Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde: Part6

Part Six: Dr Lanyon's Narrative

When Mr Utterson arrived home, he went to his safe. He took out Dr

Lanyon's letter. He looked at the envelope:

'Open after the death or disappearance of Dr Henry Jekyll.'

'I don't think Henry Jekyll is dead,' thought Mr Utterson. 'But he has

certainly disappeared. Now is the time to read this letter!'

Mr Utterson opened the letter, and began to read. This is what the letter

said:

Four days ago, on the ninth of January, I received a strange letter from

Dr Jekyll. You must read this letter if you want to understand what

happened afterwards.

Dr Jekyll's letter to Dr Lanyon was also in the envelope, and the lawyer

read it. It said:

Dear Lanyon,

You are one of my oldest friends. We have quarreled, but I still see you

as a friend. I am writing now to ask you to do something for me. It is very

important.

I want you to go to my house tonight. My servant Poole will be there. He

knows you're coming. You and Poole must break down the door of my

laboratory. Go into the laboratory alone and from the fourth drawer of the

cabinet take the powders and a book that you will see there. When you

have the powders and the boot go home immediately.

At midnight a man will come to your house. Please give him the things

from my laboratory. This is all I ask you to do. If you want an explanation,

the man will give you one.

Please do what I ask, Lanyon. It will save your old friend,

Henry Jekyll

Dr Lanyon's letter continued:

I thought Dr Jekyll was mad but I decided that I should do what he

asked, all the same.

I went to the doctor's house that night and Poole and I went to the

laboratory. We broke down the door and I entered. I found the cabinet and

took out the drawer with the powders and the boot and I took it home with

me. While I waited for the man to come at midnight, I looked at the book:

It seemed to be a record of the doctor's experiments. I did not understand

what the doctor's experiments meant.

At midnight there was a knock at the door of my house. I went to the

door and opened it. There was a small man standing outside.

'Are you Dr Jekyll's friend?' I asked him. He moved his head. I asked

him into the house. He was an ugly little man and I did not like him. I

remember that his clothes were too big for him. The man was very

impatient.

'Where are the powders? 'He asked me. 'Have you got them?'

'Be patient,' I told him. 'Sit down for a moment.

'I am sorry,' the man said. ''Dr Jekyll sent me here. 'The business is

urgent.'

1 gave the powders to theman. Hemixed them together in a grass, and

they changed colour. The man then looked at me.

'You now have a choice,' he told me. 'I can leave the house now, and

you will never know what this business is about. Or I can stay, and you

will know everything. If I stay, you will see something new and very

terrible.'

'Stay,' I replied. 'I want to see the end of this mystery.'

'Very well,' the man said. 'But remember, Lanyon. What you see now is

a secret.'

He then drank the contents of the grass. He cried out, and almost fell

to the floor. 'Then his body began to grow and change. 'The next moment

I covered my face in horror.

‘No!'I cried out. ''No!'

'The small man who drank the powders had disappeared. 'There in front

of me, stood 'Dr Jekyll!

He told me the whole terrible story, and even now it frightens me .What

he told me made me ill. I have not slept since he told me .His story was

wicked, and I will not tell it to you, Utterson. I will just tell you one

thing that I learnt from Dr Jekyll: the small man who came to my house

that night was Edward Hyde, the murderer.

Hastie Lanyon