Hyde Page 19

  "I remember her," said he. "Handsome woman, even in death. A tall gentleman escorted her in, balding, heavy eyes. Said they had found the body on their doorstep. Whore, it seems, who crossed the wrong bloke. We never identified her. No one claimed her. They buried her in an anonymous grave."

  I recognised his description of the man; it was Poole. He had apparently found Rebecca's body and dispatched her to avoid a scandal with his master. The love of my life, dumped like so much rubbish. It seemed the fate of this world to punish all those who lived in the lower strata like myself. London killed her as surely as Carew. They all deserved to die in the same way. I would bring them death as well.

  I reached across the desk and wrapped my fingers around the mortician's neck. He gasped and tried to pry my hands off. Before he could remove them, I twisted and snapped his neck like a bird. Before he even reached the floor, I had turned and headed out to kill my next victim. I would kill every man, woman, and child I encountered until I were killed myself. That would be the legacy Rebecca's death brought.

  I felt myself snapping backwards as if seized by a cord. I recognized the sensation. Jekyll was taking control. I fought him this time, exerting my will in kind. He would not find an easy battle this time. Our consciousness waged a battle within our body, this moment Jekyll gaining dominance, that moment myself. The arms and legs flailed and twisted, our throat gurgled and cried, our chest heaving with struggled breath.

  Yet I was not strong enough. Jekyll inhabited my body and refused to release me.

  "My God," he gasped. "Another murder. Hyde is too monstrous to be controlled. I need my drugs. But my laboratory entrance is closed and the key crushed. I must enter through the house. Yet I remain in the body of Hyde. If I am seen, my own servants will surely consign me to the gallows."

  Jekyll clutched at his chest in despair, then blurted, "Someone must get them for me. Not Utterson. His suspicions are already aroused. Lanyon. He is the key."

  He rushed out of the morgue and into the alley beside, still muttering to himself. "But how to prevail upon him to get them for me? I cannot visit him in person, an unknown and displeasing stranger, requesting that he search the home of a colleague. Ah, but my hand remains the same. A letter. That is the trick."

  Jekyll hailed a passing hansom and drove to a hotel in Portland Street. Upon entering the inn, the servants trembled at the sight of my dark countenance, but obeyed my orders for a private room and writing instruments. In private, Jekyll wrote two letters; one to Lanyon, the other to Poole. To Lanyon, he wrote:

  "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 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 tonight--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 right drawer by its contents: some powders, a phial and a paper book. This drawer I beg of you to carry back with you to Cavendish Square exactly as it stands.

  "That is the first part of the service: now for the second. You should be back, if you set out at once on the receipt of this, long before midnight; but I will leave you that amount of margin, not only in the fear of one of those obstacles that can neither be prevented nor foreseen, but because an hour when your servants are in bed is to be preferred for what will then remain to do. At midnight, then, I have to ask you to be alone in your consulting room, to admit with your own hand into the house a man who will present himself in my name, and to place in his hands the drawer that you will have brought with you from my cabinet. Then you will have played your part and earned my gratitude completely. Five minutes afterwards, if you insist upon an explanation, you will have understood that these arrangements are of capital importance; and that by the neglect of one of them, fantastic as they must appear, you might have charged your conscience with my death or the shipwreck of my reason.

  "Confident as I am that you will not trifle with this appeal, my heart sinks and my hand trembles at the bare thought of such a possibility. Think of me at this hour, in a strange place, labouring under a blackness of distress that no fancy can exaggerate, and yet well aware that, if you will but punctually serve me, my troubles will roll away like a story that is told. Serve me, my dear Lanyon and save... Your friend, H.J."

  Jekyll began to seal the envelope, then paused and tore it open again to add, "P.S.--I had already sealed this up when a fresh terror struck upon my soul. It is possible that the post-office may fail me, and this letter not come into your hands until to-morrow morning. In that case, dear Lanyon, do my errand when it shall be most convenient for you in the course of the day; and once more expect my messenger at midnight. It may then already be too late; and if that night passes without event, you will know that you have seen the last of Henry Jekyll."

  He re-sealed the envelope, then began to pen the letter to Poole.

  "Poole, I am assured that you will recognise the hand writing in this letter as that of your master. It is of utmost importance that you follow my instructions to the letter. Please summon at once a locksmith and a carpenter and have them standing by my cabinet door. I have sent for a Doctor Lanyon who shall arrive post-haste once he receives a similar letter to this one. Once he arrives, you must conduct him as quickly as possible to my laboratory. You will find the door locked. The tradesmen are to break the lock to the room. Lanyon must be allowed to enter the room alone and is authorised to remove a drawer from the premises. The drawer is to be filled with straw and wrapped in a sheet to protect its contents. Should Lanyon fail to arrive today, you must have the tradesmen spend the night and pay them whatever they wish for the service, for Lanyon may arrive the next day. Know that you must not fail me in this matter, for it means the very life and honour of your master, Henry Jekyll."

  Having written the final letter, Jekyll sealed it in a second envelope, addressed them both, and then sent them with directions that they should be registered to ensure arrival.

