<P> Louis Vivet, a mental patient who was suffering from dissociative identity disorder, caught Frederic W.H. Myers's attention and he wrote to Stevenson after the story was published . Stevenson was polite in his response but rejected that reading . As was customary, Mrs Stevenson would read the draft and offer her criticisms in the margins . Robert Stevenson was confined to bed at the time from a haemorrhage . Therefore, she left her comments with the manuscript and Robert in the toilet . She said that in effect the story was really an allegory, but Robert was writing it as a story . After a while, Robert called her back into the bedroom and pointed to a pile of ashes: he had burnt the manuscript in fear that he would try to salvage it, and in the process forced himself to start again from nothing, writing an allegorical story as she had suggested . Scholars debate whether he really burnt his manuscript; there is no direct factual evidence for the burning, but it remains an integral part of the history of the novella . </P> <P> Stevenson re-wrote the story in three to six days . A number of later biographers have alleged that Stevenson was on drugs during the frantic re-write; for example, William Gray's revisionist history A Literary Life (2004) said he used cocaine while other biographers said he used ergot . However, the standard history, according to the accounts of his wife and son (and himself), says he was bed - ridden and sick while writing it . According to Osbourne, "The mere physical feat was tremendous and, instead of harming him, it roused and cheered him inexpressibly". He continued to refine the work for four to six weeks after the initial re-write . The novella was written in the southern English seaside town of Bournemouth, where Stevenson had moved due to ill health, to benefit from its sea air and warmer southern climate . </P> <P> The name Jekyll was borrowed from Reverend Walter Jekyll, a friend of Stevenson and younger brother of horticulturalist and landscape designer Gertrude Jekyll . </P> <P> Gabriel John Utterson and his cousin Richard Enfield reach the door of a large house on their weekly walk . Enfield tells Utterson that months ago he saw a sinister - looking man named Edward Hyde trample a young girl after accidentally bumping into her . Enfield forced Hyde to pay £ 100 to avoid a scandal . Hyde brought them to this door and provided a cheque signed by a reputable gentleman (later revealed to be Doctor Henry Jekyll, a friend and client of Utterson). Utterson is disturbed because Jekyll recently changed his will to make Hyde the sole beneficiary . Utterson fears that Hyde is blackmailing Jekyll . When Utterson tries to discuss Hyde with Jekyll, Jekyll turns pale and asks that Hyde be left alone . </P>

The strange case of dr jekyll and mr hyde plot summary