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V . The Letter That afternoon Mr Utterson went to Dr Jekyll’s house . Poole took him across the yard at the back to the building that people called the laboratory , a place for scientific work . Jekyll had bought the house from a famous surgeon , who once taught his students in that building . Now Jekyll used it for his chemistry experiments . It was the first time that Utterson had been in this part of his friend’s home . He knew that the other end of the building was the old door in the street of shops . They crossed the old lecture room , which was full of boxes and bottles . At the far end , some stairs went up to a door covered in red cloth . Behind it was the doctor’s private room , which he called his cabinet . It had glass cupboards , a tall mirror and three windows with iron bars onto the courtyard . Jekyll was sitting by the fire . He looked very ill , and he did not stand up . “ You have heard the news ? ” asked Utterson . The doctor shivered . “ They were shouting it in the square . ” “ Carew was my client , but so are you , and I want to know what I am doing . You have not been mad enough to hide this man ? ” “ Utterson , I swear to God , ” cried the doctor , “ I will never see him again . It is all over . He does not need my help . He is safe , quite safe . Nobody will ever hear of him again . ” The lawyer did not like his friend’s feverish manner . “ You seem very sure of him . ” “ I am . And I have a letter from him . I do not know if I should show it to the police . Please keep it and decide for me . I have lost trust in myself . ” The letter was in a strange handwriting that sloped backwards , and it was signed “ Edward Hyde ” . The writer thanked Dr Jekyll for his great kindness and said that the doctor need not worry about him . He had a sure way to escape . “ Have you got the envelope ? ” asked Utterson . “ I burned it . But it had no postmark . Someone brought it by hand . ” “ One more thing . It was Hyde , wasn’t it , who told you what to write in your will about your disappearance ? ” The doctor seemed to feel faint . He nodded . “ I knew it . He meant to murder you . You have had a lucky escape . ” “ I have had a lesson , ” said Jekyll . “ Oh God , Utterson , what a lesson I have had ! ” And he covered his face with his hands . On his way out , Utterson spoke to Poole . “ A letter came by hand today . What did the messenger look like ? ” “ No letter came today , sir , ” said Poole . “ Only the usual post . ” This news brought back all the lawyer’s fears . So the letter had come by the laboratory door . Perhaps it was even written in the cabinet . That evening he sat by his fire with Mr Guest , his head clerk . Guest knew a lot about handwriting . “ I have a paper here , ” said Utterson . “ It must stay between us . It is the murderer’s handwriting . ”
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