Robert Louis Stevenson's story continues: a friend who is very ill, a face at a window, and a locked door in the middle of the night.
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Ten words for this episode. Think first — then check with Reveal.
Read the sentence. What does the word in bold mean? Say it, then reveal.
Choose from: a mirror · medicine · an axe. Say the word, then reveal.
Stevenson's story, told again in easier English. Read each part; after it, try the quick check from memory, then talk about the question.
Weeks went by. The police looked everywhere, but they could not find Mr Hyde. Everybody said he was gone for ever.
And Dr Jekyll was happy again. He saw his friends. He had dinners at his house. He was kind to poor people and he went to church. For two months, he was at peace.
On 8th January, Mr Utterson and Dr Lanyon had dinner with Dr Jekyll, like in the old days. They were three old friends. But on the 12th, Mr Utterson went to the house again and Poole, the butler, did not let him in. “The doctor is staying in the house,” said Poole. “He doesn't want to see anybody.” It was the same on the 14th, and the same on the 15th.
So Mr Utterson went to see Dr Lanyon. He got a terrible surprise. Dr Lanyon looked very ill and very old. His face was white and thin. And in his eyes there was fear.
“I had a shock,” said Dr Lanyon. “I will never get better. I will die in a few weeks.”
“Jekyll is ill too,” said Mr Utterson. “Have you seen him?”
Dr Lanyon's hand shook. “I never want to see Dr Jekyll again,” he said loudly. “For me, he is dead. Please don't say his name.”
“Can't I do anything?” asked Mr Utterson. “We are three very old friends.”
“Nothing can help,” said Lanyon. “Ask him. One day, after I die, perhaps you will understand.”
Mr Utterson wrote a letter to Dr Jekyll. The answer came the next day. “Lanyon and I must never meet again,” Jekyll wrote. “From now on I will live alone. Please don't be surprised if my door is shut, even to you. I am in terrible trouble, and I cannot tell you what it is. Please don't ask.”
Three weeks later, Dr Lanyon was dead. After the funeral, Mr Utterson sat alone in his office with a candle. There was an envelope on his desk from Dr Lanyon. Inside it, there was a second envelope. On it Lanyon wrote: Do not open this until Dr Jekyll is dead or disappears.
Disappears? Mr Utterson remembered Dr Jekyll's will. It said the same strange thing. He wanted very much to open the envelope. But he was an honest lawyer. He put it in his safe, and he did not open it.
1. Why is Mr Utterson surprised when he sees Dr Lanyon?
2. What does it say on the second envelope?
1. Dr Lanyon looks very ill, old and thin, and there is fear in his eyes. He says he had a shock and he will die in a few weeks.
2. “Do not open this until Dr Jekyll is dead or disappears.” Mr Utterson does not open it; he puts it in his safe.
One Sunday, Mr Utterson and his cousin Mr Enfield went for their walk. They stopped in front of the old door in the side street — the back door to Dr Jekyll's house.
They went into the little yard behind the house. There were three windows. The middle window was open, and Dr Jekyll was sitting next to it. He looked very sad, like a prisoner.
“Jekyll!” said Mr Utterson. “Are you better? Come for a walk with us!”
“I can't,” said Dr Jekyll. “But I am very happy to see you. Let's talk from here.” He smiled.
Then, suddenly, the smile went. His face was full of terror. The window went down fast. The two men only saw it for one second, but it was enough. They walked away and they did not speak. Their faces were white.
Some weeks later, one evening, Poole came to Mr Utterson's house. He looked terrible. “Sir, something is wrong,” he said. “The doctor is shut in his room again, and I'm afraid. Please come with me.”
It was a cold, windy night in March. There was nobody in the streets. At Dr Jekyll's house, all the servants were in the hall, next to the fire. They were very frightened. One maid was crying.
Poole took a candle and led Mr Utterson to the laboratory, behind the house. At the top of the stairs there was a red door — the door of the doctor's private room, the cabinet. Poole knocked. “Mr Utterson is here to see you, sir.”
A voice answered from behind the door: “Tell him I can't see anybody.”
In the kitchen, Poole looked at Mr Utterson. “Sir, was that my master's voice?”
“It sounded very different,” said Mr Utterson.
“Different? I worked for the doctor for twenty years!” said Poole. “That is not his voice. I think somebody killed him, eight days ago. And who is in there now?”
Poole told him more. All week, the person in the room wanted a special medicine. Every day there were notes on the stairs: Go to the chemist. Buy this. But every time, the note came back: This is not pure. Bring me the old one! And one day, Poole saw the person in the room. “He wore a mask, sir. He was small — much smaller than my master. He cried out like an animal and ran upstairs. It was not the doctor.”
1. What happens to Dr Jekyll's face at the window?
2. Why does Poole think the person in the room is not Dr Jekyll? Give two reasons.
1. He is smiling, and then suddenly his face is full of terror. The window goes down very fast.
2. The voice is different, and the person Poole saw was small, wore a mask and ran away from him. Dr Jekyll is tall.
“Then we must break down the door,” said Mr Utterson.