  From that point on, Jekyll had naught but to wait. He sat before a fire in his private room, lost in dark thoughts. His only visitor was a waiter who trembled at the sight of our menacing form. Jekyll ate little, fairly chewing our nails off in his anxiety. No doubt, the fear of being discovered in the body of a murderer left him unable to cease his agitation.

  It gnawed at me to have Jekyll in possession of my body, but I felt amusement at the knowledge that he now knew the suffering of being trapped in my hideous form.

  Night brought with it fresh misery for Jekyll, who finally departed and hailed a cab and rode aimlessly through the city. He said nothing and moved less until he caught glances of suspicion from the driver. At that, Jekyll called for the cab to halt and fled.

  Jekyll walked the streets with his shoulders hunched, trying not to draw attention to himself, but failing with his muttering and unkempt appearance. As he went, Jekyll cursed my name and cursed his birth and cursed all those who aided me. He attempted to make himself less visible by keeping to less traveled roads, but still encountered other pedestrians.

  At
one moment, a woman approached him with a smile and a box of lights for sale. Before she could speak, Jekyll lashed out and punched her in the face. She screamed and dropped the box to clutch her bleeding face. Jekyll ran before the scene grew out of control.

  At last, midnight arrived. Jekyll went to Lanyon's home, but spotted a policeman walking the square nearby and hurried into the shadows cast by a church. He waited until the precise moment when the church bells tolled, then hastened across the street to rap on the front door. It opened and Lanyon stood there, visibly shocked by Jekyll's withered form standing before him.

  "Are you come from Dr. Jekyll?" Lanyon asked.

  Jekyll did not speak, fearing that even his voice might alert the policeman, but simply nodded.

  "Please enter." Lanyon stepped aside.

  Jekyll glanced back to make sure the policeman was not aware, then rushed into the warmth of the home.

  When Lanyon had escorted Jekyll into the consulting room, Jekyll took hold of Lanyon's arm and shook him as he cried, "Have you got it? Have you got it?"

  Lanyon drew his arm from Jekyll's grasp with swiftness, visibly repulsed by his touch. Yet he managed to say with his usual formality, "Come, sir. You forget that I have not yet the pleasure of your acquaintance. Be seated, if you please."

  With that, Lanyon sat down in a sumptuous chair by the fire.

  Jekyll regained his composure enough to say, "I beg your pardon, Dr. Lanyon. What you say is very well founded; and my impatience has shown its heels to my politeness. I come here at the instance of your colleague, Doctor Henry Jekyll, on a piece of business of some moment. And I understood--"

  Jekyll's anxiety overwhelmed him then to the point of requiring to put his hand to his throat for a moment before speaking again. "I understood, a drawer--"

  Lanyon pointed to a sheet-covered box on the floor behind a table. "There it is, sir."

  Jekyll fairly pounced on the drawer, then had to pause to restrain himself once more with a hand upon his heart.

  "Compose yourself," called Lanyon.

  Jekyll tried to smile at Lanyon, but the result was so ghastly that Lanyon seemed more disturbed than before. At that moment, Jekyll caught the glint of metal in Lanyon's hand. Though he attempted to conceal it, Lanyon had a revolver at the ready.

  Jekyll drew away the sheet and sobbed in relief at the sight of the contents. He looked up at Lanyon again and asked, "Have you a graduated glass?" he asked.

  Lanyon rose from his chair to leave the room and returned with a glass. Jekyll quickly mixed the chemicals together with practiced skill. Lanyon watched with growing curiosity and suspicion as the contents smoked and changed colours before his eyes.

  Jekyll set down the glass on the table and faced Lanyon with a smile. "And now, to settle what remains. Will you be wise? Will you be guided? Will you suffer me to take this glass in my hand and to go forth from your house without further parley? Or has the greed of curiosity too much command of you? Think before you answer, for it shall be done as you decide. As you decide, you shall be left as you were before, and neither richer nor wiser, unless the sense of service rendered to a man in mortal distress may be counted as a kind of riches of the soul. Or, if you shall so prefer to choose, a new province of knowledge and new avenues to fame and power shall be laid open to you, here, in this room, upon the instant; and your sight shall be blasted by a prodigy to stagger the unbelief of Satan."

  Now I knew why Jekyll had chosen Lanyon as his messenger. He wanted Lanyon to see the secret, to prove him wrong for all the mockery that Lanyon had heaped upon his experiments.

  Lanyon took the bait, affecting a casual air that his trembling hands betrayed as he said, "Sir, you speak enigmas, and you will perhaps not wonder that I hear you with no very strong impression of belief. But I have gone too far in the way of inexplicable services to pause before I see the end."

  "It is well. Lanyon, you remember your vows: what follows is under the seal of our profession. And now, you who have so long been bound to the most narrow and material views, you who have denied the virtue of transcendental medicine, you who have derided your superiors--behold!"

