Chapter Text
It was a calm night, that was typical for the Jekyll estate. Not much could rouse the expansive halls dawned with many ornate frames holding only the finest of paintings.
Aside from the steps and occasional chattering of staff one would think the manor empty of an owner. And in some ways it was, as the man who had for some time held the deed to this rather posh arrangement passed not so long ago, and similarly so the home passed to his only son, and child, Dr. Henry Jekyll.
A man whom had made quite the name for himself in Londons medical sphere, being a successful physician and holding a most eager interest in the hastening of medicinal knowledge.
Though to any well trained or otherwise eye it was clear the well respected doctors passion drove him to not only success, but solitude.
Though that wasn't to say Dr. Jekyll didn't enjoy this, in a rather cliche way he seemed to prefer the words bound away in books to the ones sprawling from all the mouths of eager suitors or daft colleagues. Yes he did so seem to relish in the many hours he'd spend tucked behind the door to his office, quill to paper and mind steady on his endeavours.
Endeavours fuelled by the hope of understanding perhaps the most nuanced of all things. The inner workings of man, the duality of nature.
Throughout his whole life it had been something that plagued him, how one individual could partake in crude debauchery and others give no thought to such things. This itch for understanding had led him down the line of many related fields, psychology, philosophy, a field in which he had found to be far too polluted with outspoken uppity aristocrats that held no such credentials to be putting their two cents into anything, and much more.
During his college days Henry had seen it first hand, young men behaving in class, garnering high grades, and then following up their study sessions with paying off the nearest streetwalker for a night of something no unmarried man, let alone of college age, should be eliciting.
It had soured his view on people perhaps, in a world of such uncertainty it is hard to be trusting. And so on this calm night, Henry was once again sat on the plush leather armchair snug behind his dark mahogany desk, the tip of his quill scratching neatly along the parchment. Despite the rise in fountain pens as of late he still seemed to prefer the old fashioned means of getting thoughts to paper.
Just as he tapped a period to the end of his run on sentence a reserved knock sounded from the offices door, the politeness making the hand responsible all too obvious.
"Doctor Jekyll? Dinner has been prepared, do tell me you won't be absent from this meal as well?"
Poole, the most loyal of butlers, spoke as he stepped past the doors threshold and into the world of burnt candles and men desperately lacking sleep that awaited him on the other side.
Henry couldn't help a small chuckle, Pooles frankness had always been quite refreshing, even if the man tested the limits of his position.
"Not at all Poole, in fact I was moments from taking my leave of all this mindless scribbling to enjoy just that."
It was more than obvious how untrue this statement was, but Poole wouldn't argue logistics, not when so close to getting the Doctor out of this godforsaken office.
"But of course."