Poole found an axe under some straw. Mr Utterson took a heavy poker from the kitchen. “Poole,” said the lawyer, “the small man in the mask — was it Mr Hyde?” “Yes, sir,” said Poole. “I think it was.”
They waited in the dark at the bottom of the stairs. In the room above them, they could hear feet. Up and down, up and down. They were light, quick feet — not Dr Jekyll's heavy ones. “Once,” whispered Poole, “I heard it crying.”
Mr Utterson went up the stairs. “Jekyll!” he shouted. “I want to see you. Open the door, or we will break it down!”
“Utterson, please, no!” said the voice.
“That's not Jekyll — it's Hyde!” cried Mr Utterson. “Down with the door, Poole!”
Poole hit the door with the axe. Once, twice, three times, four times. There was a terrible scream inside. At the fifth time, the door fell in.
The room was quiet. There was a fire in the fireplace and a kettle on the fire. There were papers on the table. It looked like a normal room. But in the middle of the floor, there was a man. It was Edward Hyde, and he was dead. He was wearing clothes that were much too big for him — Dr Jekyll's clothes. There was a small broken bottle in his hand.
“We are too late,” said Mr Utterson. “Now we must find your master.”
They looked everywhere. But Dr Jekyll was not there — not alive, not dead. There was only a big mirror next to the fire, and in it they saw their own white, frightened faces.
On the table there was a big envelope with Mr Utterson's name on it. Inside there was a new will. It did not give everything to Mr Hyde. It gave everything to Mr Utterson! There was also a short note from Dr Jekyll, from that same day: “My dear Utterson, when you read this, I will be gone. First read Lanyon's letter. Then, if you want to know more, read my story. — Your unhappy friend, Henry Jekyll.”
Mr Utterson put the papers in his pocket. “Say nothing to anybody, Poole,” he said. “I am going home to read these. I will come back before midnight, and then we will call the police.”
1. What do they find in the room?
2. What is in the envelope on the table?
1. A quiet room with a fire, a kettle and papers — and Mr Hyde, dead on the floor, in Dr Jekyll's clothes. Dr Jekyll is not there.
2. A new will that gives everything to Mr Utterson, and a short note from Dr Jekyll: read Lanyon's letter first, then Jekyll's own story.
When Mr Utterson and Poole break the door, they look around the room. To say what is in a place in the past, we use there was (one thing) and there were (two or more things). To say where, we use prepositions: in, on, under, next to, behind, in front of, between.
Write was or were.
1. There three windows in the little yard.
2. There a red door at the top of the stairs.
3. In the hall there all the servants of the house.
4. There a fire in the fireplace.
5. There some papers on the table.
6. There a broken bottle in Hyde's hand.
1. were
2. was
3. were
4. was
5. were
6. was
Write one word in each gap: in, on, of, to, under, behind. Use each word once.
1. Mr Utterson and Mr Enfield stopped front of the old door.
2. The laboratory was the house, at the end of the garden.
3. Dr Jekyll was sitting next the open window.
4. Poole found the axe a pile of straw.
5. The body was in the middle the floor.
6. There was a kettle the fire.
1. in
2. behind
3. to
4. under
5. of
6. on
Write two words in each gap.
1. On the table there was a kettle, but any food. (negative)
2. There were papers everywhere, but any people. (negative)
3. “ a mirror in the room?” — “Yes, there was.”
4. “ any other people in the laboratory?” — “No, there weren't.”
1. there wasn't
2. there weren't
3. Was there
4. Were there
In 1, food is uncountable → wasn't. In 2, people is plural → weren't.
Now look around the room you are in. Say five things that were in it this morning — use there was, there were and a place word.
In this part of the story, everything happens around one door. For a long time Mr Hyde was outside — in the street, in the fog. Now everybody is asking: who is behind that door?
Look at who is brave here. It is not the important gentleman, Mr Utterson. It is Poole, the butler. He listens at the door, he goes to all the chemists, he notices everything — and he goes to get help.
And the room is not scary at all. There is a fire, a kettle, tea. The scary things are small: clothes that are too big, a mirror, a note written today by a man who is not there.
Now it's your turn to speak. Use the timer — try to keep talking until the time is up.
Tell the story of this episode to a friend: Jekyll is happy → the door is shut → Lanyon is ill and dies → the envelope → the face at the window → Poole comes → the voice → the axe → what they found.
Use there was / there were at least four times, and use at least five words from today (butler, voice, knock, lonely, axe, mirror, medicine, envelope, ill, cry).
You are the police officer. You arrive at midnight and look at the room. Describe it: what was there, and where was it? Then say: what do you think happened here? Was it murder? Where is Dr Jekyll?
What happens next? Mr Utterson has two letters in his pocket — one from Dr Lanyon and one from Dr Jekyll. What do you think they will say? Say your idea and explain why.
Not sure what to talk about? Choose one: