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Robert LouisStevenson’sopened his safe, took from the most private partStrange Case ofJekyll’s Will and sat down with a clouded brow toDrJekyllMrHydeThe One Book – One Edinburgh citywide readingcampaign, co-ordinated by the Edinburgh UNESCOCity of Literature Trust, is distributing 10,000 copies ofRobert Louis Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr Jekyll andMr Hyde across Edinburgh this month to get the city’sresidents reading the same book at the same time. Callin to your local library from Friday 22nd February topick up a free copy while stocks last.of it a document endorsed on the envelope as Drstudy its contents.  The will was holograph, for MrUtterson, though he took charge of it now that itwas made, had refused to lend the least assistancein the making of it; it provided not only that, incase of the decease of Henry Jekyll, M.D., D.C.L.,L.L.D., F.R.S., etc., all his possessions were to passinto the hands of his “friend and benefactor EdwardHyde,” but that in case of Dr Jekyll’s “disappearanceor unexplained absence for any period exceedingthree calendar months,” the said Edward Hydeshould step into the said Henry Jekyll’s shoeswithout further delay and free from any burthen orobligation beyond the payment of a few small sumsto the members of the doctor’s household.  Thisdocument had long been the lawyer’s eyesore.It offended him both as a lawyer and as a loverChapter 2of the sane and customary sides of life, to whomthe fanciful was the immodest.  And hitherto itwas his ignorance of Mr Hyde that had swelledSearch for Mr Hydehis indignation; now, by a sudden turn, it was hisknowledge. It was already bad enough when thename was but a nameThat evening Mr Utterson came home to hisof which he couldbachelor house in sombre spirits and sat downlearn no more. Itto dinner without relish. It was his custom ofwas worse when ita Sunday, when this meal was over, to sit closebegan to be clothedby the fire, a volume of some dry divinity on hisupon with detestablereading desk, until the clock of the neighbouringattributes; and outchurch rang out the hour of twelve,of the shifting,when he would go soberly andgratefully to bed. On this nighthowever, as soon as the clothwas taken away, he took upa candle and went into hisbusiness room.  There he Illustration Cam Kennedy 2008. Reproduced by kind permission of Waverley Books Ltd

C H A P T E R 2 – s earch f o r m r h y d einsubstantial mists that had so long baffled his eye,there leaped up the sudden, definite presentment ofa fiend.“I thought it was madness,” he said, as hereplaced the obnoxious paper in the safe, “and nowI begin to fear it is disgrace.”With that he blew out his candle, put ona greatcoat, and set forth in the direction ofCavendish Square, that citadel of medicine, wherehis friend, the great Dr Lanyon, had his house andreceived his crowding patients. “If anyone knows, itwill be Lanyon,” he had thought.The solemn butler knew and welcomed him;he was subjected to no stage of delay, but ushereddirect from the door to the dining-room where DrLanyon sat alone over his wine.  This was a hearty,healthy, dapper, red-faced gentleman, with a shockfanciful for me. He began to go wrong, wrong inof hair prematurely white, and a boisterous andmind; and though of course I continue to take andecided manner.  At sight of Mr Utterson, he spranginterest in him for old sake’s sake, as they say, Iup from his chair and welcomed him with bothsee and I have seen devilish little of the man. Suchhands.  The geniality, as was the way of the man, wasunscientific balderdash,” added the doctor, flushingsomewhat theatrical to the eye; but it reposed onsuddenly purple, “would have estranged Damongenuine feeling. For these two were old friends, oldand Pythias.”mates both at school and college, both thoroughThis little spirit of temper was somewhat of arespecters of themselves and of each other, and,relief to Mr Utterson. “They have only differed onwhat does not always follow, men who thoroughlysome point of science,” he thought; and being aenjoyed each other’s company.man of no scientific passions (except in the matterAfter a little rambling talk, the lawyer led up to thesubject which so disagreeably preoccupied his mind.“I suppose, Lanyon,” said he, “you and I must bethe two oldest friends that Henry Jekyll has?”“I wish the friends were younger,” chuckled DrLanyon. “But I suppose we are.  And what of that? Isee little of him now.”“Indeed?” said Utterson. “I thought you had abond of common interest.”“We had,” was the reply. “But it is morethan ten years since Henry Jekyll became too of conveyancing), he even added: “It is nothingworse than that!” He gave his friend a few secondsto recover his composure, and then approached thequestion he had come to put. Did you ever comeacross a protégé of his – one Hyde?” he asked.“Hyde?” repeated Lanyon. “No. Never heard ofhim. Since my time.”That was the amount of information that thelawyer carried back with him to the great, dark bedon which he tossed to and fro, until the small hoursof the morning began to grow large. It was a nightIllustration Cam Kennedy 2008. Reproduced by kind permission of Waverley Books Ltd

