Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Utterson is talking about Mr. Hyde, that’s the “him” in bold, they were referring to. It’s ironic because Dr. Jekyll plead Utterson for his sake, leaving Utterson to sigh and willingly to promise him to bring justice for Mr. Hyde, even though Mr. Utterson , said it himself that he doesn’t like Mr. Hyde. And Mr. Utterson most definitely doesn’t even want to pretend to like Hyde; Dr. Jekyll said so himself that he has full trust in Utterson because Utterson did say to Jekyll that he’ll get him out of the situation he is dealing with, he wanted Utterson to help Hyde when needed, when Jekyll is going to be taken away and no longer be there. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde must be very close towards each other, or Jekyll wouldn’t have defended Hyde and plead Utterson for help. Dr. Jekyll knows that Mr. Hyde can be rude sometimes but he also knows something about Mr. Hyde, and Mr. Utterson, the lawyer seems discover something about Mr. Hyde, and wanted to talk to Jekyll about it, but Jekyll avoided the conversation. He started to talk about how he is in a strange position, which leads to Utterson telling Jekyll that he can be trusted and that he can help Jekyll get out of whatever position is in. That explains why Dr. Jekyll asked Mr. Utterson to do him a favor regarding about do rights and also helping Mr. Hyde.
Hi Rachel. Good work noting the “him” and the irony in this chapter. The secrecy is confusing, but you did well to note their relationship.
-Prof. Scanlan