The Carew murder Mr Hyde， t

The Carew murder







Mr Hyde， the girl said， was carrying a heavy stick． He wasplaying with it impatiently as he listened to the old man． Thensuddenly he seemed to explode with anger．

'He was like a madman，'the servant girl said．' He shookhis stick at the old man，who stepped back in surprise． Thenhe hit the old man violently with the stick and knocked him tothe ground． He beat the helpless body again and again． I couldhear the bones breaking… It was so terrible that I began tofeel ill．Then everything went black and I don't remember anymore．'

It was two o'clock in the morning before she was consciousagain， and able to call the police． The murderer had disappeared，but the dead man was still lying on the ground withthe murder weapon beside him．The stick had broken in themiddle， and one half still lay beside the murdered man． Thepolice decided that the murderer had carried away the otherhalf．A gold watch and a purse were found in the dead man'spockets， but no cards or papers— except a letter addressed toMr Utterson．

A policeman brought this letter to the lawyer the nextmorning．Together they drove to the police station where thebody had been taken．

A police inspector showed him the body．

'Yes，I recognize him，'said Mr Utterson heavily．'He isSir Danvers Carew．'

'Thank you， sir，'said the inspector．'And do you recognizethis？' He showed Mr Utterson the broken stick and told himthe servant girl's story．

Mr Utterson knew the stick at once．'That's HenryJekyll's stick！'he said to himself．'I gave it to him long ago．'

'Is this Hyde a short， evil－looking man？'he asked．

'That's how the servant girl described him， sir，'agreed theinspector．

'Come with me，'said Mr Utterson to the inspector．'Ithink I know where he lives．'

Mr Utterson led him to the address on Mr Hyde' s visitingcard．It was in a poor part of London，in a dirty street full ofcheap bars and eating－houses． This was the home of HenryJekyll's favourite friend—the man who would inherit Jekyll'squarter of a million pounds．

An old servant opened the door．Under her silvery hair wasa smooth face with a false smile and evil eyes， but she was polite enough．

'Yes，'she said，'Mr Hyde lives here．But he's not athome． My master came in very late last night．He left againafter only an hour．'

'Was that unusual？'asked the inspector．

'Not at all，'replied the servant．'He's often away，andfrequently stays away for months at a time．'

'We would like to see his flat，'said Mr Utterson．

'Oh，I can't do that，sir—'began the servant．

'This gentleman is a police inspector，'said Mr Utterson．

'Ah！' said the servant，looking unnaturally pleased aboutit，' Mr Hyde's in trouble！What's he done？'

Mr Utterson and the inspector looked at each other．'Hedoesn't seem a very popular person，'said the inspector．Heturned to the servant．'Now please let us in and we'll have alook around．'

Mr Hyde had only two rooms in the house．These were extremely comfortable and in excellent taste，with beautiful pictures on the walls and rich carpets on the floor．Everythingwas wildly untidy，however，and the fireplace was full of halfburnt papers． Among these the detective found part of acheque book．He also found the other half of the murderweapon．

'Excellent！'he said．'Now let's visit the bank and see ifthey recognize this cheque book．'

Sure enough， the bank held several thousand pounds in anaccount in the name of Edward Hyde．

'We've got him now， sir，'said the inspector．'We've gotthe murder weapon，and we've got his cheque book． Now weonly need his description on the“Wanted”notices．'

This was not so easy． There were no photographs of thewanted man and no two people could agree about his appearance．They all agreed on one thing， however．'An evil man，sir，'the servant girl said．'You could see it in his face．'