The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde | Page 5

of
pointing out to my gentleman that the whole business looked apocryphal, and that a man
does not, in real life, walk into a cellar door at four in the morning and come out with
another man's cheque for close upon a hundred pounds. But he was quite easy and
sneering. `Set your mind at rest,' says he, `I will stay with you till the banks open and
cash the cheque myself.' So we all set of, the doctor, and the child's father, and our friend
and myself, and passed the rest of the night in my chambers; and next day, when we had
breakfasted, went in a body to the bank. I gave in the cheque myself, and said I had every
reason to believe it was a forgery. Not a bit of it. The cheque was genuine."
"Tut-tut," said Mr. Utterson.
"I see you feel as I do," said Mr. Enfield. "Yes, it's a bad story. For my man was a fellow
that nobody could have to do with, a really damnable man; and the person that drew the
cheque is the very pink of the proprieties, celebrated too, and (what makes it worse) one
of your fellows who do what they call good. Black mail I suppose; an honest man paying
through the nose for some of the capers of his youth. Black Mail House is what I call the
place with the door, in consequence. Though even that, you know, is far from explaining
all," he added, and with the words fell into a vein of musing.
From this he was recalled by Mr. Utterson asking rather suddenly: "And you don't know
if the drawer of the cheque lives there?"
"A likely place, isn't it?" returned Mr. Enfield. "But I happen to have noticed his address;
he lives in some square or other."
"And you never asked about the--place with the door?" said Mr. Utterson.
"No, sir: I had a delicacy," was the reply. "I feel very strongly about putting questions; it
partakes too much of the style of the day of judgment. You start a question, and it's like
starting a stone. You sit quietly on the top of a hill; and away the stone goes, starting
others; and presently some bland old bird (the last you would have thought of) is knocked
on the head in his own back garden and the family have to change their name. No sir, I
make it a rule of mine: the more it looks like Queer Street, the less I ask."
"A very good rule, too," said the lawyer.
"But I have studied the place for myself," continued Mr. Enfield. "It seems scarcely a
house. There is no other door, and nobody goes in or out of that one but, once in a great
while, the gentleman of my adventure. There are three windows looking on the court on
the first floor; none below; the windows are always shut but they're clean. And then there
is a chimney which is generally smoking; so somebody must live there. And yet it's not
so sure; for the buildings are so packed together about the court, that it's hard to say
where one ends and another begins."

The pair walked on again for a while in silence; and then "Enfield," said Mr. Utterson,
"that's a good rule of yours."
"Yes, I think it is," returned Enfield.
"But for all that," continued the lawyer, "there's one point I want to ask: I want to ask the
name of that man who walked over the child."
"Well," said Mr. Enfield, "I can't see what harm it would do. It was a man of the name of
Hyde."
"Hm," said Mr. Utterson. "What sort of a man is he to see?"
"He is not easy to describe. There is something wrong with his appearance; something
displeasing, something down-right detestable. I never saw a man I so disliked, and yet I
scarce know why. He must be deformed somewhere; he gives a strong feeling of
deformity, although I couldn't specify the point. He's an extraordinary looking man, and
yet I really can name nothing out of the way. No, sir; I can make no hand of it; I can't
describe him. And it's not want of memory; for I declare I can see him this moment."
Mr. Utterson again walked some way in silence and obviously under a weight of
consideration. "You are sure he used a key?" he inquired at last.
"My dear sir ..." began Enfield, surprised out of himself.
"Yes, I know," said Utterson; "I know it must seem strange. The fact is, if I do not ask
you the name of the other party, it is because I know it already. You see, Richard, your
tale has gone home. If you