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December 11, 2023 11 mins
Incident of the Letter (chapter 5) of Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson, read by Anna Butterworth
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(00:00):
The incident of the letter. Itwas late in the afternoon when mister Utherson
found his way to doctor Jekyll's door, where he was at once admitted by
Poole and carried down by the kitchenoffices and across a yard which had once
been a garden to the building whichwas indifferently known as the laboratory or dissecting
rooms. The doctor had bought thehouse from the airs of a celebrated surgeon,

(00:25):
and his own tastes, being ratherchemical than anatomical, had changed the
destination of the block at the bottomof the garden. It was the first
time that the lawyer had been receivedin that part of his friend's quarters,
and he eyed the dingy, windowlessstructure with curiosity, and gazed round with
a distasteful sense of strangeness as hecrossed the theater, once crowded with eager

(00:49):
students, and now lying gaunt andsilent, the tables laden with chemical apparatus,
the floor strewn with crates and litteredwith packing straw, and the light
falling dimly through the foggy cupola.At the further end a flight of stairs
mounted to a door covered with redbaize, and through this mister Utterson was

(01:11):
at last received into the doctor's cabinet. It was a large room, fitted
round with glass presses, furnished,among other things, with a chevel glass
and a business table, and lookingout upon the court by three dusty windows
barred with iron. The fire burnedin the grate. A lamp was set
lighted on the chimney shelf. Foreven in the houses, the fog began

(01:34):
to lie thickly, and there,close up to the warmth sat Doctor Jekyll,
looking deathly sick. He did notrise to meet his visitor, but
held out a cold hand and badehim welcome in a changed voice. And
now, said mister Utterson, assoon as Poole had left them, you

(01:56):
have heard the news, the doctorshuddered. They were crying it in the
square. He said, I heardthem in my dining room. One word,
said the lawyer carew was my client. But so are you, and
I want to know what I amdoing. You have not been mad enough

(02:17):
to hide this, fellow, Utterson. I swear to God, cried the
doctor. I swear to God Iwill never set eyes on him again.
I blind my honor to you thatI am done with him in this world.
It is all at an end,and indeed he does not want my

(02:37):
help. You do not know himas I do. He is safe.
He is quite safe, mark mywords. He will never more be heard
of. The lawyer listened gloomily.He did not like his friend's feverish manner.
You seem pretty sure of him,said he, And for your sake,

(02:58):
I hope you may be right.If it came to a trial,
your name might appear. I amquite sure of him, replied Jekyll.
I have grounds for certainty that Icannot share with any one. But there
is one thing on which you mayadvise me. I have. I have

(03:19):
received a letter, and I amat a loss whether I should show it
to the police. I should liketo leave it in your hands, Utterson,
you would judge wisely. I amsure I have so great a trust
in you. You fear I supposethat it might lead to his detection,
asked the lawyer. No, saidthe other. I cannot say that I

(03:43):
care what becomes of Hide. Iam quite done with him. I was
thinking of my own character, whichthis hateful business has rather exposed. Utterson
ruminated a while. He was surprisedat his friend's selfishness, and yet relieved
by it, well said he atlast let me see the letter. The

(04:06):
letter was written in an odd uprighthand, and signed Edward Hyde. And
it signified briefly enough that the writer'sbenefactor, doctor Jekyll, whom he had
long so unworthily repaid for a thousandgenerosities, need labor under no alarm for
his safety, as he had meansof escape on which he placed a sure

(04:30):
dependence. The lawyer liked this letterwell enough. It put a better color
on the intimacy than he had lookedfor, and he blamed himself for some
of his past suspicions. Have youthe envelope, he asked, I burnt,
it, replied Jekyl, before Ithought what I was about. But
it bore no postmark. The notewas handed in. Shall I keep this

(04:56):
and sleep upon it? Asked Utterson, I wish you to judge for me
entirely. Was the reply, Ihave lost confidence in myself. Well I
shall consider, returned the lawyer.And now one word more. It was
high who dictated the terms in yourwill. About that disappearance, the doctor

