CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Lanyon's Letter

Mr Utterson walked home as quickly as he could and went directly to his safe. He took out the letter Dr Lanyon sent him before his death. He took off his coat, sat in his large library chair and looked at the first page. The handwriting was strong and neat like Dr Lanyon's usually was. Utterson could see that he had written the letter with a shaking hand. Utterson read these words:

Dear Utterson,

"Four days ago I received a letter from Henry Jekyll. The events in the four days since I received the letter have quickly aged me many years and weakened me so much that I fear I will not live much longer; I hardly even have the strength to write this letter to you now. I promise that everything I am about to tell you in this letter is completely true.

I was surprised to receive a letter from Jekyll because I had just seen him the night before at a dinner party. He had sent the envelope by a special messenger to guard against its loss; I knew it must be important. The letter was highly emotional and most strange for Dr Jekyll.

Jekyll wrote to me:

'Dear Lanyon, you are one of my oldest and best friends. I know we have often had disagreements about scientific questions, but I would always have helped you if you needed me, as I am about to ask you. Lanyon, my life, my soul, and my honor, all depend on you. If you fail me tonight, I will certainly be lost.

As soon as you finish reading this letter, go directly to my house by carriage. I have left instructions for Poole, my butler, and he will be expecting you. A carpenter and a locksmith will also be waiting at the house for you. You should immediately break down the door of my office. You will then enter alone. On the right side of the room there is a cabinet. Take out the top drawer. (I am so full of worry right now that I cannot remember if I locked the drawer or not. If it is locked, break it open.)

In the drawer you will find some powders and liquids, and a notebook. Bring the whole drawer and everything back to your house exactly as it is. That is the first part of your task—and the easiest part as well.

If you begin this task as soon as you receive this letter, you will be home with the drawer before midnight. Please be certain to return before midnight with the drawer in your hands—do not delay. I have arranged for another messenger to be at your house at exactly midnight. I am sending him then because your servants will be asleep at this time. I ask that you, yourself, meet the messenger at the door and that you receive him alone. Give him the drawer and all the things inside. If you do all of this for me, you will earn my greatest thanks.

Five minutes after you deliver the drawer, if you wish to have an explanation for these strange affairs, you shall have one. You will see that these strange arrangements were completely necessary. If you miss any part of these instructions, you will cause my death or the loss of my mind.

Pray for me in this hour; I am in a strange place, fighting a fear so black that no words can describe it. Now you have the power to save me from these troubles and make them disappear as if they had never existed, simply by doing as I ask. Help me, my dear Lanyon, and save your friend, Henry Jekyll.

PS As I closed this envelope a new fear entered my soul. It is possible that the messenger may fail me, and then you will not receive this letter tonight. If this happens, then, please, do this task tomorrow. I will send another messenger at midnight. Perhaps, however, it may already be too late by then. If no messenger comes, you will know that you will never again see Henry Jekyll.'"

Lanyon's letter continued:

"I read Jekyll's terrible letter several times. I worried that Jekyll had lost his mind, but I could not know for sure, and decided to do as he requested. I went directly to Jekyll's house. There, as he said, Poole was waiting with the two workmen. We went together to Jekyll's office at the back of his laboratory.

The carpenter knew that it would be hard to get through the thick door and shook his head. Luckily the locksmith was an expert and said he could open the lock. It was a difficult lock, and it took him almost two hours to open the door. I entered alone, went to the cabinet, found that the drawer was not locked, took it out, and carried it into the laboratory. The butler packed some straw over it and tied a cloth around it. I then got into a carriage and brought it home.

While waiting for midnight, I examined the contents of the drawer carefully. The powders were all wrapped up neatly, but not the way that a professional chemist would do. I could see that Jekyll himself had mixed and wrapped them. I opened one and smelled it. It seemed to be a common white salt.

The liquid was more interesting. It was blood red and had a strong smell. I could not guess all the chemicals inside it. I have studied many chemicals in my life as a doctor, and this one did not smell like any I have smelled before.

There was nothing interesting in the notebook. Many dates were written inside it, but no words. It must have been a record of one of Jekyll's experiments. It seemed, like most of Jekyll's other experiments, not to have any real use for science.

I tried to imagine how these few items in the drawer could have affected Jekyll's life so greatly. I could not understand why his messenger should come to see me and not go straight to see Poole or one of Jekyll's other servants. I was also worried about having to meet this messenger alone and in secret. Still, I trusted Jekyll and sent my servants to bed. I prepared my old handgun in case I had to defend myself.

