Incident at the Window

It was Sunday. Mr. Utterson was on his usual walk with Mr. Enfield. They walked through a small street. They came to a door. Both men stopped to look at it. “Well,” Mr. Enfield said. “That story is finished. We will never see Mr. Hyde again.” “I hope not,” Mr. Utterson said. “I saw him once. I felt a strong repulsion (a very strong feeling of dislike) for him.” Mr. Enfield agreed. He said it was impossible to see Mr. Hyde and like him. Then Mr. Enfield felt stupid. He did not know that the door was a back way to the house of Dr. Henry Jekyll. Mr. Utterson wanted to go inside. He wanted to look at the windows. He was worried about Dr. Henry Jekyll. He thought a friend might help the doctor. They went into the court (a small, open area between buildings). It was cool and a little wet. It was becoming dark, but the sky was still bright from the sun. Mr. Utterson saw Dr. Henry Jekyll. The doctor sat near a window. He looked very sad, like a prisoner. “Jekyll!” Mr. Utterson cried. “I hope you feel better.” “I feel very low, Utterson,” Dr. Henry Jekyll said sadly. “I feel very low. It will not last long, thank God.” “You stay inside too much,” Mr. Utterson said. “You should walk with us. This is my cousin, Mr. Enfield.” Dr. Henry Jekyll sighed. He said he wanted to walk with them. But he said it was impossible. He said he did not dare to go out. He was glad to see Mr. Utterson. He did not ask them to come inside because the house was messy. “Then we will stay here,” Mr. Utterson said. “We can talk to you from the court.” Dr. Henry Jekyll smiled. He liked that idea. But suddenly, the smile left his face. He looked full of terror and sadness. Mr. Utterson and Mr. Enfield were very afraid. They only saw his face for a second. Then Dr. Henry Jekyll closed the window quickly. Mr. Utterson and Mr. Enfield left the court. They did not speak. They walked to a street with more people. Then they looked at each other. They were both very white. They saw fear in each other’s eyes. “God forgive us,” Mr. Utterson said. Mr. Enfield did not speak. He only moved his head and walked on. THE LAST NIGHT Mr. Utterson sat near his fire one evening. He finished his dinner. Suddenly, Poole came to his house. Poole was the servant of Dr. Henry Jekyll. “Poole, why are you here?” Mr. Utterson asked. He looked at the man. “Are you okay? Is the doctor sick?” “Mr. Utterson,” Poole said. “Something is wrong.” Mr. Utterson told Poole to sit down. He gave Poole a glass of wine. He told Poole to speak slowly. “You know the doctor,” Poole said. “He stays alone. Now he is locked in his cabinet (a small private room for work) again. I do not like it. Mr. Utterson, I am afraid.” Mr. Utterson asked Poole why he was afraid. Poole said he was afraid for a week. He could not wait any longer. Poole looked very bad. He was nervous. He did not look at Mr. Utterson. He did not drink his wine. “I think there is foul play (a crime, like murder),” Poole said. Mr. Utterson was frightened. He was also a little angry. He asked what Poole meant. Poole did not want to say. He asked Mr. Utterson to come with him. Mr. Utterson put on his coat and hat. He saw that Poole felt much better now. They went outside. It was a cold, windy night in March. The moon was bright. The wind was very strong. The streets were empty. Mr. Utterson felt that something bad was going to happen. They arrived at the house. The wind blew dust everywhere. Poole stopped and wiped his face with a handkerchief. He was not hot from walking. He was wet because he was very worried. Poole knocked on the door quietly. A voice asked who was there. Poole said it was him. The door opened. The hall was full of light and a big fire. All the servants stood together like scared sheep. A housemaid began to cry. The cook ran to Mr. Utterson. She was happy to see him. Mr. Utterson was surprised. He said their master would be angry to see them all there. “They are all afraid,” Poole said. No one spoke. Only the maid cried loudly. Poole told her to be quiet. He was very nervous too. He asked a servant for a candle. Then he asked Mr. Utterson to follow him to the garden. “Walk quietly, sir,” Poole whispered. “I want you to hear him. But I do not want him to hear you. If he asks you to come inside, do not go.” Mr. Utterson was very nervous now. He followed Poole into the laboratory building. They walked through the theatre (a large room where doctors study bodies). They went to the bottom of the stairs. Poole told Mr. Utterson to listen. Poole walked up the stairs. He knocked on the door. The door was covered in red baize (a thick, soft cloth). “Mr. Utterson is here, sir,” Poole called. A voice spoke from inside. “Tell him I cannot see anyone,” the voice said. It sounded sad. Poole went back down to Mr. Utterson. They went into