R. L. STEVENSON'S WEIRD STORY

Pelorus Guardian and Miners' Advocate., Volume 20, Issue 68, 27 August 1909, Page 2

R. L. STEVENSON'S WEIRD STORY

"DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE." "Terrible murder of a baronet !" The newsboys were shouting the Morels in the London streets in the raw air of the October day, and people eagerly bought the sheets ihey carried and turned with anxlbus haste to the place where the details of that fearful affair were recorded. , Sitting at the window of her bedroom in a house near the riverside, , they read, a woman servant had witnessed that awful tragedy. She bad retired to her room about 11 o’clock at night. The moon flooded the deserted street at the back of the house with its silver light, and, sitting upon her box beside the window. she had fallen into a fit of musing- Suddenly she saw an old and distinguished-looking gentleman appear in the street and meet another man there, to whom he had spoken as if inquiring his way. The woman started from her seat, and a cry oft terror escaped her lips. The man addressed—he was small and of almost deformed appearance—had suddenly thrown himself upon the nld gentleman and was pouring on Mm fierce, maniacal blows with the stout stick he carried in his hand. The woman fainted at that terrible sight. When she recovered consciousness 'it was close on two o’clock. ■ She peered shudderingly from the window. ■ Could she have dreamt that dreadful incident ? No ! There in the roadway lay a dark object—the body of the man who had been stricken down ! A DREADED DWARF. ** Who was he ? His pockets, when searched, discovered no clue to his Identity. But on the pavement ne a r lay a sealed and addressed envelope bearing the address of Mr. UtterSon, a solicitor. The murdered man had been on his way to the post when he had met his murderer.' "I am sorry to 1 say," declared the (lawyer, summoned by the detectives to identify the body of the murdered man, "that this is Sir Danvers CaJkw.” The detective uttered a cry of surprise ■•" This will make a deal of noise." he said ' 1 And .perhaps you can help us to find the guiity man." The lawyer quailed as he heard the name of the accused man, Edward Hyde 1 That witness at the window had seen him once when he had called upon, her master, and had recognised him as the murderer. Edward Hyde ! People who once looked upon that, strangely repulsive countenance and dwarfish, loathsome form bore the memory of the man in their minds shudderingly.

THE MYSTERY OF THE BROKEN STICK. ; “Hyde!” said the detective. “Perhaps,' sir. you will recognise this stick.” He held before the lawyer a bro-ken-ofT piece of heavy stick of rare and tough wood. Years ago the lawyer had presented that stick to his dear friend, the esteemed and celebrated physician. Dr. Jekyll ? Sir Danvers Carevd, Mr. Hyde, ,Dr. Jekiyll—the lawyer was acquainted with them all* ; “1 think 1 can take you to Mr. ■ Hyde’s house,” he said, and entering a cab the two drove off. . An old, villainous-faced woman, the only person who resided with Mr. Hyde as his house-keeper, opened the door to them of the house in the dirty Soho street Mr Hyde, it seemed, only occupied two rooms ■ there ; the rest were grimy and bare ißut those two rooms were fitted up 'in luxurious style. There was wine iia the cupboard—the plate was of isilver —the carpets were of heavy ’.pile. The detective looked around Iblm searching!y. Hyde had been .before them. The officer found the iother half of the stick, with which 'the murder had' been committed, behind the door. But where was Mr. Hyde ? He had disappeared ! j HOW DR. JEKYLL PROVIDED | FOR MR. HY4)E.

| Hyde ! He was a murderer ! Mr. f-Uttersou resolved to call upon his friend, Dr. .Jekyll, and acquaint him with what had been discovered. He must be informed of this new proof of the evil disposition of that man whom he had so strangely admitted to his friendship and confidence. What could possess the benevolent, learned, and wealthy physician to encourage a scoundrel like that—a man with whom all others who mot him shrank in horror ? Edward Hyde ' None knew where he had come from. He walked in and nut of tin* doctor's house, admitting himself with a key, as if he were equally the master of it with the doctor himself. The doctor had given instructions' to his servants that he was to he obeyed in everything. And then there was the doctor’s will made in that mans favour. It stated that in case o| the doctor's decease all his fortune was to pass to Edward Hyde, and in case of the doctor’s disappearance or any unexplained absence for any period exceeding three calendar months the said Edward Hyde, "my friend and benefactor," was to succeed to everything as if he were the doctor himself I Well, Dr. Jekyll should know 'now that Hyde was actually a man on whose hand was the slain m blood ! | THE MURDERER'S LETTER, Dr. Jekyll received the lawyer with a face that was ghastly pale T swear to you, Ulterson," he cried, "J will never set eyes on him again. lam done with him in this world. It is all at an end. He is safe—quite safe, Mark my words, he will never be more heard ot,’ "If it came to a trial, your name might appear in the case," suggested the lawyer, it "] ath perfectly sure of Hyde, replied Dr. Jekyll, "I have received a letter from him m which ,he states he has escaped, and that I need be under no alarm that I shall ho brought into the hateful business."

