 The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson Story of the Door Mr. Utterson, the lawyer, was a man of a rugged countenance that was never lighted by a smile, cold, scanty and embarrassed in discourse, lean, long, dusty, dreary, and yet somehow lovable. He was austere with himself, drank gin when he was alone, and though he enjoyed the theatre, had not crossed the doors of one for twenty years, but he had an approved tolerance for others. I inclined to Cain's heresy, used to say quaintly, I let my brother go to the devil in his own way. In this character it was frequently his fortune to be the last reputable acquaintance and the last good influence in the lives of down-going men, and to such as these, so long as they came about his chambers, he never marked a shade of change in his demeanour. No doubt the feat was easy to Mr. Utterson, for he was undemonstrative at the best, and even his friendships seemed to be founded in a similar catholicity of good nature. It is the mark of a modest man to accept his friendly circle already made from the hands of opportunity, and that was the lawyer's way. His friends were those of his own blood, or those whom he had known the longest. Hence no doubt the bond that united him to Mr. Richard Enfield, his distant kinsman, the well-known man about town. It was a nut to crack for many what these two men could see in each other, or what subject they could find in common. It was reported by those who encountered them in their Sunday walks that they said nothing looked singularly dull, and would hail with obvious relief the appearance of a friend. For all that the two men put the greatest store by these excursions. It chanced on one of these rambles that their way led them down a by-street in a busy quarter of London. The street, even on Sunday, shone out in contrast to its dingy neighbourhood like a fire in a forest, and with its freshly painted shutters, well-polished brasses and general cleanliness and gaiety of note, instantly caught and pleased the eye of the passenger. Two doors from one corner on the left hand going east, the line was broken by the entry of a court, and just at that point a certain sinister block of building thrust forward its gable on the street. It was two storeys high, showed no window, nothing but a door on the lower storey, and a blind forehead of discoloured wall on the upper, and bore in every feature the marks of prolonged and sordid negligence. The door, which was equipped with neither bell nor knocker, was blistered and disdained, tramps slouched into the recess and struck matches on the panels, children kept shop upon the steps, the schoolboy had tried his knife on the mouldings, and for close honour generation no one had appeared to drive away these random visitors or to repair their ravages. Mr. Enfield and the lawyer were on the other side of the street, but when they came abreast of the entry the former lifted up his cane and pointed, Did you ever remark that door? he asked, and when his companion had replied in the affirmative, it is connected in my mind, added he, with a very odd story. Indeed, said Mr. Utterson, and what was that? Well, it was this way, returned Mr. Enfield. I was coming home about three o'clock of a black winter morning, and my way lay through a part of town where there was literally nothing to be seen but lamps, street after street, and all the folks asleep, street after street, all lighted up as if for a procession, and all as empty as a church. All at once I saw two figures, one a little man who was stumping along eastward at a good walk, and the other a girl of maybe eight or ten who was running as hard as she was able down across street. Well, sir, the two ran into one another, naturally enough at the corner, and then came the horrible part of the thing, where the man trampled calmly over the child's body and left her screaming on the ground. It sounds nothing to hear, but it was hellish to see. It wasn't like a man, it was like some damned juggernaut. I gave a view hello, took to my heels, collared my gentlemen, and brought him back to where there was already quite a group about the screaming child. He was perfectly cool and made no resistance, but gave me one look, so... Complete. Ready to continue?