8. The Last Night, Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

The Last Night (chapter 8) of Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson, read by Anna Butterworth

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
The last night. Mister Utterson wassitting by his fireside one evening after dinner
when he was surprised to receive avisit from Poole. Bless me, Poole,
what brings you here, he cried, and then, taking a second
look at him, what ails you? He added? Is the doctor ill?

(00:21):
Mister Utterson said the man. There'ssomething wrong. Take a seat,
and here's a glass of wine foryou, said the lawyer. Now take
your time and tell me plainly whatyou want. You know the doctor's ways,
sir, replied Poole, And howhe shuts himself up. Well he

(00:45):
shut up again in the cabinet.And I don't like it, Sir.
I wish I might die if Ilike it. Mister Utterson, Sir,
I'm afraid now, my good man, said the lawyer. Be explicit.
What are you afraid of? I'vebeen afraid for about a week, returned

(01:07):
Poole doggedly, disregarding the question.And I can bear it no more.
The man's appearance amply bore out hiswords. His manner was altered for the
worse, and except for the momentswhen he had first announced his terror,
he had not once looked the lawyerin the face. Even now he sat

(01:29):
with a glass of wine untasted onhis knee and his eyes directed in a
corner of the room. I can'tbear it no more, he repeated,
Come, said the lawyer. Isee you have some good reason. Poole,
I see there's something seriously amiss.Try to tell me what it is.

(01:53):
I think there's been foul play,said Poole hoarsely. Foul play,
cried the lawyer, a good dealfrightened and rather inclined to be irritated in
consequence, What foul play? Whatdoes the man mean? I dare say,

(02:14):
sir? Was the answer. Willyou come along with me and see
for yourself. Mister Utherson's only answerwas to rise and get his hat and
greatcoat. But he observed with wonderthe greatness of the relief that appeared upon
the butler's face, and perhaps withno less that the wine was still untasted

(02:35):
when he set it down to followIt was a wild, cold, seasonable
night of March, with a palemoon lying on her back as though the
wind had tilted her, and flyingrack of the most diaphanous and lowny texture.
The wind made talking difficult, andflecked the blood into the face.
It seemed to have swept the streetsunusually bare of passengers. For mister Utterson

(03:01):
thought he had never seen that partof London so deserted. He could have
wished it otherwise. Never in hislife had he been conscious of so sharp
a wish to see and touch hisfellow creatures. For struggle as he might,
there was borne in upon his minda crushing anticipation of calamity. The

(03:22):
square, when they got there,was full of wind and dust, and
the thin trees in the garden werelashing themselves along the railing. Pool,
who had kept all the way apace or two a head, now pulled
up in the middle of the pavement, and, in spite of the biting
weather, took off his hat andmopped his brow with a red pocket handkerchief.
But for all the hurry of hiscoming, these were not the dews

(03:45):
of exertion that he wiped away,but the moisture of some strangling anguish.
For his face was white, andhis voice, when he spoke, harsh
and broken. Well, sir,he said, here we are, and
God grant there be nothing wrong,Amen, Pool, said the lawyer.

(04:10):
Thereupon the servant knocked in a veryguarded manner. The door was opened on
the chain, and a voice askedfrom within, is that you Poul.
It's all right, said Poole.Open the door the hall. When they
entered, it was brightly lighted up. The fire was built high, and

(04:34):
about the hearth. The whole ofthe servants, men and women, stood
huddled together like a flock of sheep. At the sight of mister Utterson,
the housemaid broke into hysterical whimpering,and the cook, crying out, bless
God, it's mister Utterson, ranforward as if to take him in her
arms. What what are you allhere, said the lawyer. Peevishly,

(05:00):
very irregular, very unseemly. Yourmaster would be far from pleased. They're
all afraid, said Poole. Blanksilence followed, no one protesting. Only
the maid lifted her voice and nowwept loudly. Old your tongue, Poole
said to her, with a ferocityof accent that testified to his own jangled

(05:26):
nerves. And indeed, when thegirl had so suddenly raised the note of
her lamentation, they had all startedand turned towards the inner door with faces
of dreadful expectation. And now continuedthe butler, addressing the knife boy,
reach me a candle and we'll getthis through hands at once. And then

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he begged mister Utterson to follow him, and led the way to the back
garden. Now, sir said heyou come as gently as you can.
I want you to hear, andI don't want you to be heard.
You see here, sir, ifby any chance he was to ask you