  Jekyll drank the contents of the glass and immediately was seized with the transformation. As Jekyll clutched the table and his body swelled to his true form, Lanyon screamed "Oh God" over and over and threw himself against a wall. His arms raised as if to shield himself from what he witnessed as Jekyll's body settled into place.

  Jekyll turned to Lanyon, who had turned pale and looked near fainting. Jekyll himself was barely able to stand as he gasped, "And so you see with your own eyes that my research was neither madness nor heresy, but science. The man you beheld entering your home was none other than Edward Hyde, a brutal man of the vilest of motivations, summoned forth from within me by the very drug you beheld me imbibe. And with the same drug, Hyde is banished to the darkest depths of my soul, and my true nature restored. Surely you must admit, Lanyon, that my discovery is one that shall shake the foundations of science and faith in our time."

  But Lanyon seemed unaware of Jekyll's rantings, still frozen against the wall in terror. He blurted, "It is the devil's bidding you follow, Jekyll. The very devil's work."

  Jekyll attempted to reach him with further declarations, then finally fled the house, fearing to remain much longer.

  Jekyll returned to his home, ignoring Poole's curiousity, and dropped into bed in a deep sleep.

  Chapter Twenty-Three - The Dream

  THAT NIGHT, Jekyll slept fitfully and he experienced a vision of mysterious proportion, one that I participated in.

  I found myself in a prison cell with grey stone walls. Chains shackled my wrists and ankles to the walls. In the cell across from me, Jekyll stood with similar restraints binding him. We faced each other, not knowing what to make of the situation.

  Jekyll spoke first. "This is your doing, Hyde?"

  "Not I. It seems we are bound together in a nightmare."

  "A nightmare cannot be shared. You are but a figment of my imagination."

  "Perhaps," I snarled. "Or perhaps you are the figment of mine."

  Jekyll raised his head slightly to regard me through his spectacles. "I see you are in chains. A fitting place for you."

  "And for you."

  "I am no murderer, monster."

  "Ah, but you are incorrect, sir. See those chains that bind you, the same that bind me. Ask yourself, from whence did I spring? Was it from the sea like Aphrodite? Was it not from your very soul? Am I not a part of your very inclinations, distilled from your own sins and desires? To look upon me is to look upon yourself."

  "No," Jekyll growled. "You are nothing like me. You are a demon summoned from the depths of Hell."

  "Only if Hell is your own heart. I am born from you as if from a mother's womb. I am what you could not bear to face in yourself. Did you not desire the touch of women before I was given form? Did you not whore and drink before I ever breathed air? Did you not endure the beatings of your father as a child and wish him injury? I am the product of you, Jekyll, through and through. We are but two sides of the same coin."

  "You are a monster," Jekyll screamed.

  "I did not ask to be made monstrous," I screamed back. "I did not ask to wear this twisted flesh. Do you think I would not give my right hand to be able to walk among men without scorn, to look into a child's eyes and not see fear? I have lived every moment of my life as an outcast."

  "You shall get no pity from me, Hyde. I have seen your every sin, every brutal act."

  "And how you have loved them. How you have savored every sin I have committed like choice morsels. You created me to carry out those sins, then dare to condemn me for them. You find your yearnings so hard to bear? Multiply them a thousandfold and know the struggles I face."

  Jekyll turned away. "You know nothing of what you speak."

  "Oh, but I do. You are the monster, not I. You walk among men, but have a heart blacker than coal. You are loved by all, but they know nothing of the
ugliness that lies within you. I wear my sins on my face, but you wear them in your soul. Which cuts deepest, the sword driven into the chest or the blade driven into the back? You unleashed me on the world to do what I have done. I have carried out your every whim. I am but a slave carrying out the will of the master, and you are my master. Who is the greater fiend, the animal that mauls the child or the one who released that animal?"

  Jekyll lowered his head. "I did not intend for this to happen. It was only a bit of amusement that I desired. I did not wish for this to grow beyond my control. I did not wish for anyone to die."

  "I did not wish to be a murderer, either, Jekyll. We merely carried out our roles. We are both chained to our fates as we are to this wall."

  And then the dream ended.

  Chapter Twenty-Four - The Face of Jekyll

  THE NEXT morning, Jekyll awakened, exhausted and in despair. He was weak and shaken, but relieved at his escape. He ate breakfast and went out to the court, savoring the morning chill in the air. Jekyll was still pondering his fate and considering his next course of action, when he shuddered and went dizzy. He looked down with horror to discover that his body had transformed yet again into my own. Jekyll made a mad dash back to his laboratory and slammed the door shut.

  He looked into the mirror to see my face gazing back at him. Jekyll hurriedly mixed a double dose of the draught and swallowed it down, endured the fall of his features, and looked back at his own countenance once more.

  Jekyll sat down heavily in a chair and began to sob. "The changes come unbidden. I dare not leave my home."

  Jekyll cancelled all appointments and prowled his home that day. Indeed, he was correct. Six hours later, while gazing mournfully into his fire in the laboratory, his body twisted once more into the face of Edward Hyde. Jekyll was forced to take the drug again.