6. Incident of Dr. Lanyon, Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Incident of Dr. Lanyon (chapter 6) of Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson, read by Anna Butterworth

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Incident of doctor Lanyon. Time ranon. Thousands of pounds were offered in
reward for the death of Sir Danverswas resented as a public injury. But
mister Hyde had disappeared out of theken of the police, as though he
had never existed. Much of hispast was unearthed, indeed, and all

(00:23):
disreputable tales came out of the man'scruelty at once so callous and violent,
of his vile life, of hisstrange associates, of the hatred that seemed
to have surrounded his career, butof his present whereabouts not a whisper from
the time he had left the housein Soho on the morning of the murder,

(00:45):
he was simply blotted out, Andgradually, as time drew on,
mister Utterson began to recover from thehotness of his alarm and to grow more
at quiet with himself. The deathof Sir Danvers was, to his way
of thinking, more than paid forby the disappearance of mister Hyde. Now
that that evil influence had been withdrawn, a new life began for doctor Jekyll.

(01:11):
He came out of his seclusion,renewed relations with his friends became once
more their familiar guest and entertainer,And whilst he had always been known for
charities, he was now no lessdistinguished for religion. He was busy,
he was much in the open air. He did good. His face seemed
to open and brighten, as ifwith an inward consciousness of service. And

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for more than two months the doctorwas at peace. On the eighth of
January, Utterson had dined at thedoctor's with a small party. Lanyon had
been there, and the face ofthe host had looked from one to the
other, as in the old dayswhen the trio were inseparable friends. On
the twelfth, and again on thefourteenth, the door was shut against the

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lawyer. The doctor was con findthe house fool said, and saw no
one. On the fifteenth he triedagain, and was again refused. And
having now been used for the lasttwo months to see his friend almost daily,
he found this return of solitude toweigh upon his spirits. The fifth
night he had in guest to dinewith him, and the sixth he betook

(02:22):
himself to doctor Lanyon's. There atleast he was not denied admittance, but
when he came in he was shockedat the change which had taken place in
the doctor's appearance. He had hisdeath warrant written legibly upon his face.
The rosy man had grown pale,his flesh had fallen away. He was
visibly balder and older. And yetit was not so much these tokens of

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a swift physical decay that arrested thelawyer's notice as a look in the eye
and quality of manner that seemed totestify to some deep seated terror of the
mind. It was unlikely that thedoctor should fear death, and yet that
was what Utterson was tempted to suspect. Yes, he thought, he is

(03:07):
a doctor. He must know hisown state, and his days are counted,
and the knowledge is more than hecan bear. And yet, when
Utterson remarked on his ill looks,it was with an air of great firmness
that Lanyon declared himself a doomed man. I have had a shock, he
said, and I shall never recover. It is a question of weeks.

(03:32):
Well. Life has been pleasant.I liked it, yes, sir,
I used to like it. Isometimes think if we knew all, we
should be more glad to get away. Jekyll is ill, too, observed
Utterson. Have you seen him,but Lanion's face changed and he held up

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a trembling hand. I wish tosee or hear no more of doctor Jekyl,
he said, in a loud,unsteady voice. I am quite done
with that person, and I begthat you will spare me any allusion to
one whom I regard as dead.Tat tot, said mister Utterson, And

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then, after a considerable pause,can't I do anything? He inquired,
We are three very old friends,Lanion. We shall not live to make
others. Nothing can be done,returns Lanyon, ask himself. He will

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not see me, said the lawyer. I am not surprised at that was
the reply. Someday, Utterson,after I am dead, you may perhaps
come to learn the right and wrongof this. I cannot tell you.
And in the meantime, if youcan sit and talk with me of other
things, for God's sake, stayand do do so. But if you

(05:00):
cannot keep clear of this accursed topic, then in God's name, go,
for I cannot bear it. Assoon as he got home, Utterson sat
down and wrote to Jekyl, complainingof his exclusion from the house and asking
the cause of this unhappy break withLanion, and the next day brought him

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a long answer, often very patheticallyworded and sometimes darkly mysterious. In drift.
The quarrel with Lanion was incurable.I do not blame our old friend,
Jekyl, wrote, but I sharehis view that we must never meet.
I mean, from henceforth to leada life of extreme seclusion. You

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must not be surprised, nor mustyou doubt my friendship. If my door
is often shut even to you,you must suffer me to go my own
dark way. I have brought onmyself a punishment and a danger that I
cannot name. If I am thechief of sinners, I am the chief
of sufferers. Also, I couldnot think that this earth contained a place
for sufferings and terrors so unmanning.And you can do but one thing,

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Utterson, to lighten this destiny,and that is to respect my silence.
Utterson was amazed. The dark influenceof Hyde had been withdrawn. The doctor
had returned to his old tasks andamitaes. A week ago, the prospect
had smiled with every promise of acheerful and an honored age, And now

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in a moment, friendship and peaceof mind, and the whole tenor of
his life were wrecked so great andunprepared a change pointed to madness. But
in view of Lanion's manner and words, there must lie for it some deeper
ground. A week afterwards, doctorLanion took to his bed, and in
something less than a fortnight he wasdead. The night after the funeral at

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which he had been sadly affected,Utterson locked the door of his business room,
and, seeing that by the lightof a melancholy candle, drew out
and set before him an envelope addressedby the hand and sealed with the seal
of his dead friend, private forthe hands of G. J. Utterson

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alone, and in case of hispredecease, to be destroyed unread. So
it was emphatically subscribed, and thelawyer dreaded to behold the contents I have
buried my friend today, He thought, what if this should cost me another?
And then he condemned the fear asa disloyalty, and broke the seal.

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Within there was another enclosure, likewisesealed and marked upon the cover as
not to be opened till the deathor disappearance of doctor Henry Jekyl. Utterson
could not trust his eyes. Yes, it was disappearance. Here again,
as in the mad will, whichhe had long ago restored to its author,

(08:00):
Here again were the idea of adisappearance, and the name of Henry
Jekyll bracketed. But in the willthat idea had sprung from the sinister suggestion
of the man Hide. It wasset there with a purpose all too plain
and horrible, written by the handof Lanyon. What should it mean?
A great curiosity came on the trusteeto disregard the prohibition and dive at once

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to the bottom of these mysteries.But professional honor and faith to his dead
friend were stringent obligations, and thepacket slept in the inmost corner of his
private safe. It is one thingto mortify curiosity, another to conquer it.
And it may be doubted if fromthat day forth Otherson desired the society

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of his surviving friend with the sameeagerness. He thought of him kindly,
but his thoughts were disquieted and fearful. He went to call, indeed,
but he was perhaps relieved to bedenied admittance. Perhaps in his heart he
preferred to speak with Pool upon thedoorstep, and surrounded by the air and
sounds of the open city, ratherthan to be admitted into that house of

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voluntary bondage and to sit and speakwith its inscrutable recluse. Poole had indeed
no very pleasant news to communicate.The doctor, it appeared, now more
than ever, confined himself to thecabinet over the laboratory, where he would
sometimes even sleep. He was outof spirits. He had grown very silent.

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He did not read it. Itseemed as if he had something on
his mind. Utterson became so usedto the unvarying character of these reports that
he fell off little by little inthe frequency of his visits.