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The Invisible Man Chapters 11-12 · The H. G. Wells Library

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  Speaker 1: This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
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  Speaker 1: the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
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  Speaker 1: visit www dot LibriVox dot org. To day's reading by
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  Speaker 1: Alex Foster www dot Alex Foster dot me dot UK.
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  Speaker 1: The Invisible Man by H. G. Wells, Chapter eleven in
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  Speaker 1: The Coach and Horses. Now, in order to clearly understand
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  Speaker 1: what had happened in the inn, it is necessary to
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  Speaker 1: go back to the moment when mister Marvell first came
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  Speaker 1: into view of mister Hucks's window. At that precise moment,
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  Speaker 1: mister Cuss and mister Bunting were in the parlor. They
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  Speaker 1: were seriously investigating the strange occurrences of the morning, and were,
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  Speaker 1: with mister Hall's permission, making a thorough examination of the
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  Speaker 1: Invisible Man's belongings. Jaffers had partially recovered from his fall
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  Speaker 1: and had gone home in charge of his sympathetic friends.
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  Speaker 1: The stranger's scattered garments had been removed by Missus Hall,
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  Speaker 1: and the room tidied up, and on the table under
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  Speaker 1: the window where the stranger had been wont to work.
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  Speaker 1: Cuss had hit almost at once on three big books
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  Speaker 1: in manuscript labeled Diary Diary, said Cuss, putting the three
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  Speaker 1: books on the table. Now, at any rate we shall
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  Speaker 1: learn something. The vicar stood with his hands on the table, Diary,
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  Speaker 1: repeated Cuss, sitting down, putting two volumes to support the
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  Speaker 1: third and opening it hum no name on the fly leaf,
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  Speaker 1: bother cipher and figures. The vicar came round to look
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  Speaker 1: over his shoulder. Cuss turned the pages over with a face,
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  Speaker 1: suddenly disappointed. I'm dear me, it's all cipher Bunting. There
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  Speaker 1: are no diagrams, asked mister Bunting, no illustrations throwing light.
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  Speaker 1: See for yourself, said mister Cuss. Some of it's mathematical,
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  Speaker 1: and some of its Russian or some such language, to
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  Speaker 1: judge by the letters, and some of its Greek. Now
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  Speaker 1: the Greek, I th thought you, of course, said mister Bunting,
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  Speaker 1: taking out and wiping his spectacles, and feeling suddenly very uncomfortable,
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  Speaker 1: for he had no Greek left in his mind worth
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  Speaker 1: talking about. Yes, the Greek, of course, may furnish a clue.
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  Speaker 1: I'll find you a place. I'd rather glance through the
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  Speaker 1: volumes first, said mister Bunting, still wiping a general impression
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  Speaker 1: first cousin, Then you know we can go looking for clues.
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  Speaker 1: He coughed, put on his glasses, arranged them fastidiously, coughed again,
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  Speaker 1: and wished something would happen to avert the seemingly inevitable exposure.
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  Speaker 1: Then he took the volume Cuss handed him in a
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  Speaker 1: leisurely manner, and then something did happen. The door opened suddenly.
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  Speaker 1: Both gentlemen started violently, looked around and were relieved to
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  Speaker 1: see a sporadically rosy face beneath a furry silk hat.
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  Speaker 1: Tap asked the face and stood staring. No, said both
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  Speaker 1: gentlemen at once. Over the other side, my man, said
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  Speaker 1: mister Bunting, and please shut that door, said mister Cuss irritably.
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  Speaker 1: All right, said the intruder, as it seemed, in a
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  Speaker 1: low voice, curiously different from the huskiness of its first inquiry.
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  Speaker 1: Right you are, said the intruder in the former voice,
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  Speaker 1: Stand clear, And he vanished and closed the door. A sailor,
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  Speaker 1: I should judge, said mister Bunting, amusing fellows, they are
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  Speaker 1: stand clear. Indeed, anautical term referring to his getting back
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  Speaker 1: out of the room. I suppose I dare say so,
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  Speaker 1: said Cuss. My nerves are all loose to day. It
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  Speaker 1: made me quite jump the door opening like that. Mister
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  Speaker 1: Bunting smiled as if he had not jumped. And now,
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  Speaker 1: he said, with a sigh, these books some one sniffed
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  Speaker 1: as he did. So one thing is indisputable, said Bunting,
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  Speaker 1: drawing a chair up next to that of mister Cuss.
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  Speaker 1: The certainly have been very strange things happening and iping
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  Speaker 1: during the last few days, very strange. I cannot, of
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  Speaker 1: course believe in this absurd invisibility story. It's incredible, said Cuss. Incredible,
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  Speaker 1: but the fact remains that I saw. I certainly saw
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  Speaker 1: right down his sleeve. But did you Are you sure
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  Speaker 1: suppose a mirror? For instance? Hallucinations are so easily produced.
