Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: Incident at the Window

One Sunday, on their usual walk, Mr. Utterson and Mr. Enfield passed once again down the side street and stopped in front of the old door.“Well,” said Enfield, “that story’s at an end at least. We shall never see more of Mr. Hyde.”Enfield knew by now that the door was a back way into Dr. Jekyll’s house, so Utterson suggested they step into the courtyard and look at the windows, because he was worried about his friend.

The courtyard was cool, damp and already full of twilight, though the sky high overhead was still bright with sunset.The middle one of the three windows was half open, and beside it, like a sad prisoner taking the air, sat Dr. Jekyll.“What! Jekyll!” cried Utterson. “I trust you are better.” “I am very low, Utterson,” the doctor replied sadly, “very low. It will not last long, thank God.”

Utterson told him to get his hat and come for a walk, but Jekyll said, “I should like to very much; but no, no, no, it is quite impossible; I dare not.”So the two friends offered to stay below and talk to him from the courtyard, and Jekyll smiled at the idea.But the words were hardly spoken when the smile was struck from his face, and in its place came a look of such terror and despair that the blood of the two men froze.

They saw it only for a moment, because the window was instantly pulled down, but that moment was enough, and they turned and left the courtyard without a word.Only when they reached a busier street did Utterson turn to his companion; both were pale, and there was the same horror in their eyes.“God forgive us, God forgive us,” said Utterson, but Enfield only nodded very seriously and walked on in silence.