ht drawer by its
contents: some powders, a phial, and a paper book. This drawer I beg
of you to carry back with you to Cavendish Square exactly as it
stands.

"That is the first part of the service: now for the second. You
should be back, if you set out at once on the receipt of this, long
before midnight; but I will leave you that amount of margin, not only
in the fear of one of those obstacles that can neither be prevented
nor foreseen, but because an hour when your servants are in bed is to
be preferred for what will then remain to do. At midnight, then, I
have to ask you to be alone in your consulting-room, to admit with
your own hand into the house a man who will present himself in my
name, and to place in his hands the drawer that you will have brought
with you from my cabinet. Then you will have played your part and
earned my gratitude completely. Five minutes afterwards, if you
insist upon an explanation, you will have understood that these
arrangements are of capital importance; and that by the neglect of
one of them, fantastic as they must appear, you might have charged
your conscience with my death or the shipwreck of my reason.

"Confident as I am that you will not trifle with this appeal, my
heart sinks and my hand trembles at the bare thought of such a
possibility. Think of me at this hour, in a strange place, labouring
under a blackness of distress that no fancy can exaggerate, and yet
well aware that, if you will but punctually serve me, my troubles
will roll away like a story that is told. Serve me, my dear Lanyon,
and save

"Your friend,

"H. J.

"_P.S._--I had already sealed this up when a fresh terror struck upon
my soul. It is possible that the post office may fail me, and this
letter not come into your hands until to-morrow morning. In that
case, dear Lanyon, do my errand when it shall be most convenient for
you in the course of the day; and once more expect my messenger at
midnight. It may then already be too late; and if that night passes
without event, you will know that you have seen the last of Henry
Jekyll."

Upon the reading of this letter I made sure my colleague was insane; but
till that was proved beyond the possibility of doubt, I felt bound to do
as he requested. The less I understood of this farrago, the less I was
in a position to judge of its importance; and an appeal