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  Speaker 1: I don't know if you've ever seen a really good conjurer.
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  Speaker 1: I won't argue again, said Cus. We've thrashed that out, Bunting.
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  Speaker 1: And just now there's these books. Ah, here's some of
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  Speaker 1: what I take to be Greek Greek letters. Certainly, he
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  Speaker 1: pointed to the middle of the page. Mister Bunting flushed
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  Speaker 1: slightly and brought his face nearer, apparently finding some difficulty
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  Speaker 1: with his glasses. Suddenly he became aware of a strange
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  Speaker 1: feeling at the nape of his neck. He tried to
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  Speaker 1: raise his head and countered an immovable resistance. The feeling
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  Speaker 1: was a curious pressure, the grip of a heavy, firm hand,
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  Speaker 1: and it bore his chin irresistibly to the table. Don't move,
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  Speaker 1: little men, whispered a voice, or I'll brain you both.
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  Speaker 1: Mister Bunting looked into the face of cuss close to
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  Speaker 1: his own, and each saw a horrified reflection of his own,
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  Speaker 1: sickly astonishment. I'm sorry to handle you so roughly, said
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  Speaker 1: the voice, but it's unavoidable. Since when did you learn
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  Speaker 1: to pry into an investigator's private memoranda? Said the voice,
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  Speaker 1: and two chins struck the table simultaneously, and two sets
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  Speaker 1: of teeth rattled. Since when did you learn to invade
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  Speaker 1: the private rooms of a man in misfortune? And the
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  Speaker 1: concussion was repeated. Where have they put my clothes? Listen,
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  Speaker 1: said the voice. The windows are fastened, and I've taken
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  Speaker 1: the key out of the door. I am a fairly
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  Speaker 1: strong man, and I have the poker handy. Besides being invisible,
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  Speaker 1: there's not the slightest doubt that I could kill you
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  Speaker 1: both and get away quite easily if I wanted to
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  Speaker 1: do you understand very well? If I let you go,
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  Speaker 1: will you promise not to try any nonsense and do
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  Speaker 1: what I tell you? The vicar and the doctor looked
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  Speaker 1: at one another, and the doctor pulled a face. Yes,
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  Speaker 1: said mister Bunting, and the doctor repeated it. Then the
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  Speaker 1: pressure on the next relaxed, and the doctor and the
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  Speaker 1: vicar sat up, both very red in the face and
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  Speaker 1: wriggling their heads. Please keep sitting where you are, said
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  Speaker 1: the invisible man. Here's the poker. You see. When I
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  Speaker 1: came into this room, continued the invisible man, after presenting
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  Speaker 1: the poker to the tip of the nose of each
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  Speaker 1: of his visitors. I did not expect to find it occupied,
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  Speaker 1: and I expected to find, in addition to my books
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  Speaker 1: of memoranda, an outfit of clothing. Where is it? No,
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  Speaker 1: don't rise, I can see it's gone now. Just at present.
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  Speaker 1: Though the days are quite warm enough for an invisible
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  Speaker 1: man to run about stark, the evenings are quite chilly.
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  Speaker 1: I want clothing and other accommodation, and I must also
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  Speaker 1: have those three books. Chapter twelve, The invisible man loses
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  Speaker 1: his temper. It is unavoidable that at this point the
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  Speaker 1: narrative should break off again for a certain, very painful
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  Speaker 1: reason that will presently be apparent. While these things were
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  Speaker 1: going on in the parlor, and while mister Huckster was
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  Speaker 1: watching mister Marvell smoking his pipe against the gate not
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  Speaker 1: a dozen yards away, mister Hall and Teddy Henry were
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  Speaker 1: discussing in a state of cloudy puzzlement the one iping topic.
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  Speaker 1: Suddenly there came a violent thud against the door of
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  Speaker 1: the parlor, a sharp cry, and then silence. Ulloh, said
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  Speaker 1: Teddy Henfrey, all from the tap. Mister Hall took things
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  Speaker 1: in slowly. But surely that ain't right, he said, and
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  Speaker 1: came round from behind the bar towards the parlor door.
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  Speaker 1: He and Teddy approached the door together with intent faces,
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  Speaker 1: their eyes considered somewhat wrong, said Hall, and Henry nodded agreement.
