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Robert Louis Stevenson: Utterson

Mr. Utterson asked the name of the man. Enfield with some hesitation said, "His name is Hyde." "You see I don't ask you the name of the man who signed the check, for I know it already," said Utterson.

That night the latter opened his safe and took from it a will which he re-examined with care. It provided that in case of the death of Henry Jekyll all his possessions were to pass to Edward Hyde, and in case of the disappearance, or unexplained absence for three months, of said Jekyll, Edward Hyde should step into Jekyll's shoes without delay. As he studied it the lawyer said, "I thought it madness; now I begin to fear it is disgrace." He decided to talk with Doctor Lanyon, a great physician and an old friend of Jekyll. "I see very little of Henry now," said Lanyon. "He began to go wrong some ten years ago. He became too fanciful for me."

Lanyon had never heard of Hyde.

From that time forward Utterson began to haunt that sinister doorway into which Hyde had disappeared. He determined to discover its owner. At last one night a small, plainly dressed man approached and drew a key from his pocket. His look suggested deformity, but did not show it. Utterson accosted him and said: "Now I shall know you again. It may be useful." Hyde gave his address in Soho, admitted knowing Jekyll and disappeared within. Utterson turned away convinced that this loath-some little man had some dark hold upon Doctor Jekyll. In sorrow and in pity he went to call upon Jekyll, who lived just around the corner. He was away.