did you compare them. Guest?' he inquired suddenly.
'Well, sir,' returned the clerk, 'there's a rather singular resemblance; the
two hands are in many points identical: only differently sloped.' 'Rather quaint,'9 said Utterson.
'It is, as you say, rather quaint,' returned Guest.
'I wouldn't speak of this note, you know,' said the master.
'No, sir,' said the clerk. 'I understand.'
But no sooner was Mr. Utterson alone that night than he locked the note
into his safe, where it reposed from that time forward. 'What!' he thought.
'Henry Jekyll forge for a murderer!' And his blood ran cold in his veins.
Remarkable Incident of Dr. Lanyon
Time ran on; thousands of pounds were offered in reward, for the death of
Sir Danvers was resented as a public injury; but Mr. Hyde had disappeared
out of the ken of the police as though he had never existed. Much of his past
was unearthed, indeed, and all disreputable: tales came out of the man's cru
elty, at once so callous and violent; of his vile life, of his strange associates, of
the hatred that seemed to have surrounded his career; but of his present
whereabouts, not a whisper. From the time he had left the house in Soho on
the morning of the murder, he was simply blotted out; and gradually, as time
drew on, Mr. Utterson began to recover from the hotness of his alarm, and to
grow more at quiet with himself. The death of Sir Danvers was, to his way of
thinking, more than paid for by the disappearance of Mr. Hyde. Now that that
evil influence had been withdrawal, a new life began for Dr. Jekyll. Fie came
out of his seclusion, renewed relations with his friends, became once more
their familiar guest and entertainer; and whilst he had always been known for
charities, he was now no less distinguished for religion. He was busy, he was
much in the open air, he did good; his face seemed to open and brighten, as
9. Odd, unusual.
.
THE STRANGE CASE OF DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE / 1661
if with an inward consciousness of service; and for more than two months, the
doctor was at peace.
On the 8th of January Utterson had dined at the doctor's with a small party;
Lanyon had been there; and the face of the host had looked from one to the
other as in the old days when the trio were inseparable friends. On the 12th,
and again on the 14th, the door was shut against the lawyer. 'The doctor was
confined to the house,' Poole said, 'and saw no one.' On the 1 5th, he tried
again, and was again refused; and having now been used for the last two
months to see his friend almost daily, he found this return of solitude to weigh
upon his spirits. The fifth night he had in Guest to dine with him; and the
sixth he betook himself to Dr. Lanyon's. There at least he was not denied admittance; but when he came in, he was
shocked at the change which had taken place in the doctor's appearance. He
had his death-warrant written legibly upon his face. The rosy man had grown
pale; his flesh had fallen away; he was visibly balder and older; and yet it was
not so much these tokens of a swift physical decay that arrested the lawyer's
notice, as a look in the eye and quality of manner that seemed to testify to
some deep-seated terror of the mind. It was unlikely that the doctor should
fear death; and yet that was what Utterson was tempted to suspect. 'Yes,' he
thought; 'he is a doctor, he must know his own state and that his days are
counted; and the knowledge is more than he can bear.' And yet when Utterson