My clock rang twelve times and a moment later I heard a light knock on the front door. I opened the door and found a small and strange looking man standing there.

'Are you Dr Jekyll's messenger?' I asked.

He nodded, and I asked him to come in. He turned his head around and looked out into the night. There was a policeman walking outside in the street, not far off, and this seemed to worry my visitor. He entered quickly. I reached into my pocket, grasped the gun inside and led him into my office.

I had never met the man before. He was short, and looked ill, and, for some reason, I hated him as soon as I saw him. The clothes he was wearing were much too large for him. He had tied up his trouser legs to keep them off the ground. His jacket was so large that it covered his body and hung down to his knees.

He was so excited that he seemed to be on fire. 'Have you got the drawer? Have you got it?' he cried. He even pulled at one of my arms as if to hurry an answer from me.

When he touched me, I felt a cold feeling run through my blood, and I took a quick step back. 'You forget, sir, we have not been introduced yet. Please sit down,' I said.

I sat down myself and pointed my hand to a chair across from mine; I tried to act like a doctor toward a patient. But it was difficult not to feel a terrible fear in my heart as I looked at this man.

He sat and spoke to me with good manners. 'I am sorry, Dr Lanyon. I have been in a hurry and forgot my politeness. I am here at the request of your friend and colleague, Dr Henry Jekyll. I was told that ... that ... that ... ' suddenly he paused and put a hand to his throat. He started to have trouble breathing and speaking and I could see that though he was speaking calmly, he was fighting against some great wildness inside himself. ' ... I understood ... a drawer ... '

I suddenly felt a great pity for him and pointed to the drawer. It was on a table and covered by a sheet. 'It is over there, sir.'

He jumped at it, then stopped and tried to control himself. He put his hand to his heart. A terrible expression of pain came onto his face.

I worried that he was about to fall down with illness and said softly, 'Try to calm yourself.'

He turned to me with an ugly smile. Then, closing his eyes and with an expression of fear on his face, he suddenly pulled away the sheet. When he opened his eyes again and looked down at the drawer, he let out a cry of great relief. It was a moment before he became quiet again and controlled himself. Then he asked me in a fairly normal voice, 'Do you have a measuring glass?'

I got him the glass. He thanked me and began to work immediately. He first poured a bit of the blood-red liquid into the glass and added some of the many powders. The mixture began to smoke. It changed from red to deep purple. The smoking stopped, and then the liquid changed to a bright green. He nodded and set the glass down on the table.

Turning to me, he said, 'Now, Dr Lanyon, you must make a decision. Should I take this glass and leave I If I do, you will not know more than before, but you will still have the deep thanks to Dr Jekyll forever. Or, if you wish me to stay here and continue my task, you will learn about a shocking new area of scientific knowledge. The possibilities of fame and power will be yours in this room tonight. What you will see will shock and amaze you. It's up to you to decide what you want.'

I was shaking from the things this strange man had said and tried to keep my voice calm. 'I have come too far to stop now,' I replied.

'Very well,' he said. 'But, Dr Lanyon, you must remember your professional promise. You must not tell anyone what you see here tonight.' He then picked up the glass. 'And now, you who have such narrow medical views, you who have insulted the value of Dr Jekyll's research, you who have laughed at him ... watch!'

He lifted the glass to his lips and drank it down in one gulp. He then cried out in pain and fell back against the table. He grasped the back of a chair tightly, breathing deeply, his eyes became red and seemed as if they were going to come out of his head. His body seemed to grow. His face appeared to change.

I was standing in shock, and walked back against the wall, as far from this horror as I could. But then I looked down and screamed aloud. There, in front of my eyes, as white and ill looking as a man almost dead—there stood Henry Jekyll!

What Jekyll told me in the next hour, I will not—no, cannot—write. It destroyed my life and my soul. All my ideas and all of my training as a man of science and doctor for the sick—all of it now felt without meaning.

I cannot sleep at night anymore, and in the day I sit alone, full of fear. I know that soon I will die from this shock. Yet I still can hardly believe what I have seen.

I will tell you only one last thing, Utterson. The strange man who came into my house that night was, as Jekyll told me later, known by the name of Hyde. And the police hunt him in all England as the murderer of Sir Danvers Carew.

(Signed) Dr Hastie Lanyon."

(end of section)