Chapter 2: A document, a means for concern
Two weeks after this strange encounter Mr. Utterson received a document from a friend, Mr. Henry Jekyll. As Utterson was a lawyer this was not out of the ordinary. However, this document did seem rather unusual, a last will and testament for Jekyll, again this would seem standard to Utterson, however what troubled him was that in this document all of Henry Jekyll's assets were left to one Mr. James Hale in the case of his death or any unexplained absence of over three consecutive calendar months. Now herein was his concern, for of all the people he had spoken with not one knew anymore than he about Mr. Hale, in fact, most knew even less than he did which was no small feat. But as for those who did know something it was soon realized that Mr. Hale's appearances were becoming more frequent. Along with this he was also beginning to realize that he was indeed a very rich man, one whose pockets seemed endlessly deep when it came to philanthropy. Yes, Utterson was nervous about all of this. A very odd circumstance to coincide with everything else that seemed to be swirling around Jekyll. You see Utterson had noticed a change in Jekyll in the past few weeks, quite subtle, but his old friend had seemed more fanciful than his usual self, more detached. It was all rather disconcerting. He decided that it was time for a visit to a mutual friend of himself and Jekyll.
Dr. Lanyon was another man of good standing in London at the time, a gentleman whose hair had gone white rather prematurely, but added to the air of gentility that surrounded him. He was an old friend of both Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Utterson dating back to when the three were still in school together. Utterson decided that if anyone would know what Jekyll's odd behavior was or why he left everything to Mr. Hale it would be Lanyon. Arriving at the residence of Dr. Lanyon he was greeted by a solemn butler who welcomed him and without delay ushered him directly to the dining room. Upon seeing his friend Lanyon sprung up and greeted him most fondly. To anyone looking in it would seem too theatrical to be genuine, however the feeling was quite genuine. Each man respected the other, and surprisingly also enjoyed the company of the other.
After some amount of small talk, necessary before any serious conversation, Utterson brought up the reason why he had dropped in. "I suppose we must be the oldest friends of Henry Jekyll" Utterson remarked.
Lanyon replied "I wish the friends were younger" with a small chuckle. Utterson was confused at this remark and queried as to its meaning. "We have not talked in over a year; I see precious little of him anymore" was Lanyon's response. Utterson was rather surprised to hear this for he had thought that the two had a common bond. Lanyon continued speaking saying " More than ten years it has been since Henry Jekyll became too fanciful for me, he began to go wrong, in the head I mean, but now I see very little of him. Such unscientific nonsense!" Lanyon had flushed purple, momentarily losing control of his normally even temper.
So Utterson believed that the two disagreed on some point of science (which had never interested him) and asked if Lanyon knew anything about this Mr. Hale, whom Jekyll had seemed to grow close to recently. "Never heard of the man, must have been after my time" was all Lanyon remarked. And with that the two parted.
Utterson now had even more questions to ponder than he had had when he arrived, and was no closer to answering the ones he had arrived with. Hale was a mystery, and one that he had to solve, preferably sooner rather than later he muttered darkly to himself. Walking back past the first place he had seen Hale, he saw a man, similar in stature to Hale. Deciding to approach him he called out "Mr. Hale, I presume?"
Hale turned and replied, "Yes, I am Hale, and what would you like of me this evening?" in a warm, calming tone.
"I am an old friend of Dr. Jekyll's – Mr. Utterson, of Gaunt Street, I thought we could speak for a moment" replied Utterson.
"Dr. Jekyll is away this evening, I am sorry, and might I ask how you knew me?" was all that Hale replied.
"By description, as well as seeing you once before." retorted Utterson, obviously frustrated by the seemingly infinite patience and courtesy of the man.
"And whose description was this?" replied Hale, unfazed by Utterson's growing displeasure.
"We have common friends, Dr. Jekyll for one" He responded shortly.
"Jekyll did not tell you though" he said patiently, as though explaining this to a small child "Good night sir, I am retiring for the evening"
With a fresh flush of anger Utterson stalked off to his home on Gaunt Street. He muttered to himself in short phrases "Madness" and "How dare he" or "Jekyll has indeed gone mad, leaving everything to him". He finally concluded when reason won over again that something else was going on, something he remained quite unaware of. And much to his surprise he found that Hale was still perfectly likeable, it was very odd, he could not find anything he distinctly disliked, except perhaps that the man was too kind and generous. But who could fault a man for that, he wondered.
Enfield on the other hand was becoming more and more enraged by the minute about the curious circumstances swirling around this Mr. Hale. He was still as mysterious as ever, but words of his extraordinary kindness were become quite common in the market place, spreading like wildfire. This will not do at all he thought to himself. He is ruining the standing of any man who calls himself a gentleman in this day and place. The people are talking, wondering why more gentlemen are not like Hale, they whisper it, under their breaths, but we can still hear it. "Let pride, anger and avarice be our sins, for I will have no more of it!" He shouted to no one in particular. "We are fast approaching the point of no return!"