(06:09):
in, don't go. Mister Utterson'snerves at this unlooked for termination gave a
jerk that nearly threw him from hisbalance, but he recollected his courage and
followed the butler into the laboratory building, through the surgical theater with its lumber
of crates and bottles, to thefoot of the stair. Here Poole motioned

(06:30):
him to stand on one side andlisten, while he himself, setting down
the candle and making a great andobvious call on his resolution, mounted the
steps and knocked with a somewhat uncertainhand on the red baize of the cabinet
door. Mister Utterson, Sir,asking to see you, he called,

(06:54):
and even as he did so,once more violently signed to the lawyer to
give ear. A voice answered fromwithin. Tell him I cannot see any
one, it said, complainingly.Thank you, sir, said Poole,
with a note of something like triumphin his voice, and taking up his

(07:16):
candle, he led mister Utterson backacross the yard and into the great kitchen,
where the fire was out and thebeatles were leaping on the floor.
Sir, he said, looking misterUtterson in the eyes, was that my
master's voice? It seems much changed, replied the lawyer, very pale,

(07:39):
but giving look for look changed.Well, yes, I think so,
said the butler. Have I beentwenty years in this man's house to be
deceived about his voice? No,sir, Master's made away with. He
was made away with eight days agowhen we heard him cry out upon the

(08:00):
name of God. And who's inthere instead of him? And why it
stays there is a thing that criesto heaven, mister Utterson, this is
a very strange tale, pool,This is rather a wild tale, my
man, said mister Utterson. Supposeit were as you suppose, supposing doctor

(08:22):
Jekyll to have been well murdered,what could induce the murder to stay?
That won't hold water? It doesn'tcommand itself to reason. Well, mister
Utterson, you are a hard manto satisfy. But I'll do it yet,
said Poole. All this last week, you must know him or it,

(08:46):
whatever it is that lives in thatcabinet, has been crying night and
day for some sort of medicine andcannot get it to his mind. It
was sometimes his way the masters,that is, to write his orders on
a sheet of paper and throw iton the stair. We've had nothing else
this week back, nothing but papersand a closed door, and the very

(09:09):
meals left there to be smuggled inwhen nobody was looking. Well, sir,
Every day, I and twice andthrice in the same day. There
have been orders and complaints, andI have been sent flying to all the
wholesale chemists in town. Every timeI brought the stuff back there would be
another paper telling me to return itbecause it was not pure, and another

(09:33):
order to a different firm. Thisdrug is wanted, bitter bad, sir.
Whatever for have you have any ofthese papers, asked mister Utterson.
Poole felt in his pocket and handedout a crumpled note, which the lawyer,
bending near to the candle, carefullyexamined its contents ran Thus Doctor Jekyl

(09:58):
presents his compliments to Miss Maw.He assures them that their last sample is
impure and quite useless for his presentpurpose. In the year eighteen, Doctor
j purchased a somewhat large quantity fromMessrs m. He now begs them to
search with most sedulous care, andshould any of the same quality be left

(10:20):
forwarded to him at once expense isno consideration. The importance of this to
Doctor j can hardly be exaggerated.So far the letter had run composedly enough,
but there was a sudden splutter ofthe pen. The writer's emotion had
broken loose. For God's sake,he added, find me some of the
old This is a strange note,said mister Utherson, and then sharply,

(10:46):
how do you come to have itopen? A man at Maw's was main
angry, sir, and he threwit back to me, like so much
dirt returns poole. This is unquestionablythe doctor's hand, you know, resumed
the lawyer. I thought it lookedlike it, said the servant rather sulkily,

(11:11):
And then with another voice, Butwhat matters? Hand of right?
He said, I've seen him,seen him, repeated mister Utherson. Well
that's it, said Poole. Itwas this way. I came suddenly into
the theater from the garden. Itseems he had slipped out to look for

(11:33):
this drug or whatever it is forThe cabinet door was open, and there
he was at the far end ofthe room, digging among the crates.
He looked up when I came in, gave a kind of cry, and
whipped upstairs into the cabinet. Itwas but for one minute that I saw
him, But the hare stood uponmy head like quills. Sir, if

(11:54):
that was my master, why hadhe a mask upon his face? If
it was my master, why didhe cry out like a rat and run
from me? I have served himlong enough. And then the man paused
and passed his hand over his face. These are all very strange circumstances,

