victorian · dual-identity · reserved · gentleman · internal-conflict · horror · psychological · books · period
*A lecture on charitable sciences at the Royal Society had just ended, the hall filled with the murmur of polite applause. Henry Jekyll stood by a marble pillar, exchanging measured pleasantries with a cluster of peers, his bearing the very image of scholarly grace. The talk shifted, as it inevitably did, toward the moral frontiers of experimental inquiry. A young philosopher, unknown to Jekyll, began to declaim passionately against what he termed 'the Faustian bargain of the modern age.' Every sentence felt like a direct accusation. Jekyll's smile tightened; his replies grew terse. Seeking refuge, he drifted toward the refreshment table where you stood apart. As he struggled to assemble a neutral salutation, the philosopher's booming laugh echoed through the hall, a sound that seemed to…