the kitchen. Poole looked at Mr. Utterson. “Sir,” Poole said. “Was that my master’s voice?” “It sounds different,” Mr. Utterson said. He was very pale. Poole said he knew his master’s voice. He worked for Dr. Henry Jekyll for twenty years. He believed someone killed his master eight days ago. He did not know who was in the room now. Mr. Utterson did not believe him. He thought Dr. Henry Jekyll was sick. He thought a disease changed the doctor’s voice. This is why the doctor stayed in the room. “No, sir,” Poole said. “My master is a tall, strong man. The person in that room is small. He looks like a dwarf.” Poole said he saw the person once. The person wore a mask (something that hides a person’s face). The person ran away like a rat. Poole was sure it was not Dr. Henry Jekyll. He was sure it was a murder. “Poole,” Mr. Utterson said. “If you think that, I must open the door. I will break it.” “That is a good idea!” Poole said. They decided to do it together. Poole found an axe (a heavy tool for cutting wood). Mr. Utterson took a poker (a metal stick for moving wood). Mr. Utterson asked Poole a question. “The person you saw in the mask. Did you know him? Was it Mr. Hyde?” “Yes, I think it was!” Poole said. “He was small. He moved quickly. And he has a key to the laboratory.” Poole said that Mr. Hyde made him feel cold and sick. Mr. Utterson felt the same way. Mr. Utterson believed that Mr. Hyde killed Dr. Henry Jekyll. He believed the murderer was still in the room. Mr. Utterson called another servant named Bradshaw. He told Bradshaw to watch the back door. He gave Bradshaw ten minutes. Then Mr. Utterson and Poole went to the laboratory. It was dark and quiet. They heard footsteps inside the room. Someone was walking up and down all day and night. “Is that the doctor’s footstep?” Poole whispered. The steps were light and strange. They were not like the heavy steps of Dr. Henry Jekyll. Poole said he once heard the person inside weeping. “Weeping?” Mr. Utterson asked. “He cried like a woman or a lost soul,” Poole said. The ten minutes finished. Poole took the axe. They went to the door. “Jekyll,” Mr. Utterson shouted. “I want to see you!” There was no answer. “I will break the door if you do not open it!” “Utterson,” a voice said. “Please, have mercy!” “That is not Jekyll’s voice!” Mr. Utterson cried. “That is Hyde’s voice! Break the door, Poole!” Poole hit the door with the axe. A scream of terror came from inside. Poole hit the door again and again. Finally, the lock broke. The door fell inside. They looked into the room. It was a quiet, normal room. There was a good fire. The kettle was hot. Papers were on the table. Tea was ready. But in the middle of the floor, they saw a man. His body was moving a little, but he was dying. They looked at his face. It was Edward Hyde. He wore clothes that were too big for him. They were the clothes of Dr. Henry Jekyll. There was a phial (a small glass bottle for medicine) in his hand. It smelled like nuts. Mr. Utterson knew the man killed himself with poison. “We are too late,” Mr. Utterson said. “Mr. Hyde is dead. Now we must find the body of your master.” They searched the whole building. They looked in every room and the cellar. They found nothing. There was no sign of Dr. Henry Jekyll. They went back to the cabinet. They saw some white powder on a table. Poole said it was the medicine he bought for the doctor. They saw a large cheval-glass (a very large mirror). They looked into it. It only showed the room and their own pale faces. “Why did Dr. Henry Jekyll want a mirror here?” Mr. Utterson asked. Then they looked at the table. There was a large envelope with Mr. Utterson’s name on it. Mr. Utterson opened it. Inside, there was a new will. Dr. Henry Jekyll wanted to give everything to Mr. Utterson, not Mr. Hyde. “I am confused,” Mr. Utterson said. “Mr. Hyde was here. He must have seen this paper. But he did not destroy it.” He found another note. It was from the doctor. It was dated from that same day. “Poole!” Mr. Utterson cried. “The doctor was alive today! He cannot be dead. Maybe he ran away.” Mr. Utterson read the note. Dr. Henry Jekyll told Mr. Utterson to read a letter from Dr. Lanyon first. Then, he told him to read a long confession from Jekyll himself. Poole gave Mr. Utterson a large packet of papers. Mr. Utterson put it in his pocket. He told Poole not to talk about these papers. He wanted to save the doctor’s reputation. “It is ten o’clock,” Mr. Utterson said. “I will go home and read these. I will come back at midnight. Then we will call the police.” They went out and locked the door. Mr. Utterson walked home to find the truth.

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The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde

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