My fears had departed somewhat, and so it was that the walk home was consumed with pity for my old friend. I knew that he had been wild in his youth, and could only think that this thing with Mister Hyde was the ghost of some old sin emerging from the dusty closet of the past to plague him, a cancer of some concealed disgrace, growing for years and finally starting to consume him.

I am ashamed to admit that this thought led me to spend much of the rest of that walk home searching in my own memories for similar ill-deeds that could, if brought into the light, spell ruin for me. There were many that made my heart quail, and yet I was also buoyed up by the many things I had come close to doing, but had refrained.

In turn, this led me back to Doctor Jekyll and a spark of hope. 'This Mister Hyde, if he were studied,' I thought, 'must have secrets of his own; black secrets, by the look of him; secrets compared to which poor Jekyll's worst would be like sunshine. Things cannot continue as they are. It turns me cold to think of this creature stealing like a thief to Harry's bedside; poor Harry, what a wakening! And the danger of it; for if this Hyde suspects the existence of the will, he may grow impatient to inherit. Ay, I must put my shoulder to the wheel if Jekyll will but let me.'

Once more I saw in my mind's eye the clauses of the will and repeated aloud, 'If Jekyll will only let me.'

Disquiet still strong in my mind I retired to my bed and slept badly.