2 Search for Mr. Hyde

Chapter 2 Search for Mr. Hyde That evening, Urterson sat in his house beside a crackling fire, gazing at a document in his hand. Urterson was a lawyer, and this document was the will he had written for his close friend Dr. Henry Jekyll. Its final line had occupied his thoughts for months, but never more so than tonight...

In the event of my death or disappearance, all of my possessions are to pass into the hands of Mr. Edward Hyde. Utterson had known Henry for most of his life, but had never heard the name Hyde before he read it in this will. And now here Hyde was again, in Enfield's terrible tale. What hold did such a fiend have over poor Henry? "If anyone knows," Utterson thought, "it will be Lanyon." An hour later, he arrived at the house of his friend Hastie Lanyon, a red-faced doctor with slicked silver hair. They sipped wine and spoke happily of old times. He and Lanyon were university friends, where they had both known Henry Jekyll.

"Did Henry ever mention a friend of his to you Lanyon?" Utterson asked. "A man named Edward Hyde?" "Hyde?" Lanyon said. "No, never heard of him. But I have not spoken to Henry for almost a year. We might both be doctors, but he began to speak such unscientific balderdash that I feared he had lost his mind. Now, let us talk of a happier subject..." But all Utterson could think of was that sinister name in Henry Jekyll's will. "If he is Mr. Hyde," the lawyer decided, "then I shall be Mr. Seek."

From that night on, Utterson began to haunt the door that Enfield had shown him. Before work in the morning and after work at night, he hid in an alley and waited for a glimpse of the mysterious fiend. At last, his patience was rewarded. Footsteps echoed along the foggy street. A hunched figure emerged from the gloom. Utterson stepped out, blocking the man's path. "Mr. Hyde I think?" he said. The man shrank back with a hissing intake of breath. His face remained hidden under the shadow of his crooked top hat. "How do you know me?" he snapped. "First," Utterson asked, "will you let me see your face?" Hyde hesitated, and then stepped closer to the street lamp. Utterson shivered when he saw the man in the light. It was hard to say what was wrong with him, just that there was something evil about his face. A line of spit hung from his mouth as he kept grinding his rotten teeth.

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"Now," Hyde snarled. "Tell me how you know me?" "Henry Jekyll gave me your address." At this, Hyde broke into a savage laugh. He barged past Utterson, knocking the lawyer to the ground. The door slammed behind him as he disappeared into the house. Utterson sat on the cobbles, trying to calm his hammering heart. Poor Henry, he thought. What can this devil have over him?