The Strange Story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Mr.
Utterson
the
lawyer
was
a
man
of
a
rugged
countenance
,
that
was
never
lighted
by
a
smile
;
cold
,
scanty
and
embarrassed
in
discourse
;
backward
in
sentiment
;
lean
,
long
,
dusty
,
dreary
,
and
yet
somehow
lovable
.
At
friendly
meetings
,
and
when
the
wine
was
to
his
taste
,
something
eminently
human
beaconed
from
his
eye
;
something
indeed
which
never
found
its
way
into
his
talk
,
but
which
spoke
not
only
in
these
silent
symbols
of
the
after-dinner
face
,
but
more
often
and
loudly
in
the
acts
of
his
life
.
He
was
austere
with
himself
;
drank
gin
when
he
was
alone
,
to
mortify
a
taste
for
vintages
;
and
though
he
enjoyed
the
theatre
,
had
not
crossed
the
doors
of
one
for
twenty
years
.
But
he
had
an
approved
tolerance
for
others
;
sometimes
wondering
,
almost
with
envy
,
at
the
high
pressure
of
spirits
involved
in
their
misdeeds
;
and
in
any
extremity
inclined
to
help
rather
than
to
reprove
.
"
I
incline
to
Cain
's
heresy
,
"
he
used
to
say
.
"
I
let
my
brother
go
to
the
devil
in
his
quaintly
own
way
.
"
In
this
character
,
it
was
frequently
his
fortune
to
be
the
last
reputable
acquaintance
and
the
last
good
influence
in
the
lives
of
down-going
men
.
And
to
such
as
these
,
so
long
as
they
came
about
his
chambers
,
he
never
marked
a
shade
of
change
in
his
demeanour
.
No
doubt
the
feat
was
easy
to
Mr.
Utterson
;
for
he
was
undemonstrative
at
the
best
,
and
even
his
friendship
seemed
to
be
founded
in
a
similar
catholicity
of
good-nature
.
It
is
the
mark
of
a
modest
man
to
accept
his
friendly
circle
ready-made
from
the
hands
of
opportunity
;
and
that
was
the
lawyer
's
way
.
His
friends
were
those
of
his
own
blood
or
those
whom
he
had
known
the
longest
;
his
affections
,
like
ivy
,
were
the
growth
of
time
,
they
implied
no
aptness
in
the
object
.
Hence
,
no
doubt
,
the
bond
that
united
him
to
Mr.
Richard
Enfield
,
his
distant
kinsman
,
the
well-known
man
about
town
.
It
was
a
nut
to
crack
for
many
,
what
these
two
could
see
in
each
other
,
or
what
subject
they
could
find
in
common
.
It
was
reported
by
those
who
encountered
them
in
their
Sunday
walks
,
that
they
said
nothing
,
looked
singularly
dull
,
and
would
hail
with
obvious
relief
the
appearance
of
a
friend
.
For
all
that
,
the
two
men
put
the
greatest
store
by
these
excursions
,
counted
them
the
chief
jewel
of
each
week
,
and
not
only
set
aside
occasions
of
pleasure
,
but
even
resisted
the
calls
of
business
,
that
they
might
enjoy
them
uninterrupted
.
It
chanced
on
one
of
these
rambles
that
their
way
led
them
down
a
by-street
in
a
busy
quarter
of
London
.
The
street
was
small
and
what
is
called
quiet
,
but
it
drove
a
thriving
trade
on
the
week-days
.
The
inhabitants
were
all
doing
well
,
it
seemed
,
and
all
emulously
hoping
to
do
better
still
,
and
laying
out
the
surplus
of
their
gains
in
coquetry
;
so
that
the
shop
fronts
stood
along
that
thoroughfare
with
an
air
of
invitation
,
like
rows
of
smiling
saleswomen
.
Even
on
Sunday
,
when
it
veiled
its
more
florid
charms
and
lay
comparatively
empty
of
passage
,
the
street
shone
out
in
contrast
to
its
dingy
neighbourhood
,
like
a
fire
in
a
forest
;
and
with
its
freshly
painted
shutters
,
well-polished
brasses
,
and
general
cleanliness
and
gaiety
of
note
,
instantly
caught
and
pleased
the
eye
of
the
passenger
.
Two
doors
from
one
corner
,
on
the
left
hand
going
east
,
the
line
was
broken
by
the
entry
of
a
court
;
and
just
at
that
point
,
a
certain
sinister
block
of
building
thrust
forward
its
gable
on
the
street
.
It
was
two
stories
high
;
showed
no
window
,
nothing
but
a
door
on
the
lower
story
and
a
blind
forehead
of
discoloured
wall
on
the
upper
;
and
bore
in
every
feature
,
the
marks
of
prolonged
and
sordid
negligence
.
The
door
,
which
was
equipped
with
neither
bell
nor
knocker
,
was
blistered
and
distained
.
Tramps
slouched
into
the
recess
and
struck
matches
on
the
panels
;
children
kept
shop
upon
the
steps
;
the
schoolboy
had
tried
his
knife
on
the
mouldings
;
and
for
close
on
a
generation
,
no
one
had
appeared
to
drive
away
these
random
visitors
or
to
repair
their
ravages
.
Mr.
Enfield
and
the
lawyer
were
on
the
other
side
of
the
by-street
;
but
when
they
came
abreast
of
the
entry
,
the
former
lifted
up
his
cane
and
pointed
.
"
Did
you
ever
remark
that
door
?
"
he
asked
;
and
when
his
companion
had
replied
in
the
affirmative
,
"
It
is
connected
in
my
mind
,
"
added
he
,
"
with
a
very
odd
story
.
"
"
Indeed
?
"
said
Mr.
Utterson
,
with
a
slight
change
of
voice
,
"
and
what
was
that
?
"
