From Chapter 1 "Story of the Door"
but when they came
Mr. Enfield and the lawyer were on the other side of the by-street;
and ointed. , ~
abreast of the entry, the former lifted up his c
companion had replied in the
~ o u ever remark that door?" he asked; and when his j
story." ~
· affirmative, It is connected in my mind," added he, "with a very odd
w~ that1'
"Indeed?" said Mr. Utterson, with a slight change of voice, "and what
from some place at _n
"Well, it was this way," returned Mr. Enfield: dn~~ ~ipg ,~9.~
i~c:fmy way lay t h ~
the end of the world, about three o' clock of a .black Jjlnfer morn I
. Street after street , and all(p\,X'
part of town where there was literally nothing to be seen but lamps 1·
sion a~d all as emp~ as a
the folks asleep - street after street, all lighted up as if for a proces begins to
and listens and
church - till at last I got into that state of mind when a man listens
: one a little man who was
long for the sight of a policeman. All at once, I saw two figures
eight or ten who was
stumping along eastward at a good walk, and the other a girl of maybe
p running as hard as she was able down a cross-street. Well, sir, the
two ran into one another
of the thing; for the man
e? naturally enough at the corner; and then came the horrible part
ground . It sounds nothing
cJ~ trampled calmly over the, child's body and left her screaming on the
some damned Juggernaut. I
· to hear ut it was hellish to see. It wasn't like a man; it was like
brought him back to where \
gave a view halloa, took to my heels, collared my gentleman, and
perfectly cool and madesUYI.J...l.i....e
there was already quite a group about the screaming child. He was
sweat on me like running.
no resistance, but gave me one look, so ugly that it brought out the
pretty soon, the doctor, for
The people who had turned out were the girl's own family; and
was not much the worse,
whom she had been sent, put in his appearance. Well, the child
, fl., more frightened, according to
t~~ .~~'-.'.:''22~~~and there you might have supposed would be
a loathing to my gentleman
an end to it. But there was one cOOc,'us'circumgtance. I had taken
the doctor's case was what ~
~IJ
~ \._at first sight. So had the child's family, which was only naju r~ut
struck me. He was the usuaTcut-and-dry apothecary, of no particular age and colour, wjth a.s
pe:Well, sir, he was like the rest
,~st rong Edinburgh accent, and about as emot i~f\ta.Si.._q ~agpi
turn sick and white with the
~ of us; every time he looked at my prisoner, I saw 'fi,afs awbo nes
was in mine; and killing
desire to kill him. I knew what was in his mind, just as he knew what
we could and would make
being out of the question, we did the next best. We told the man
one end of London to the
such a scandal out of this, as should make his name stink from
lose them. And all the
other. If he had any friends or any credit, we undertook that he should
n off him as best we could,
time, as we were pitching it in red hot, we were keeping the wome
l faces; and there was the
for they were as wild as harpies. I never saw a circle of such hatefu
ned too, I could see that -
man in the middle, with a kind of black, sneering coolness - frighte
l out of this accident,' said
~11 t carrying jt off, sir, really lik~ tan. 'If you choose to make capita
scene,' says he. 'Name your
he, 'I am naturally hefpless. No gentleman but wishes to avoid a
family; he would have
figure.' Well, we screwed him up to a hundred pounds for the child's
us that meant mischief, and
clearly liked to stick out; but there was something about the lot of
do you think he carried us
· ~ t last he struck. The next thing was to get the money; and where
and presently came back with
~ ~ut to that place with the door? - whipped out a key, went in,
°' the matter of ten pounds in gold and a cheque for the balance on
bearer and signed with a name that I can't mention, though it's one
Coutts's, drawn payable to
of the points of my story,
The figure was stiff; but the
but it was a name at least very well known and often printed .
