“Mr. Utterson, sir, asking to see you, “he called; and even as he did so, once more violently signed to the lawyer to give ear.

A voice answered from within: “Tell him I cannot see any one,” it said complainingly.

“Thank you, sir,” said Poole, with a note of something like triumph in his voice; and taking up his candle, he led Mr. Utterson back across the yard and into the great kitchen, where the fire was out and the beetles were leaping on the floor.

“Sir,” he said, looking Mr. Utterson in the eyes,” was that my master’s voice?”

“It seems much changed,” replied the lawyer, very pale, but giving look for look.

“Changed? Well, yes, I think so,” said the butler. “Have I been twenty years in this man’s house, to be deceived about his voice? No, sir; master’s made away with; he was made, away with eight days ago, when we heard him cry out upon the name of God; and who’s in there instead of him, and why it stays there, is a thing that cries to Heaven, Mr. Utterson!”

“This is a very strange tale, Poole; this is rather a wild tale, my man,” said Mr. Utterson, biting his finger. “Suppose it were as you suppose, supposing Dr. Jekyll to have been — well, murdered, what could induce the murderer to stay? That won’t hold water; it doesn’t commend itself to reason.”

“Well, Mr. Utterson, you are a hard man to satisfy, but I’ll do it yet,” said Poole. “All this last week (you must know) him, or it, or whatever it is that lives in that cabinet, has been crying night and day for some sort of medicine and cannot get it to his mind. It was sometimes his way — the master’s, that is — to write his orders on a sheet of paper and throw it on the stair. We’ve had nothing else this week back; nothing but papers, and a closed door, and the very meals left there to be smuggled in when nobody was looking. Well, sir, every day, ay, and twice and thrice in the same day, there have been orders and complaints, and I have been sent flying to all the wholesale chemists in town. Every time I brought the stuff back, there would be another paper telling me to return it, because it was not pure, and another order to a different firm. This drug is wanted bitter bad, sir, whatever for.”

“Have you any of these papers?” asked Mr. Utterson.

Poole felt in his pocket and handed out a crumpled note, which the lawyer, bending nearer to the candle, carefully examined. Its contents ran thus: “Dr. Jekyll presents his compliments to Messrs. Maw. He assures them that their last sample is impure and quite useless for his present purpose. In the year 18—, Dr. J. purchased a somewhat large quantity from Messrs. M. He now begs them to search with the most sedulous care, and should any of the same quality be left, to forward it to him at once. Expense is no consideration. The importance of this to Dr. J. can hardly be exaggerated.” So far the letter had run composedly enough, but here with a sudden splutter of the pen, the writer’s emotion had broken loose. “For God’s sake,” he had added, “find me some of the old.”

Main IndexPage 000000
Page 000001
Page 000002
Page 000003
Page 000004
Page 000005
Page 000006
Page 000007
Page 000008
Page 000009
Page 000010
Page 000011
Page 000012
Page 000013
Page 000014
Page 000015
Page 000016
Page 000017
Page 000018
Page 000019
Page 000020
Page 000021
Page 000022
Page 000023
Page 000024
Page 000025
Page 000026
Page 000027
Page 000028
Page 000029
Page 000030
Page 000031
Page 000032
Page 000033
Page 000034
Page 000035
Page 000036
Page 000037
Page 000038
Page 000039
Page 000040

List of other EBooks available for download

The Crystal Stopper
Aaron's Rod
Lady Chatterley's Lover
Woman In Love
Frankenstein
Dracula
Lair Of The White Worm
Pride And Prejudice
Rob Roy
Mrs Dalloway
Kidnapped
The Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde
Treasure Island
Around The World In 80 Days
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea
Moby Dick
The Invisible Man
The Island Of Doctor Moreau
The Time Machine
The War Of The Worlds
Robinson Crusoe
A Tale Of Two Cities
Great Expectations
Oliver Twist
A Study In Scarlet
His Last Bow
The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes
The Case Book Of Sherlock Holmes
The Hound Of The Baskervilles
The Memoirs Of Sherlock Holmes
The Return Of Sherlock Holmes
The Sign Of Four
The Valley Of Fear
The Black Tulip
The Count Of Monte Cristo
The Three Musketeers