(05:18):
seemed seized with a qualm of faintness. He shut his mouth tight and nodded.
I knew it, said Utterson.He meant to murder you. You
had a fine escape. I havehad what is far more to the purpose,
returned the doctor solemnly, I havehad reason, O God Utterson,

(05:43):
what a lesson I have had?And he covered his face for a moment
with his hands. On his wayout, the lawyer stopped and had a
word or two with Poole. Bythe bye, said he there was a
letter handed in today. What wasthe messenger? But Pool was positive nothing
had come except by post, andonly circulars. By that, he added,

(06:09):
this news sent off the visitor,with his fears renewed plainly the letter
had come by the laboratory door.Possibly indeed it had been written in the
cabinet, and if that were so, it must be differently judged and handled
with the more caution. The newsboysas he went were crying themselves hoarse along

(06:30):
the footways. Special edition, shockeringmurder of an m P. That was
the funeral oration of one friend andclient. And he could not help a
certain apprehension lest the good name ofanother should be sucked down in the eddy
of the scandal. It was atleast a ticklish decision that he had to
make, and self reliant as hewas by habit, he began to cherish

(06:56):
a longing for advice. It wasnot to be had directly, but perhaps
he thought it might be fished forpresently. After he sat on one side
of his own hearth, with misterGuest his head clerk upon the other,
and midway between, at a nicelycalculated distance from the fire, a bottle
of a particular old wine that hadlong dwelt unsunned in the foundation of his

(07:21):
house. The fog still slept onthe wing above the drowned city, where
the lamps glimmered like carbuncles, andthrough the muffle and smother of these fallen
clouds, the procession of the town'slife was still rolling in through the great
arteries with the sound as of amighty wind. But the room was gay

(07:41):
with firelight. In the bottle.The acids were long ago resolved. The
imperial dye had softened with time asthe color grows richer in stained windows,
and the glow of hot autumn afternoonson hillside vineyards was ready to be set
free and to disperse the fog ofLondon. Insensibly, the lawyer melted.

(08:03):
There was no man from whom hekept fewer secrets than mister Guest, and
he was not always sure that hekept as many as he meant. Guest
had often been on business to thedoctors. He knew Poole. He could
scarce have failed to hear of misterHyde's familiarity about the house. He might
draw conclusions. Was it not aswell, then that he should see a

(08:26):
letter which put that mystery to write? And above all, since Guest,
being a great student and critic ofhandwriting, would consider the step natural and
obliging. The clerk, besides,was a man of counsel. He could
scarce read so strange a document withoutdropping a remark, and by that remark

(08:46):
mister Utterson might shape his future course. This is a sad business about Sir
Danvers, he said, Yes,sir, indeed, it has elicited a
great deal of public feeling, returnedGuest. The man, of course,
was mad. I should like tohear your views on that, replied Utterson.

(09:11):
I have a document here in hishandwriting. It is between ourselves,
for I scarce know what to doabout it. It is an ugly business
at the best, but there itis quite in your way a murderer's autograph.
Guest's eyes brightened, and he satdown at once and studied it with

(09:31):
passion. No, sir, hesaid, not mad. But it is
an odd hand, and, byall accounts, a very odd writer,
added the lawyer. Just then theservant entered with a note. Is that
from doctor Jekyl? Sir, inquiredthe clerk. I thought I knew the

(09:56):
handwriting anything private, mister Utterson,only an invitation to dinner. Why do
you want to see it? Onemoment? I thank you, sir,
And the clerk laid the two sheetsof paper alongside and sedulously compared their contents.

(10:16):
Thank you, sir, he said, at last, returning both it's
a very interesting autograph. There wasa pause during which mister Utterson struggled with
himself. Why did you compare them, guest, he inquired. Suddenly,
Well, sir, returned the clerk. There's a rather singular resemblance. The

(10:43):
two hands are in many points identical, only differently sloped. Rather quaint,
said Utterson. It is as yousay, rather quaint, returned Guest.
I wouldn't speak of this note,you know, said the master. No,
sir, said the clerk. Iunderstand. But no sooner was mister

(11:11):
Utterson alone that night than he lockedthe note into his safe, where it
reposed from that time forward. Whathe thought Henry jackal Forge for a murderer,
and his blood ran cold in hisveins
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