Once the butler had taken my coat and hat, I shook Jekyll warmly by the hand and we walked through to the dining room.

The table was set for three, and he bade me sit in the chair facing the door. I enquired after the third party, but he simply smiled and waved away my query.

'So, Doctor Lanyon, you are well I trust?' he enquired.

'I am, sir, thank you. And I take it that you are in good health also?' To this extent, this was much like our other encounters of recent years: cordial and polite. But then the script deviated.

'Indeed I am, my old friend, and more so for having you present in my house. I wished for you to arrive before our other guest so that I might exchange a few words with you prior to his arrival.' He took a deep breath, as if unsure how to continue. I thought to intervene with some words of comfort, but he continued before I could frame the sentence. 'I wished to thank you for your long years of friendship and apologise for recent times when a coldness has grown between us entirely of my own making. I do not wish to retread our arguments of old, as I am sure that you remember them as well as I, and to give voice to them only lends them credence. Suffice it to say that you were right and I was wrong. Your opinion of my 'dabbling' was just and everything I have been taught since has borne it out.'