I nodded and was about to ask if Mister Utterson was aware of Mister Hyde when there was a knocking. I left, into the hall, closing the door behind me and walked down the hall to answer the knock.

It was the man himself, Mister Utterson. 'Is Doctor Jekyll at home, Poole?' he asked, peremptorily.

'I will see, Mister Utterson,' I responded. I stood back and he came into the hall, warming himself by the fire. 'Will you wait here by the fire, sir? or shall I give you a light in the dining room?' The one place I wasn't going to take him was to my master in the drawing room. I would go and fetch my master's response to Mister Utterson's question - after all, such is my place - but I felt I already knew the answer.

'Here, thank you,' he replied, and I left him, walking into the back of the house and out of his sight, before I re-entered the drawing room via the door from the kitchen.