Трек 04_01

Chapter Four

Search for Mr. Hyde

That evening Mr. Utterson returned to his house in low spirits, and with little taste for the excellent dinner that was set before him. It was his custom of a Sunday, when this meal was over, to sit by the fire reading, until the clock of the neighbouring church rang out the hour of twelve, when he would go quietly 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 an envelope that contained the will of Dr. Henry Jekyll, M.D., D.C.L., LL.D., F.R.S., etc., etc., and sat down to study its contents. The document was in the handwriting of Dr. Jekyll, for Mr. Utterson, though he had taken charge of it now that it was made, had refused to assist in the making of it. It provided that, in case of the death of Dr. Jekyll, all his possessions were to pass into the hands of his good friend 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.

This document had long been the lawyer’s eyesore. It offended him both as a lawyer and as a lover of the sensible side of life, to whom the fanciful had little appeal. Beforehand, it had been his lack of knowledge of Mr. Hyde that had stirred his doubts and suspicions; now, by accident, it was what he had learned. It was bad enough when the man was only a name of which he could learn no more. It was worse when he began to be given shape, and the shape was evil . . .

«I thought, at first, that Jekyll was mad,» he said, as he returned the document to the safe, «and now I begin to fear it is disgrace.»

With that he blew out his candle, put on a greatcoat and set out for Cavendish Square, where his friend, the great Dr. Lanyon, had his house and received his patients. «If anyone knows, it will be Lanyon,» he thought.

The servant led him from the door to the dining-room, where Dr. Lanyon sat alone over his wine. He was a healthy, red-faced gentleman, with a head of snow-white hair and a noisy, decided manner. At sight of Mr. Utterson, he sprang up from his chair and welcomed him with both hands. These two were old friends, had known each other at school and college, and were men who thoroughly enjoyed each other’s company.

After a little idle talk, the lawyer led up to the subject which so occupied his mind.

«I suppose, Lanyon,» he said, «that you and I must be the two oldest friends that Henry Jekyll has?»

«I wish the friends were younger,» said Dr. Lanyon, with a laugh. «Anyway, I see very little of Jekyll now.»

«Indeed!» said Utterson. «I thought you shared a common interest.»

«We did,» was the reply. «But it is more than ten years since Henry Jekyll became too fanciful for me. He began to go wrong, wrong in mind; and though, of course, I continued to take an interest in him for old time’s sake, I see and I have seen very little of him for a long time now. Such scientific rubbish,» added the doctor, looking very angry, «I have never heard!»

This little show of temper was something of a relief to Mr. Utterson. «They have fallen out on some point of science,» he thought; and being a man with no interest in science, he even added: «It is nothing worse than that!»

He gave his friend a few seconds to recover his good temper, and then approached the question he had come to put.

«Did you ever meet a friend of his-a Mr. Edward Hyde?» he asked.

«Hyde?» repeated Lanyon. «No. Never heard of him. Must be someone he’s met since my time.»