the liberty of pointing out
signature was good for more than that, if it was only genuine. I took
that a man does not, in real ~S~
to my gentleman that the whole business looked apocryphal, and
out of it with another man's(
life, walk into a cellar door at four in the morning and come
and sneering. 'Set your mind
cheque for close upon a hundred pounds. But he was quite easy
the cheque myself.' So we
at rest,' says he, 'I will stay with you till the banks open and cash
f, and passed the rest of
all set off, the doctor, and the child's father, and our friend and mysel
asted, went in a,body to the
the night in my chambers; and next day, when we had breakf
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,' ba~ k. I ~av e in
'
the che
a brt of rt. The cheque was genuine ."
que
"Tut-tut," said Mr. Utterson.
mys elf, and said I had every reason to believe it
was a forgery . Not
n was a
see you feel as I do," said Mr. Enf ield . "Yes, it's a bad story. For my ma
"I per~on tha t dre w
with , a really damnable man; and the
fellow that nobody could have to do
t C( Pn
too and wha t mak es rt wor se) ~n
rieties, celebrated
the cheque is the very pink of the prop paying
who do wha t they call goo d. Blac k-mai , suppose; an honest man
of your fellows what I c_al_l tha t P,~ace
ers of his youth. Blackmail House is
through the nose for some of the cap laining all, he
doo r, in con seq uen ce. Tho ugh even that, you know, is far from exp
with the
vein of musing.
added, and with the words fell into a you don 't kno w
From this he was reca lled by Mr. Utterson asking rather suddenly:" And
. . .
e?"
if the drawer of the cheque lives ther Enfield. "But I happen to have noti ced hrs add res s,
"A likely place, isn't it?" returned Mr.
~
he lives in some square or other." . .
e with the door?" said Mr. Utterson .
"And you never asked about the - plac que s~r~ n~; rt
y. "I feel very strongly about pu~ing
"No , sir: I had a delicacy," was the repl rt s like
muc h of the styl e of the day of judgment. You start a question, and
partakes too s, starting others;
top of a hill; and away the stone goe
starting a stone. You sit quietly on the is knocked on the
sen tly som e blan d old bird (the last you would have thought of)
and pre ke it a
bac k-ga rden and the fam ily hav e to change their name. No, sir, I ma
head in his own . /
er Street, the less I ask."
I.At.O.X..~I\ ~~
e: the mor e it look s like Que
'-..i \.J. X\w ;~ I~~ I~
rule of min
very goo d rule , too, " said the lawy er.
"A sca rce ly a
elf," continued Mr. Enfield." It seems
"But l have studied the place for mys , onc e in a gre at
nobody goes in or out of that one but
house. There is no other door, and court on the
gen tlem an of my adv entu re. The re are three windows looking on the
while, the then there is a
are always shut but they're clean. And
first floor; none below; the windows it's not so sur e; for
whic h is gen era lly smo king ; so somebody must live there. And yet
chim ney re one end s
s are so pac ked toge ther abo ut that court, that it's hard to say whe
the building
and another begins. " Mr. Utterson,
in silence; and then , "Enfield ," said
The pair walked on aga in for a while
"that's a good rule of yours."
"Yes, I think it is," returned Enfield . t to ask
for all that ," con tinu ed the law yer, "there's one point l wan t to ask : I wan
"Bu t
r the child." "'+ \~ ~
the name of that man who walRea ove nam e of
t harm If wouict do. It was a ma n of the
"Well," said Mr. Enfield , "I can't see wha
Hyde."
of a man is he to see?"
"H'm," said Mr. Utterson. "What sort e; som eth ing
something wrong with his appearanc
. "~e is not ea~y to des~ribe. There is , and yet I sca rce
stable. I never saw a man I so disliked
displeasing, something downright dete oug h
st be d~fo rme ? som ewh ere ; he give s a strong feeling of def orm ity, alth
know w~y. He r:nu I really can nam e
ldn t spe cify the poin t. . Hes an extraordinary-looking man , and yet
I co~ wan t
way . No, srr; I can mak e no han d of it; I can 't des crib e him. And it's not
nothing out of the Al 11
this moment."
of memory; for I declare I can see him \J~ ~ ' ~ N') ~ 'f-
Sc_ ~e.N :.f_ '-l5 ~ ~ "'
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