s paper. If
your master has fled or is dead, we may at least save his credit. It is
now ten; I must go home and read these documents in quiet; but I shall
be back before midnight, when we shall send for the police."

They went out, locking the door of the theatre behind them; and
Utterson, once more leaving the servants gathered about the fire in the
hall, trudged back to his office to read the two narratives in which
this mystery was now to be explained.

DR. LANYON'S NARRATIVE

On the ninth of January, now four days ago, I received by the evening
delivery a registered envelope, addressed in the hand of my colleague
and old school-companion, Henry Jekyll. I was a good deal surprised by
this; for we were by no means in the habit of correspondence; I had seen
the man, dined with him, indeed, the night before; and I could imagine
nothing in our intercourse that should justify the formality of
registration. The contents increased my wonder; for this is how the
letter ran:--

"10th December, 18--

"Dear Lanyon,--You are one of my oldest friends; and although we may
have differed at times on scientific questions, I cannot remember, at
least on my side, any break in our affection. There was never a day
when, if you had said to me, 'Jekyll, my life, my honour, my reason,
depend upon you,' I would not have sacrificed my fortune or my left
hand to help you. Lanyon, my life, my honour, my reason, are all at
your mercy; if you fail me to-night, I am lost. You might suppose,
after this preface, that I am going to ask you for something
dishonourable to grant. Judge for yourself.

"I want you to postpone all other engagements for to-night--ay, even
if you were summoned to the bedside of an emperor; to take a cab,
unless your carriage should be actually at the door; and with this
letter in your hand for consultation, to drive straight to my house.
Poole, my butler, has his orders; you will find him waiting your
arrival with a locksmith. The door of my cabinet is then to be
forced; and you are to go in alone; to open the glazed press (letter
E) on the left hand, breaking the lock if it be shut; and to draw
out, _with all its contents as they stand_, the fourth drawer from
the top or (which is the same thing) the third from the bottom. In my
extreme distress of mind I have a morbid fear of misdirecting you;
but even if I am in error, you may know the rig