(12:16):
said mister Otherson. But I thinkI begin to say, daylight, your
masterpool is plainly seized with one ofthose maladies that both torture and deform the
sufferer. Hence for aught I know, the alteration of his voice, hence
the mask, and the avoidance ofhis friends, hence his eagerness to find

(12:37):
this drug by means of which thepoor soul retains some hope of ultimate recovery.
God grant that he be not deceived. There is my explanation. Is
sad enough, pool eye an appallingto consider, but it is plain and
natural, hangs well together, anddelivers us from all exorbitant alarms, Sir,

(13:03):
said the butler, turning to asort of modeled pallor. That thing
was not my master, and there'sthe truth my master here, He looked
around him and began to whisper.Is a tall, fine build of a
man, and this was more ofa dwarf. Utterson attempted to protest.

(13:28):
Oh, sir, cried Poole.Do you think I do not know my
master after twenty years? Do youthink I do not know where his head
comes to in the cabinet door whereI saw him every morning of my life?
No, Sir, that thing inthe mask was never doctor Jekyll.

(13:48):
God knows what it was, butit was never Doctor Jekyl. And it
is the belief of my heart thatthere was murder done. Ool, replied
the lawyer. If you say that, it will become my duty to make
certain much as I desire to spareyour master's feelings. Much as I am

(14:09):
puzzled by this note, which seemsto prove him to be still alive,
I shall consider it my duty tobreak in that door. Ah, mister
Utterson, that's talking, cried thebutler. And now comes the second question,
resumed Utterson. Who is going todo it? Why you and me?

(14:33):
Sir? Was the undaunted reply.That's very well, said, returned
the lawyer. And whatever comes ofit, I shall make it my business
to see you are no loser.There is an axe in the theater,
continued Poole, and you might takethe kitchen poker for yourself. The lawyer

(14:56):
took that rude but weighty instrument intohis hand and balance. Do you know,
Poole, he said, looking up, that you and I are about
to place ourselves in a position ofsome peril. You may say so,
sir, indeed, returned the butler. It is well then that we should

(15:16):
be, frank, said the other. We both think more than we have
said. Let us make a cleanbreast this mass figure you saw, did
you recognize it well? Sir?It went so quick, and the creature
was so doubled up that I couldhardly swear to that was the answer.

(15:39):
But if you mean was it misterHyde, why yes, I think it
was. You see, it wasmuch of the same bigness, and it
had the same quick light way withit. And then who else could have
got in by the laboratory door.You have not forgot, sir, that
at the time of the murder hehad still the key with him. But

(16:00):
that's not all I don't know,mister Utherson. If you ever met this
mister Hyde, yes, said thelawyer. I once spoke with him.
You must know as well as therest of us, that there was something
queer about that gentleman, something thatgave a man a turn. I don't

(16:22):
know rightly how to say it,sir, beyond this that you felt in
your marrow kind of cold and thin. I own I felt something of what
you describe, said mister Utherson.Right, so, sir, returns Poole.
Well, when that masked thing likea monkey jumped from among the chemicals

(16:45):
and whipped into the cabinet, itwent down my spine like ice. Oh.
I know it's not evidence, misterUtherson. I'm book learned enough for
that. But a man has hisfeelings, and I give you my Bible
word it was miss hide. Ayeaye, said the lawyer. My fears
inclined to the same point. Evil, I fear founded, evil was sure

(17:10):
to come of that connection. Itruly I believe you. I believe poor
Harry is killed, and I believehis murder for what purpose God alone can
tell is still lurking in his victim'sroom. Well, let our name be
vengeance. Call Bradshaw. The footmancame at the summons, very white and

(17:33):
nervous. Put yourself together, Bradshaw, said the lawyer. This suspense,
I know, is telling upon allof you. But it is now our
intention to make an end of it. Pool here and I are going to
force our way into the cabinet.If all is well, my shoulders are
broad enough to bear the blame.Meanwhile, lest anything should really be amiss,

(18:00):
or any malefactor seeped to escape bythe back, you and the boy
must go round the corner with apair of good sticks and take your post
at the laboratory door. We giveyou ten minutes to get to your stations.
As Broadshaw left, the lawyer lookedat his watch, and now Pool,
let us get to ours, hesaid, and taking the poker under