C H A P T E R 2 – s earch f o r m r h y d eof little ease to his toiling mind, toiling in merehe might know it; even in his dreams, it had no face,darkness and beseiged by questions.or one that baffled him and melted before his eyes;Six o’clock struck on the bells of the churchthat was so conveniently near to Mr Utterson’sdwelling, and still he was digging at the problem.and thus it was that there sprang up and grew apacein the lawyer’s mind a singularly strong, almost aninordinate, curiosity to behold the features ofHitherto it had touched him on thethe real Mr Hyde. If he could butintellectual side alone; but now hisonce set eyes on him, he thoughtimagination also was engaged,the mystery would lightenor rather enslaved; and as heand perhaps roll altogetherlay and tossed in the grossaway, as was the habit ofdarkness of the night and themysterious things when wellcurtained room, Mr Enfield’sexamined. He might see atale went by before his mind inreason for his friend’s strangepreference or bondage (call ita scroll of lighted pictures. Hewould be aware of the great fieldwhich you please) and even forof lamps of a nocturnal city; thenthe startling clause of the will.  Atof the figure of a man walkingleast it would be a face worthswiftly; then of a child runningseeing: the face of a man whofrom the doctor’s; and thenwas without bowels of mercy:these met, and that humana face which had but to showJuggernaut trod the childitself to raise up, in the minddown and passed on regardlessof the unimpressionableof her screams. Or else he wouldEnfield, a spirit of enduringsee a room in a rich house, wherehatred.his friend lay asleep, dreamingFrom that time forward, Mrand smiling at his dreams; and then thedoor of that room would be opened, the curtainsby-street of shops. In the morning before officeof the bed plucked apart, the sleeper recalled, andhours, at noon when business was plenty, andlo! there would stand by his side a figure to whomtime scarce, at night under the face of the foggedpower was given, and even at that dead hour, hecity moon, by all lights and at all hours of solitudemust rise and do its bidding.  The figure in these twoor concourse, the lawyer was to be found on hisphases haunted the lawyer all night; and if at anychosen post.time he dozed over, it was but to see it glide morestealthily through sleeping houses, or move the more Utterson began to haunt the door in the“If he be Mr Hyde,” he had thought, “I shall be MrSeek.”swiftly and still the more swiftly, even to dizziness,And at last his patience was rewarded. It was athrough wider labyrinths of lamplighted city, andfine dry night; frost in the air; the streets as clean asat every street corner crush a child and leave hera ballroom floor; the lamps, unshaken by any wind,screaming.  And still the figure had no face by whichdrawing a regular pattern of light and shadow. By tenIllustration Cam Kennedy 2008. Reproduced by kind permission of Waverley Books Ltd

C H A P T E R 2 – s earch f o r m r h y d eo’clock, when the shops were closed, the by-streetwas very solitary and, in spite of the low growl ofLondon from all round, very silent. Small soundscarried far; domestic sounds out of the houses wereclearly audible on either side of the roadway; andthe rumour of the approach of any passengerpreceded him by a longtime. Mr Utterson hadbeen some minutes athis post, when he wasaware of an odd, lightfootstep drawing near.In the course of hisnightly patrols, he hadlong grown accustomedto the quaint effectwith which the footfallsof a single person,the breath. But his fear was only momentary; andwhile he is still a great way off, suddenly spring outthough he did not look the lawyer in the face, hedistinct from the vast hum and clatter of the city. Yetanswered coolly enough: “That is my name. Whathis attention had never before been so sharplydo you want?”and decisively arrested; and it was with a strong,superstitious prevision of success that he withdrew“I am an old friend of Dr Jekyll’s – Mr Utterson ofinto the entry of the court.Gaunt Street – you must have heard of my name;The steps drew swiftly nearer, and swelledout suddenly louder as they turned the end ofthe street.  The lawyer, looking forth from theand meeting you so conveniently, I thought youmight admit me.”“You will not find Dr Jekyll; he is from home,”entry, could soon see what manner of man hereplied Mr Hyde, blowing in the key.  And thenhad to deal with. He was small and very plainlysuddenly, but still without looking up, “How diddressed and the look of him, even at that distance,you know me?” he asked.went somehow strongly against the watcher’sinclination. But he made straight for the door,crossing the roadway to save time; and as hecame, he drew a key from his pocket like oneapproaching home.Mr Utterson stepped out and touched him onthe shoulder as he passed. “Mr Hyde, I think?”Mr Hyde shrank back with a hissing intake of10“I see you are going in,” returned the lawyer.“On your side,” said Mr Utterson, “will you do mea favour?”“With pleasure,” replied the other. “What shall itbe?”“Will you let me see your face?” asked the lawyer.Mr Hyde appeared to hesitate, and then, as ifupon some sudden reflection, fronted about withan air of defiance; and the pair stared at each otherIllustration Cam Kennedy 2008. Reproduced by kind permission of Waverley Books Ltd