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A week afterwards Dr . Lanyon took to his bed , and in something less than a fortnight he was dead . The night after the funeral , at which he had been sadly affected , Utterson locked the door of his business room , and sitting there by the light of a melancholy candle , drew out and set before him an envelope addressed by the hand and sealed with the seal of his dead friend . “ PRIVATE : for the hands of G . J . Utterson ALONE , and in case of his predecease to be destroyed unread , ” so it was emphatically superscribed ; and the lawyer dreaded to behold the contents . “ I have buried one friend to - day , ” he thought : “ what if this should cost me another ? ” And then he condemned the fear as a disloyalty , and broke the seal . Within there was another enclosure , likewise sealed , and marked upon the cover as “ not to be opened till the death or disappearance of Dr . Henry Jekyll . ” Utterson could not trust his eyes . Yes , it was disappearance ; here again , as in the mad will which he had long ago restored to its author , here again were the idea of a disappearance and the name of Henry Jekyll bracketted . But in the will , that idea had sprung from the sinister suggestion of the man Hyde ; it was set there with a purpose all too plain and horrible . Written by the hand of Lanyon , what should it mean ? A great curiosity came on the trustee , to disregard the prohibition and dive at once to the bottom of these mysteries ; but professional honour and faith to his dead friend were stringent obligations ; and the packet slept in the inmost corner of his private safe . It is one thing to mortify curiosity , another to conquer it ; and it may be doubted if , from that day forth , Utterson desired the society of his surviving friend with the same eagerness . He thought of him kindly ; but his thoughts were disquieted and fearful . He went to call indeed ; but he was perhaps relieved to be denied admittance ; perhaps , in his heart , he preferred to speak with Poole upon the doorstep and surrounded by the air and sounds of the open city , rather than to be admitted into that house of voluntary bondage , and to sit and speak with its inscrutable recluse . Poole had , indeed , no very pleasant news to communicate . The doctor , it appeared , now more than ever confined himself to the cabinet over the laboratory , where he would sometimes even sleep ; he was out of spirits , he had grown very silent , he did not read ; it seemed as if he had something on his mind . Utterson became so used to the unvarying character of these reports , that he fell off little by little in the frequency of his visits . INCIDENT AT THE WINDOW It chanced on Sunday , when Mr . Utterson was on his usual walk with Mr . Enfield , that their way lay once again through the by - street ; and that when they came in front of the door , both stopped to gaze on it . “ Well , ” said Enfield , “ that story’s at an end at least . We shall never see more of Mr . Hyde . ” “ I hope not , ” said Utterson . “ Did I ever tell you that I once saw him , and shared your feeling of repulsion ? ”
Назад Сторінка 22 з 51 Сторінка 22 з 51 Вперед Читайте далі з перекладом Створіть безкоштовний акаунт: 7 днів Pro, далі 20 перекладів слів на день або платний тариф.
