The producers news., 1929-08-30


perfect mat of cobweb which had
for years sealed up the entrance.
Nowhere was there any trace of
Henry Jekyll, dead or alive.
Poole stamped on the flags OF
the corridor. "He must be buried
here he said, hearkening to the
sound.
"Or he may have fled" said Ut
terson, and he turned to examine
the door in the by-street. 1t was
locked; and lying near by on the
flags they found the key, already
stained with rust.
"This does not look like use" OBJ
served the lawyer.
"Use!" echoed Poole. "Do you
not see, sir, it is broken? much as
if a man had stamped on it"
"Ay," continued Utterson, "and
the fractures, too, are rusty" The
two men looked at each other with !
a scare. "This is beyond me,
Poole" said the lawyer. Let US
go back to the cabinet"
They mounted. the stair in sill
ence, and still with an occasional
awe-struck glance at the dead
body, proceeded more thoroughly
to examine the contents of the
cabinet. At one table there were
traces of chemical work, various
measured heaps of some white
sale being laid on glass saucers, as
though for an experiment in which
the unhappy man had been pre-
vented.
''That is the same drug that /
was always bringing him." said
Poole; and even as he spoke, the
kettle with a startling noise boiled
over.
This brought them to the fire
side, where the easy-chair was
drawn cozily up, and the tea things
stood ready to the sitter's elbow,
the very sugar in the cup. There
were several books on a shelf; one
lay beside the tea things open, and
Utterson was amazed to find it a
copy of pious work, for which
Jekyll had several times expressed
great esteem, annotated, in his
own hand, with startling blasphe-
mics.
Next, in the course of their re-
, view of the chamber, the search
ers came to the cheval glass, into
whose depths they looked with ar
involuntary horror. But it was 81
turned as to show them nothing
but the rosy glow playing on the
; roof, the fire sparkling in a hun
,, dred repetitions along the glazed
front of the presses, and theil
own pale and fearful countenance,
STOPPING to look in.
'This glass has seen som'
strange things, sir" whisperet
> Poole.
"And surely none stranger thai
! ITSELF" echoed the lawyer in tn
same tones. "For what did Jekyll
he caught himself up at the wor
with a start, and then conquerin
the weakness-"what could Jekyl
. want with il? he said.
"You may say that!" said Poole
Next they turned to the bushes
: table. On the desk among the nes
: array of papers, a large enveloI
: was uppermost, and bore, in tt
y doctors hand, the name of M
n Utterson. The lawyer unsealed
~ and several Enclosures fell to u
~ floor. The first was a will, draw
~ in the same eccentric terms as u
one which he had returned E
q months before, to serve as a tie
: lament in case of death and as
te deed of gift in case of disappea
~ ance; but in place of the name
= . Edward Hyde, the lawyer with
:, describable amazement, reac t
ls' name of Gabriel John Utte1sC
II He looked at Poole, and thep 5a
at the paper, and last of all at {
VI dead malefactor stretched upon t
carpet.
"My head goes round" he sa
IN. "He has been all these days III p,
session; he had no cause to Ii
MS me; he must have ragged to :
Id himself displaced; and he has ]
,ed destroyed this document"
A He caught up the next paper;
nal was a brief note in the docto
Up hand and dated at the top. "'
the Poole!" the lawyer cried, "he Y
me alive and here this day. He C
ell, not have been disposed of in
the short a space, he must be S
'rk- alive, he must have fledl And th
the why fled? and how? and in
der case, can we venture to decl
in this suicide? Oh, we must be ca
full. / foresee that we may yet
1eir volve your master in some
had catastrophe"
and "Why don't you read it, 81
met asked Poole.
uiet Because 1 fear," replied
and lawyer solemenly; "God grant
ket- have no cause for it," And '
aw- that he brought the paper to
set eyes and read as follows:
and
out "My Dear Utterson: When
YOU shall fall into your hands / S
.laz- have disappeared, under what
the cumstances / have not the p
in tration to foresee, but my inst
and all the circumstances of
+ho nameless situation tell me
and the end is sure and must be es
oaar Go, then, and first read the ma
ard tive which Lanyon warned me
vde was to place in your hands;
40 if you care to hear more, turl
doc, the confession of
b;s "Your unworthy and unhs
onco friend
'ano. an HENRY JEKY-
hand "There was a third enclosu
-nals asked Utterson.
rson Here, sir" said Poole, and
hodv into his hands a considerable