Mr. Utterson was a lawyer. He was a serious man with a face that never smiled. He was a cold man and he did not talk much. He was thin and tall and looked very tired. But many people loved Mr. Utterson.
When Mr. Utterson was with friends, his eyes looked kind. He did not show his feelings with words. He showed his feelings with his actions. He was very strict with himself. He stayed home and did not go to the theatre.
Mr. Utterson was kind to other people. He did not judge them when they did bad things. He often helped people who had problems. He liked to say, "I let people go to the devil in their own way." Because of this, many bad people chose Mr. Utterson as their last good friend.
Mr. Utterson had a good friend named Mr. Richard Enfield. Mr. Enfield was a distant relative. He was well-known in the city of London. People did not know why these two men were friends. They were very different from each other.
Mr. Utterson and Mr. Enfield went for a walk every Sunday. They walked for a long time and they did not speak. They looked very bored. But they loved these walks. They did not do other fun things because they wanted to walk together.
One Sunday, they walked down a small street in a busy part of London. During the week, the street was full of shops and shoppers. The people in the street were successful and happy. The shop fronts were clean and pretty. Even on Sunday, the street looked bright and new.
Near the corner of the street, there was an old building. It was two storeys high. It had no windows. It only had one door on the ground floor. The wall was dirty and the paint was old.
The door had no bell and no knocker. It looked old and damaged. Poor people often stood near the door. Children played on the steps. For many years, no one cleaned or fixed the building.
Mr. Enfield and Mr. Utterson were on the other side of the street. When they walked past the door, Mr. Enfield pointed with his stick. He asked Mr. Utterson if he noticed that door. Mr. Utterson said yes.
Mr. Enfield said the door reminded him of a strange story. Mr. Utterson asked to hear the story. Mr. Enfield began to tell it. He said he was walking home at three o'clock on a cold winter morning.
The streets were very dark and empty. Mr. Enfield walked through many streets with many lamps. He did not see any people. He started to feel nervous. He wanted to see a policeman.
Suddenly, Mr. Enfield saw two people. One was a small man who walked quickly. The other was a girl who was about eight years old. She ran down a cross street. The man and the girl ran into each other at the corner.
Then a horrible thing happened. The man trampled the girl. He walked right over her body. The girl lay on the ground and screamed. It was terrible to see. The man was not like a human.
Mr. Enfield ran after the man. He caught the man by his clothes and brought him back. A small crowd of people stood around the screaming girl. The man was very calm. He did not fight. But he gave Mr. Enfield a very ugly look.
The girl’s family arrived. Then a doctor arrived to check the girl. The girl was okay, but she was very frightened. Everyone in the crowd hated the man. Even the doctor wanted to kill him.
The crowd told the man they would tell everyone about his bad action. They said everyone in London would hear about it. The man was calm but he was also a little afraid. He looked like the devil.
The man asked how much money they wanted. He did not want a scene. The family and the doctor asked for one hundred pounds. The man agreed to pay. He led them to that old building with the dirty door.
The man took out a key and went inside. He came back with ten pounds in gold. He also had a cheque. It was signed with a famous name. Mr. Enfield thought the cheque was a forgery.
The man said he would wait until the banks opened. He said he would get the money himself. The next morning, they all went to the bank. The bank worker looked at the cheque. It was real. The bank gave them the money.
Mr. Utterson was very surprised by the story. Mr. Enfield said it was a bad story. He thought the man was a blackmailer. He called the building "Black Mail House."
Mr. Enfield did not like to ask questions. He thought questions were like a stone on a hill. If you push one stone, it hits other stones. Then a problem might hit an innocent person. He tried to follow a rule: do not ask questions.
Mr. Utterson said that was a good rule. But he wanted to know the name of the man who walked over the child. Mr. Enfield said the man's name was Mr. Hyde. Mr. Utterson asked what Mr. Hyde looked like.
Mr. Enfield said Mr. Hyde was hard to describe. He said there was something wrong with the man's appearance. He looked ugly and mean. Mr. Enfield hated him immediately. He said Mr. Hyde looked deformed.
Mr. Utterson was quiet for a long time. He asked if Mr. Enfield was sure about the key. Mr. Enfield said he was sure. He saw Mr. Hyde use the key again last week.
Mr. Utterson sighed. He said he already knew who had signed the cheque. He asked Mr. Enfield if he was sure about every detail of the story. Mr. Enfield promised the story was true.
The two men felt very sad about the story. Mr. Enfield was ashamed that he had talked so much. They made a promise. They agreed never to talk about Mr. Hyde or the door again. They shook hands on their promise.