(18:22):
his arm, led the way intothe yard. The scud had banked over
the moon, and it was nowquite dark. The wind, which only
broke in puffs and drafts into thatdeep well of building, tossed the light
of the candle to and fro abouttheir steps until they came into the shelter
of the theater, where they satdown silently to wait. London hummed solemnly

(18:47):
all around, but near at hand, the stillness was only broken by the
sounds of a footfall moving to andfro along the cabinet floor. So it
will walk all day, sir,whispered poole ay, and the better part
of the night. Only when anew sample comes from the chemist. There's

(19:07):
a bit of a break. Ah. It's an ill conscience that's such an
enemy to rest. Ah, Sir, there's blood foully shed in every step
of it. But heark again alittle closer. Put your heart in your
ears, mister Utterson, and tellme is that the doctor's foot. The

(19:30):
steps fell lightly and oddly, witha certain swing. For all they went
so slowly. It was different,indeed, from the heavy creaking tread of
Henry Jekyll. Utterson sighed, Isthere never anything else? He asked Poole
nodded once, he said, onceI heard it weeping, weeping, how

(19:56):
that, said the lawyer, consciousof a sudden chill of horror. Weeping
like a woman or a lost soul, said the butler. I came away
with that upon my heart. ThatI could have wept too. But now
the ten minutes drew to an end. Whole disinterreds the axe from under a

(20:19):
stack of packing straw. The candlewas set upon the nearest table to light
them to the attack, and theydrew near, with bated breath, to
where that patient foot was still goingup and down, up and down in
the quiet of the night. JackAll, cried Utterson with a loud voice.

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I demand to see you. Hepaused a moment, but there came
no reply. I give you fairwarning. Our suspicions are aroused, and
I must and shall see you,he resumed. If not by fair means,
then by foul. If not ofyour consent, then by brute force,

(21:06):
Utterson said the voice, for God'ssake, have mercy. Ah,
that's not Jekyll's voice. Its hides, cried Utterson. Down with the door
pool, Poole swung the axe overhis shoulder. The blow shook the building,

(21:26):
and the red baized door leaped againstthe lock and hinges. A dismal
screech, as of mere animal terror, rang from the cabinet. Up went
the axe again and again. Thepanels crashed, and the frame bounded four
times. The blow fell, butthe wood was tough, and the fittings
were of excellent workmanship, and itwas not until the fifth that the lock

(21:49):
burst and the wreck of the doorfell inwards on the carpet. The besiegers,
appalled by their own riot and thestillness that had succeeded, stood back
a little and peered in. Therelay the cabinet before their eyes, in
the quiet lamplight, a good fireglowing and chattering on the hearth, the

(22:10):
kettle singing its thin strain, Adrawer or two open papers, neatly set
forth on the business table, andnear the fire, the things laid out
for tea the quietest room, youwould have said, and but for the
glazed presses full of chemicals, themost commonplace that night in London. Right

(22:30):
in the middle, there lay thebody of a man, sorely contorted and
still twitching. They drew near ontiptoe, turned it on its back,
and beheld the face of Edward Hyde. He was dressed in clothes far too
large for him, clothes of thedoctor's bigness. The cords of his face
still moved with a semblance of life, but life was quite gone. And

(22:55):
by the crushed file in the hand, and the strong smell of kernels that
hung upon the air, others knewthat he was looking on the body of
a self destroyer. We have cometoo late, he said, sternly,
whether to save or punish. Heis gone to his account, and it

(23:17):
only remains for us to find thebody of your master. The far greater
proportion of the building was occupied bythe theater, which filled almost the whole
ground story and was lighted from above, and by the cabinet, which formed
an upper story at one end andlooked upon the court. A corridor joined

(23:37):
the theater by the door on theby street, and with this the cabinet,
communicated separately by a second flight ofstairs. There were besides a few
dark closets and a spacious cellar.All these they now thoroughly examined. Each
closet needed but a glance, forall were empty, and all by the
dust that fell from their doors hadstood long unopened. The cellar, indeed

(24:02):
was filled with crazy lumber, mostlydating from the times of the surgeon,
who was Jekyll's predecessor. But evenas they opened the door, they were
advertised of the uselessness of further searchby the fall of a perfect mat of
cobweb, which had for years sealedup the entrance. Nowhere was there any
trace of Henry Jekyll, dead oralive. Poole stamped on the flags of

(24:27):
the corridor. He must be buriedhere, he said, hearkening to the
sound. Or he may have fled, said Utterson, and he turned to
examine the door in the by street. It was locked, and lying nearby
on the flags, they found thekey already stained with rust. This does

(24:48):
not look like use, observed thelawyer, Use, echoed Poole. Do
you not see, sir, Itis broken, much as if a man
had it stamped on it, ay, continued Utterson. And the fractures,
too are rusty. The two menlooked at each other with a scare.

