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VIII . The Locked Cabinet They went up the stairs to the red door . “ Jekyll , ” cried Utterson , “ I demand to see you ! If you do not open the door , we will break it down ! ” “ Utterson , ” said the voice , “ for God’s sake , have mercy ! ” “ That is not Jekyll’s voice . It is Hyde’s ! ” cried Utterson . “ Down with the door , Poole ! ” Poole swung the axe . A terrible scream , like a frightened animal’s , came from inside . Four times the axe fell . At the fifth blow the lock broke , and the door fell in . The cabinet was quiet and bright . A fire was burning , and the kettle was singing . The things for tea were ready on the table . It looked like the most ordinary room in London . But in the middle of the floor lay a small man . He was dressed in clothes far too big for him , clothes of the doctor’s size . They turned him over and saw the face of Edward Hyde . He was dead . In his hand was a small broken bottle , and there was a smell of almonds in the air . Utterson understood that Hyde had taken poison . “ We have come too late , ” he said , “ to save him or to punish him . Now we must find the body of your master . ” They searched the whole building : the lecture room , the dark cupboards , the old cellar . They found nothing . There was no sign of Henry Jekyll , dead or alive . The door to the street was locked , and the key lay on the floor near it . It was broken , as if somebody had stamped on it , and it was brown with rust . Nobody had used it for a long time . They went back to the cabinet . On one table there were small piles of white salt , as if someone had started an experiment and never finished it . “ That is the same stuff that I was always bringing him , ” said Poole . Just then the kettle boiled over with a loud noise , and they both jumped . Utterson picked up a religious book that Jekyll loved . Someone had written terrible , wicked words in it , in Jekyll’s own handwriting . Then they looked into the tall mirror , but they saw only the firelight and their own pale faces . “ What could Jekyll want with a mirror ? ” said Utterson quietly . On the desk lay a large envelope with Utterson’s name on it . Inside was a new will . It left everything , not to Edward Hyde , but to Gabriel John Utterson . “ My head is going round , ” said the lawyer . “ Hyde was in this room all these days , and yet he did not destroy this paper ! ” There was also a short note in Jekyll’s handwriting , with that day’s date on it . “ Oh , Poole , he was alive and here today ! ” cried Utterson . “ He must have run away . But why ? And how ? ” He read the note : “ My dear Utterson , when you read this , I shall have disappeared . First read the paper that Lanyon gave you . Then , if you want to know more , read the confession of your unhappy friend , Henry Jekyll . ”
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