He handed that letter to the lawyer, who took it away with him. A strange, queer handwriting! Hie doctor's handwriting disguised, declared an expert to whom Mr. Uttereon showed it. Why had Dr. Jekjill forced that letter in « h*

half. Vvnat was the bond between the physician and that man ? But Hyde had now disappeared. Terror of the gallows will prevent his return- Mr., Utterson thanked Heaven for it. SHRANK FROM HIS FELLOWCREATURES. Never before had Dr. Jekyll so busied himself in his professional work and in deeds of charity. Then came Dr. Lanyon’s sudden death ' Besides the lawyer, Lanyon had been Jekyll’s greatest friend. What had been the awful shock Lanyon had received, and which ,ho declared would kill him so soon ? Bfiy did he shrink in such anger and apparent abhorrence from even the mention of Dr. Jekyll’s name ? He went to his grave with the mystery untold, and his death seemed, to Mr. Utterson, to strangely affect Dr. Jekyll. Dr. 'Jekyll now confined himself in his own private rooms and laboratory. He locked himself in and never passed the threshold. He seemed to shrink away in abhorrence or terror from his fqllow-creatures ! SEARCHING FOR A DRUG. "There is something wrong with ray master," declared Boole, the butler, to Mr. Utterson. Something terrible, he protested, was happening in Jthose rooms in which he had locl-ikl himself. Had the doctor been murdered, and were those rooms now occupied by his murderer ? Day by day Poole" had found slips of paper outside the locked door instructing him to seek out chemist after chemist to procure Dr. Jekyll a certain drug. Poole had been to shop after shop. The drug he had brought had always proved, according to the next note Poole discovered outside the ,door. impure and utterly unfit for the doctor’s purpose. And the person inside that room ! Poole had chanced to catch just a glimpse of him on one occasion, and he declared that, as far as he could judge, the man in that room was more like Mr. Hyde than anyone else. * "And we can’ hear him, sir," said the butler, "walking up and down the room all day add most of the night, and sometimes he cries—aye, like a woman or a lost soul." SUICIDE AND DEATH. What was the* meaning of it? Mr. Utterson accompanied Poole to the doctor’s residence. "I can see no one,” came a voice from the rooms when the butler knocked and told his master that Mr. Utterson was there. "Jekyll !" cried Utterson. "I demand to see you. T give you fair warning. I must and shall see you. If necessary we will use force." "Utterson," called the voice from within, "for Gods sake, have mercy !" "Ah ! That, is not Jekyll’s voice it’s Hyde’s !” cried Utterson. "Down with the door As the door crashed in they entered the room. On the floor before him lay the body of a man contorted and still twitching—and the face was the face of Hyde ! By the crushed phial in his hand and the. smell of kernels that hung in the air Utterson knew that he was looking on a self-destroyer. Had Hyde murdered Dr. Jekyll and hidden his body ? The keenest search showed no trace of the physician. On the table, however, was a large envelope directed to Mr. Utterson. The lawyer took it. It contained the confession of Henry Jekyll ! ****** THE TRAGEDY REVEALED. Shudderingly Utterson read those words, which told how the’ doctor in the course of his experiments with regard to the dual nature of man had lit upon a certain drug by means of which he could metamorphose himself from being Dr. Jekyll into being Mr. Hyde—Hyde, the incarnation of all the hidden evil that dwelt in him unrelieved by any sentiment of good ! A draught of the drug transformed him once more into the benevolent and respdeted Dr. Jekyll. A terrible fascination had led Jekyll to often seek to be Hyde, until that day when, in Hyde’s person, he had murdered Sir Danvers Carew. Overcome with horror, he had ior a time held Hyde at arm s distance. He had sworn he would ne'er become him again. Could he resist the temptation ! He had succumbed to it again. and °n one occasion had been forced to reveal the secret, of his dual identity to Dr. Lanyon, whom it Slew. What was this that was coming on him ? He found himself in time changing 1o Hyde now without the agency of the drug ! Was the drug he was using to battle against that horrible loss of himself impure ? Poole, at his command, tried chemist after chemist. The awful conviction at last forced Itself upon Dr Jekyll. Fie bad been able to transform himself by the aid of a drug that had been adulterated and that he might never again procure. He was Hyde—Hyde from henceforth—Hyde, the man wanted, for murder ! What would happen to him ? Would Hyde commit suicide or would he allow himself to be dragged to the gallows ?

The answer to that question the lawyer knew.