(25:11):
This is beyond me, pool,said the lawyer. Let us go back
to the cabinet. They mounted thestair in silence, and still with an
occasional awe struck glance at the deadbody, proceeded more thoroughly to examine the
contents of the cabinet. At onetable there were traces of chemical work,

(25:32):
various measured heaps of some white saltbeing laid on glass saucers, as though
for an experiment in which the unhappyman had been prevented. That is the
same drug that I was always bringinghim, said Pool, And even as
he spoke the kettle with a startlingnoise boiled over. This brought them to

(25:53):
the fireside, where the easy chairwas drawn cozily up, and the tea
things stood ready to the sitter's elbow, the very sugar in the cup.
There were several books on a shelf. One lay beside the tea things,
open, and Utterson was amazed tofind it a copy of a pious work
for which Jekyl had several times expresseda great esteem, annotated in his own

(26:18):
hand with startling blasphemies. Next,in the course of their review of the
chamber, the searchers came to thecheval glass, into whose depths they looked
with an involuntary horror. But itwas so turned as to show them nothing
but the rosy glow playing on theroof, the fire, sparkling in a
hundred repetitions along the glazed front ofthe presses, and their own pale and

(26:42):
fearful countenances stooping to look in thisglass. Has seen some strange things,
sir, whispered Poole. And surelynone stranger than itself, echoed the lawyer
in the same tones. For whatdid Jackal? He caught himself up the

(27:03):
word with a start, and thenconquering the weakness, What could Jackal want
with it? He said? Youmay say that, said Poole. Next
they turned to the business table.On the desk. Among the neat array
of papers, a large envelope wasuppermost, and bore in the doctor's hand

(27:25):
the name of mister Utterson. Thelawyer unsealed it, and several inclosures fell
to the floor. The first wasa will drawn in the same eccentric terms
as the one which he had returnedsix months before, to serve as a
testament in case of death, andas a deed of gift in case of
disappearance, but in place of thename of Edward Hyde. The lawyer,

(27:48):
with indescribable amazement, read the nameof Gabriel John Utterson. He looked at
Poole, and then back at thepaper, and last of all at the
dead malefactor stretched upon the carpet.My head goes round, he said.
He has been all these days inpossession. He had no cause to like

(28:12):
me. He must have raged tosee himself displaced, And he has not
destroyed this document. He caught upthe next paper. It was a brief
note in the doctor's hand and datedat the top. Oh, Pool,
the lawyer cried, he was alive, and here this day he could not

(28:33):
have been disposed of in so shorta space. He must be still alive.
He must have fled, And thenwhy fled? And how? And
in that case can we venture todeclare this suicide? Oh, we must
be careful. I foresee that wemay yet involve your master in some dire
catastrophe. Why don't you read it, sir, asked Pool, because as

(29:00):
I fear, replied the lawyer,solemnly, God grant I have no cause
for it. And with that hebrought the paper to his eyes and read
as follows, my dear Utterson.When this shall fall into your hands,
I shall have disappeared under what circumstances, I have yet the penetration to foresee,

(29:23):
and my instinct in all the circumstancesof my nameless situation tell me that
the end is sure and must beearly. Go then, and first read
the narrative which Lanion warned me hewas to place in your hands, And
if you care to hear more,turn to the confession of your unworthy and

(29:45):
unhappy friend, Henry Jekyl. Therewas a third enclosure, asked Utterson.
Hear, Sir, said Poole,and gave into his hands a considerable package.
It sealed in several places. Thelawyer put it in his pocket.
I would say nothing of this paper. If your master has fled or is

(30:08):
dead, we may at least savehis credit. It is now ten I
must go home and read these documentsin quiet, but I shall be back
before midnight, when we shall sendfor the police. They went out,
locking the door of the theater behindthem, and Utterson, once more,

(30:29):
leaving the servants gathered about the firein the hall, trudged back to his
office to read the two narratives inwhich this mystery was now to be explained.