122 DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE
clown two pair of stairs, tlirongh the back pas- sage, across the open court and through the anatomical theatre, from wliere I was then stand- ing liorror-struck. It might indeed be possible to cover my face ; but of what use was that, when I w^as unable to conceal the alteration in my stature ? And then with an overpowering sweet- ness of relief, it came back upon my mind that the servants were already used to the coming and going of my second self. I had soon dressed, as well as I was able, in clothes of my own size : had soon passed through the house, wdiere Bradshaw stared and drew back at seeing Mr. Hyde at such an hour and in such a strange array; and ten minutes later. Dr. Jekyll had returned to his own shape and was sitting down, with a darkened brow, to make a feint of break- fasting.
Small indeed was my appetite. This in- explicable incident, this reversal of my previous experience, seemed, like the Babylonian finger on the wall, to be spelling out the letters of my judgment ; and I began to reflect more seriously
