This hall, in which I now stood, was well known to me as a pet fancy of the doctor's, and I had spoken of it to others as the pleasantest room in London. Yet tonight, it was all it could do to keep my nausea at bay, a sickness of the mind and spirit rather than the body, which the light and heat did ameliorate in some small measure. And yet, the flicker of the flames and their reflections on the polished cabinet quickened my blood as if they were ghosts and it was all I could do to stop myself from starting at shadows. I am not a fanciful man, but that night I felt haunted.

I was ashamed at the level of relief I felt when Poole presently returned, yet not ashamed enough to want him to leave again. He informed me that Doctor Jekyll was out.