted about with an air of defiance; and the pairstared at each other pretty fixedly for a few seconds. "Now I shallknow you again," said Mr. Utterson." It may be useful.""Yes," returned Mr. Hyde, "it is as well we have, met; and apropos, you should have my address." And he gave a number of astreet in Soho."Good God!" thought Mr. Utterson," can he, too, have been thinkingof the will?" But he kept his feelings to himself and only gruntedin acknowledgment of the address."And now," said the other, "how did you know me?""By description," was the reply."Whose description?""We have common friends, said Mr. Utterson."Common friends?" echoed Mr. Hyde, a little hoarsely." Who arethey?""Jekyll, for instance," said the lawyer."He never told you," cried Mr. Hyde, with a flush of anger." I didnot think you would have lied.""Come," said Mr. Utterson, "that is not fitting language." The other snarled aloud into a savage laugh; and the next moment,with extraordinary quickness, he had unlocked the door anddisappeared into the house.The lawyer stood a while when Mr. Hyde had left him, the picture ofdisquietude. Then he began slowly to mount the street, pausingevery step or two and putting his hand to his brow like a man inmental perplexity. The problem he was thus debating as he walked,was one of a class that is rarely solved. Mr. Hyde was pale anddwarfish, he gave an impression of deformity without any nameablemalformation, he had a displeasing smile, he had borne himself tothe lawyer with a sort of murderous mixture of timidity andboldness, and he spoke with a husky, whispering and somewhat brokenvoice; all these were points against him, but not all of thesetogether could explain the hitherto unknown disgust, loathing, andfear with which Mr. Utterson regarded him. "There must be somethingelse," said the perplexed gentleman. "There is somethingmore, if I could find a name for it. God bless me, the man seemshardly human! Something troglodytic, shall we say? or can it be theold story of Dr. Fell? or Is it the mere radiance of a foul soulthat thus transpires through, and transfigures, its clay continent?The last, I think; for, O my poor old Harry Jekyll, if ever I readSatan'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 highestate and let in flats and chambers to all sorts and conditions ofmen: map-engravers, architects, shady lawyers, and the agents ofobscure enterprises. One house, however, second from the corner, wasstill occupied entire; and at the door of this, which wore a greatair of wealth and comfort, though it was now plunged in darknessexcept for the fan-light, Mr. Utterson stopped and knocked. Awell-dressed, elderly servant opened the door.Is Dr. Jekyll at home, Poole?" asked the lawyer."I will see, Mr. Utterson," said Poole, admitting the visitor, ashe spoke, into a large, low-roofed, comfortable hall, paved withflags, warmed (after the fashion of a country house) by a bright,open fire, and furnished with costly cabinets of oak. "Will youwait 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 onthe tall fender. This hall, in which he was now left alone, was apet fancy of his friend the doctor's; and Utterson himself was wontto speak of it as the pleasantest room in London. But to-night therewas a shudder in his blood; the face of Hyde sat heavy on hismemory; he felt (what was rare with him) a nausea and distaste oflife; and in the gloom of his spirits, he seemed to read a menace inthe flickering of the firelight on the polished cabinets and theuneasy starting of the shadow on the roof. He was ashamed of hisrelief, when Poole presently returned to announce that Dr. Jekyllwas gone out."I saw Mr. Hyde go in by the old dissecting-room door, Poole," hesaid. "Is that right, when Dr. Jekyll is from home?""Quite right, Mr. Utterson, sir," replied the servant. "Mr. Hydehas a key.""Your master seems to repose a great deal of trust in that youngman, Poole," resumed the other musingly."Yes, sir, he do indeed," said Poole. "We have all orders to obeyhim.""I do not think I ever met Mr. Hyde?" asked Utterson. O, dear no, sir. He never dines here," replied the butler. "Indeedwe see very little of him on this side of the house; he mostly comes and goes by thelaboratory.""Well, good-night, Poole.""Good-night, Mr. Utterson." And the lawyer set out homeward with avery heavy heart." Poor Harry Jekyll," he thought, "my mindmisgives me he is in deep waters! He was wild when he was young; along while ago to be sure; but in the law of God, there is nostatute of limitations. Ay, it must be that; the ghost of some oldsin, the cancer of some concealed disgrace: punishment coming, pedeclaudo, years after memory has forgotten and self-love condoned thefault." And the lawyer, scared by the thought, brooded a while onhis own past, groping in all the corners of memory, lest by chancesome Jack-in-the-Box of an old iniquity should leap to light there.His past was fairly blameless; few men could read the rolls of theirlife with less apprehension; yet he was humbled to the dust by themany ill things he had done, and raised up again into a sober andfearful gratitude by the many that he had come so near to doing, yetavoided. And then by a return on his former subject, he conceived aspark of hope. "This Master Hyde, if he were studied," 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 likesunshine. Things cannot continue as they are. It turns me cold tothink of this creature stealing like a thief to Harry's bedside;poor Harry, what a wakening! And thedanger of it; for if this Hyde suspects the existence of the will,he may grow impatient to inherit. Ay, I must put my shoulder to thewheel if Jekyll will but let me," he added, "if Jekyll will only letme." For once more he saw before his mind's eye, as clear as atransparency, the strange clauses of the will.