<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 Dr. 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> <P> One night in October, a servant sees Hyde beat to death Sir Danvers Carew, another of Utterson's clients . The police contact Utterson, who leads officers to Hyde's apartment . Hyde has vanished, but they find half of a broken cane . Utterson recognizes the cane as one he had given to Jekyll . Utterson visits Jekyll, who shows Utterson a note, allegedly written to Jekyll by Hyde, apologising for the trouble that he has caused . However, Hyde's handwriting is similar to Jekyll's own, leading Utterson to conclude that Jekyll forged the note to protect Hyde . </P> <P> For two months, Jekyll reverts to his former sociable manner, but in early January, he starts refusing visitors . Dr. Hastie Lanyon, a mutual acquaintance of Jekyll and Utterson, dies of shock after receiving information relating to Jekyll . Before his death, Lanyon gives Utterson a letter to be opened after Jekyll's death or disappearance . In late February, during another walk with Enfield, Utterson starts a conversation with Jekyll at a window of his laboratory . Jekyll suddenly slams the window and disappears . In early March, Jekyll's butler, Mr. Poole, visits Utterson and says Jekyll has secluded himself in his laboratory for weeks . Utterson and Poole break into the laboratory, where they find Hyde wearing Jekyll's clothes and apparently dead from suicide . They find a letter from Jekyll to Utterson . Utterson reads Lanyon's letter, then Jekyll's . Lanyon's letter reveals his deterioration resulted from the shock of seeing Hyde drink a serum that turned him into Jekyll . Jekyll's letter explains that he had indulged in unstated vices and feared discovery . He found a way to transform himself and thereby indulge his vices without fear of detection . Jekyll's transformed personality, Hyde, was evil, self - indulgent, and uncaring to anyone but himself . Initially, Jekyll controlled the transformations with the serum, but one night in August, he became Hyde involuntarily in his sleep . </P> <P> Jekyll resolved to cease becoming Hyde . One night, he had a moment of weakness and drank the serum . Hyde, furious at having been caged for so long, killed Carew . Horrified, Jekyll tried more adamantly to stop the transformations . Then, in early January, he transformed involuntarily while awake . Far from his laboratory and hunted by the police as a murderer, Hyde needed help to avoid capture . He wrote to Lanyon (in Jekyll's hand), asking his friend to bring chemicals from his laboratory . In Lanyon's presence, Hyde mixed the chemicals, drank the serum, and transformed into Jekyll . The shock of the sight instigated Lanyon's deterioration and death . Meanwhile, Jekyll's involuntary transformations increased in frequency and required ever larger doses of serum to reverse . It was one of these transformations that caused Jekyll to slam his window shut on Enfield and Utterson . </P>

The strange case of dr jeykll and mr hyde