chapter-1

The Mysterious door

Mr. Utterson the lawyer was a quiet, serious man. He was shy with strangers and afraid of showing his feelings. Among friends, however, his eyes shone with kindness and goodness. And, although this, goodness never found its way into his conversation, it showed itself in his way of life. He did not allow himself many enjoyable things in life. He did not allow himself many enjoyable things in life. He ate and drank simply and, although he enjoyed the theatre, he had not been to a play for twenty years. However, he was gentler towards other men’s weaknesses, and was always ready to help rather than blame them. As a lawyer, he was often the last good person that evil-doers met on their way to prison, or worse. These people often carried with them memories of his politeness and fairness.

Mr. Utterson’s best friend was a distant cousin called Richard Enfield, who was well known as a fun-loving ‘man about town’. Nobody could understand why they were friends, as they were different from each other in every way. They often took long walks together, however, marching through the streets of London in companionable silence.

Once of these walks used to take them down a narrow side-street in a busy part of London. It was a clean, busy, friendly street with bright little shops and shiny door-knockers. Near the end of this street, however, stood a dark, mysterious, windowless building. The door had neither bell nor knocker and looked dusty and uncared for. Dirty children played fearlessly on the doorstep, and nobody ever opened the door to drive them away.

One day, as Mr. Enfield and his friend passed the building, Mr. Enfield pointed to it.
“Have you ever noticed that place?” he asked. “It reminds me of a very strange story.”
“Really?” said Mr. Utterson. “Tell me.”
“Well,” began Enfield, “I was coming home about three o’clock on a black winter morning, when suddenly saw two people. The first was a short man who was walking along the street, and the second was a little girl who was running as fast as she could. Well, the two bumped into each other and the child fell down. Then a terrible thing happened. The man calmly walked all over the child’s body with his heavy boots, and left her screaming on the ground. It was inhuman thing to do. I ran after the man, caught him and fetched him back. There was already a small crowd around the screaming child. The man was perfectly cool, but he gave me a very evil look, which made me feel sick in my stomach.. The child’s family then arrived, and also a doctor, The child had been sent to fetch the doctor for a sick neighbor, and was on her way home again.