The letter was written in an odd, upright hand and signed Edward
Hyde : and it signified, briefly enough, that the writer s benefactor,
Dr. Jekyll, whom he had long so unworthily repaid for a thousand
generosities, need labour under no alarm for his safety, as he had
means of escape on which he placed a sure dependence. The lawyer liked
this letter well enough; it put a better colour on the intimacy than he
had looked for; and he blamed himself for some of his past suspicions.
Have you the envelope? he asked.
I burned it, replied Jekyll, before I thought what I was about. But
it bore no postmark. The note was handed in.
Shall I keep this and sleep upon it? asked Utterson.
I wish you to judge for me entirely, was the reply. I have lost
confidence in myself.
Well, I shall consider, returned the lawyer. And now one word more:
it was Hyde who dictated the terms in your will about that
disappearance?
The doctor seemed seized with a qualm of faintness; he shut his mouth
tight and nodded.
I knew it, said Utterson. He meant to murder you. You had a fine
escape.
I have had what is far more to the purpose, returned the doctor
solemnly: I have had a lesson O God, Utterson, what a lesson I have
had! And he covered his face for a moment with his hands.
On his way out, the lawyer stopped and had a word or two with Poole.
By the bye, said he, there was a letter handed in to-day: what was
the messenger like? But Poole was positive nothing had come except by
post; and only circulars by that, he added.
This news sent off the visitor with his fears renewed. Plainly the
letter had come by the laboratory door; possibly, indeed, it had been
written in the cabinet; and if that were so, it must be differently
23