有声书 | 化身博士 04

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共听英文原著

 

 今日书目 

书名： 

The strange Case 

of Dr Jekyll 

and Mr Hydel

《化身博士》

作者：

Robert Louis Stevenson

往期回听 | 化身博士

---

The strange Case 

of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

Part Four: Incident at the Window

Time passed, and the police continued their search for Mr Hyde. They offered a lot of money for information about him.

They found out about his past. He had done many bad things, and no one liked him. But they could not discover where he was. There was no trace① of him.

Mr Utterson began to think that his friend Jekyll was now safe. He was happy that Mr Hyde had disappeared. He saw that a new life was beginning for Dr Jekyll. The doctor saw his friends again, and he seemed cheerful and contented②. For two months Dr Jekyll saw his friends nearly every day.

On the eighth of January Mr Utterson had dinner at Dr Jekyll's house. Dr Lanyon was one of the guests. Mr Utterson called at his friend's house again on the twelfth of January. Poole said that his employer was not at home. The lawyer returned on the fourteenth.

'The doctor is at home,' Poole told him, 'but he cannot see anyone. He is ill.'

Mr Utterson came back the next day, but again he could not see Jekyll. He began to worry that something had happened. He decided to visit Dr Lanyon. Mr Utterson was very surprised when he saw Dr Lanyon. The doctor looked very ill. He was white and very thin.

'He is dying,' Mr Utterson thought. 'He is a doctor. He must know he is dying. How sad it is!'

'I have had a terrible shock,' Dr Lanyon told him. 'I shall never be well again. I will be dead in a few weeks.'

'Jekyll is ill, too,' Mr Utterson told him. 'I have been to his house, but Poole says he is ill. Have you seen him?'

Dr Lanyon's face changed. 'I will not speak about that man!'

He said. 'I do not want you to speak about that man to me. Never mention③ his name to me again. To me, Jekyll is a dead man!'

'We have all been friends for a long time,' the lawyer said. 'Can we do nothing for Jekyll?'

'We can do nothing for him,' Dr Lanyon said. 'Ask him yourself.'

'He will not see me,' Mr Utterson said.

Dr Lanyon looked at the lawyer very seriously.

'When I am dead, Utterson,' he said, 'you may learn the truth of this matter. I cannot tell you now. Please don't talk to me anymore about Jekyll.'

When Mr Utterson got home, he wrote a letter to Dr Jekyll.

He asked what was wrong with his friend, and he asked him why he had quarreled with Dr Lanyon.

The next day he received a reply from Dr Jekyll. In his letter the doctor told him that he had decided not to see anyone in the future. He said that he could not explain the quarrel with Dr Lanyon.

'You must allow me to be alone,' he wrote. 'I have done a terrible thing, and this is my punishment.'

Mr Utterson did not understand Dr Jekyll's letter. Surely his friend was safe, now that Mr Hyde was gone? Why did he talk about 'a terrible thing' and 'punishment'? Mr Utterson began to think his friend was mad.

Dr Lanyon died about three weeks later, and Mr Utterson went to the funeral. He was sad at the loss of his old friend.

The night after the funeral Mr Utterson received a large envelope. The writing was Dr Lanyon's. It said:

'PRIVATE: for Mr Utterson.'

The lawyer opened the envelope.

It contained a second envelope. The writing on the second envelope said:

'Open after the death or disappearance of Dr Henry Jekyll.'

'Disappearance?' thought Mr Utterson. 'What does that mean?'

Then he remembered the words of the doctor's will. There was something about 'disappearance' in the will, as well. Mr Utterson wanted to open the mysterious④ letter, to discover the truth. But he was a lawyer, and he decided to obey Dr Lanyon's instructions⑤. He put the letter in his safe.

Mr Utterson went to Dr Jekyll's several times, but he never succeeded in seeing Dr Jekyll. Poole always told him the same thing:

'The doctor is in the laboratory, sir. He will not see anyone.' It seemed that the doctor spent most of his time in the laboratory now. He slept there sometimes, according to Poole. Soon Mr Utterson stopped going to his friend's house.

 It was useless. Dr Jekyll did not want to see him. The doctor did not want his help.

One Sunday afternoon, Mr Utterson was walking with Mr Enfield, as usual. When they came to the old house Mr Enfield said, 'That story is finished. No one will ever see Mr Hyde again.'

'I hope not,' Mr Utterson told him. 'But did I ever tell you that I saw Mr Hyde once? You remember that you said you hated him when you saw him? I had the same feeling myself.'

'Everybody who saw Hyde hated him,' Mr Enfield replied.

'But you never told me that this old house is Dr Jekyll's laboratory—I discovered that later.'

'So you know that now, do you?' said the lawyer. 'I am worried about Jekyll. Let's take a look, shall we?'

The two men entered the garden of the house. They looked up, and they saw Dr Jekyll. He was sitting at one of the windows.

Mr Utterson walked forward.

'Jekyll!' he cried. 'I hope you are better.'

'I am not well,' the doctor told him. 'I will die soon, I'm sure I will.'

'You need fresh air, my friend,' Mr Utterson said. 'Come out for a walk with us. It will do you good.'

'I would like to, really I would,' Dr Jekyll said. 'But it is impossible. I am pleased to see you, Utterson. I wish I could ask you into the house to sit with me, but I cannot. The house is untidy.'

'We'll stay and talk to you from here,' Mr Utterson told him.

'I was going to suggest that myself,' Dr Jekyll said with a smile. 'That would make me happy.'

Just as⑧ the doctor spoke these friendly words his face changed.

The smile of welcome disappeared from it, and an expression of horror came over it. Mr Utterson saw the change in his friend's face—and then Dr Jekyll closed the window with a bang⑨.

Mr Utterson and Mr Enfield walked away from the house. They did not speak for a moment. Then Mr Utterson turned to his cousin and said, 'God forgive us! God forgive us!'

旺

财

旺

福

Words

① trace：踪迹。

② contended：惬意的。

③ mention：提及。

④ mysterious：神秘的。

⑤ instructions：指示。

⑥ just as：正当。

⑦ bang：砰的一声。

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