Answer:
Secrets ruin even strong friendships.
Explanation:
In Robert Louis Stevenson's gothic novel "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde", the protagonist displays a dual personality. One side of his being as the good doctor Jekyll represents the rational whereas as Mr. Hyde, he is the evil persona.
The excerpt given in the question is the dialogue of Dr. Hastie Lanyon, who at one time used to be friends with Dr. Jekyll. Through his speech, we came to know that he must have been trusted by the doctor, enough to be shown the transition of Jekyll into Hyde. But then again, he also wanted to repress the thing he had witnessed. As a scientist himself, that too in the Victorian era, he knew the approach of Jekyll was not something that is natural. unable to reconcile his rationality with that of morality about what he had seen, he even thinks he won't live long, and indeed he died soon after. The secret about Jekyll and his alter ego Hyde that he had witnessed had also led to the change in his friendship with Jekyll, who regards him as a close friend.