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  Speaker 1: Whiffs of an unpleasant chemical odor met them. There was
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  Speaker 1: a muffled sound of conversation, very rapid and subdued. You
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  Speaker 1: are right there, asked Hall, rapping. The muttered conversation ceased
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  Speaker 1: abruptly for a moment silence. Then the conversation was resumed
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  Speaker 1: in hissing whispers, then a sharp cry of no, no,
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  Speaker 1: you don't. There came a sudden motion and the oversetting
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  Speaker 1: of a chair, a brief struggle, silence again, What the deuce,
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  Speaker 1: exclaimed Henry Sotto vatching you all right there, asked mister Hall,
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  Speaker 1: sharply again. The vicar's voice answered with a curious jerking intonation. Cool, cool,
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  Speaker 1: quite right. Please don't interrupt, odd, said mister Henfrey. Odd,
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  Speaker 1: said mister Hall says, don't interrupt, said Henfrey. Are you heard?
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  Speaker 1: And said Hall? And a sniff said Henfrey. They remained listening.
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  Speaker 1: The conversation was rapid and subdued. I can't, said mister Bunting,
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  Speaker 1: his voice rising, I tell you, sir, I will not.
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  Speaker 1: What was that, asked Henfrey. Says he winner, It weren't
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  Speaker 1: speaking to us? Was he disgraceful, said mister Bunting. Within disgraceful,
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  Speaker 1: said mister Henfrey. I heard it distinct. Who's that speaking now,
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  Speaker 1: asked Henfrey. Mister cuss I suppose, said Hall. Can you
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  Speaker 1: hear anything? Silence? The sounds within indistinct and perplexing, sounds
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  Speaker 1: like throwing the tablecloth about, said Hall. Missus Hall appeared
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  Speaker 1: behind the bar. Hall made gestures of silence and invitation.
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  Speaker 1: This aroused Missus Hall's wifely opposition. What's your lesson in there? For? Hall?
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  Speaker 1: Ain't you nothing better to do? Busy day like this?
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  Speaker 1: Hall tried to convey everything by grimaces and dumb show,
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  Speaker 1: but Missus Hall was obdurate. She raised her voice, so
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  Speaker 1: Hall and Henfrey, rather crestfallen, tipped her back to the bar,
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  Speaker 1: gesticulating to explain to her. At first, she refused to
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  Speaker 1: see anything in what they had heard at all. Then
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  Speaker 1: she insisted on Hall keeping silence while Henfrey told her
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  Speaker 1: his story. She was inclined to think the whole business nonsense.
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  Speaker 1: Perhaps they were just moving the furniture about. I heard
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  Speaker 1: and say, disgraceful that I did, said Hall. I heard that,
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  Speaker 1: Missus Hall, said Henfrey. Loike as not began Missus Hall
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  Speaker 1: sh said, mister teddy Henfrey. Didn't I hear the window?
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  Speaker 1: What window? Asked Missus Hall. Parlor window, said Henry. Everyone
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  Speaker 1: stood listening intently. Missus Hall's eyes directed straight before her
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  Speaker 1: saw without seeing the brilliant oblong of the inn door,
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  Speaker 1: the road white and vivid, and Huckster's shop front blistering
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  Speaker 1: in the June sun. Abruptly Huckster's door opened and Huckster appeared,
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  Speaker 1: eyes staring with excitement, arms gesticulating. Yap cried Hunter, stop thief,
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  Speaker 1: and he run obliquely across the oblong towards the yard
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  Speaker 1: gates and vanished. Simultaneously came a tumult from the parlor
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  Speaker 1: and a sound of windows being closed. Hall, Henfrey, and
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  Speaker 1: the human contents of the Tap rushed out at once,
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  Speaker 1: pell mell into the street. They saw some one whisker
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  Speaker 1: round the corner towards the road, and mister Huckster executing
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  Speaker 1: a complicated leap in the air that ended on his
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  Speaker 1: face and shoulder. Down the street. People were standing, astonished
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  Speaker 1: or running towards them. Mister Huckster was stunned. Henry stopped
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  Speaker 1: to discover this, but Hall and the two laborers from
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  Speaker 1: the Tap rushed at once to the corner, shouting incoherent things,
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  Speaker 1: and saw mister Marvell vanishing by the corner of the
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  Speaker 1: church wall. They appeared to have jumped to the impossible
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  Speaker 1: conclusion that this was the invisible man suddenly become visible
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  Speaker 1: and set off at once along the lane in pursuit.
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  Speaker 1: But Hall had hardly run a dozen yards before he
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  Speaker 1: gave a loud shout of astonishment, and went flying headlong sideways,
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  Speaker 1: clutching one of the laborers and bringing him to the ground.
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  Speaker 1: He had been charged just as one charges a man
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  Speaker 1: at football. The second laborer came round in a circle,
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  Speaker 1: stared and conceiving that Hall had tumbled over of his
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  Speaker 1: own accord, turned to resume the pursuit, only to be
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  Speaker 1: tripped by the ankle, just as Huckster had been. Then,
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  Speaker 1: as the first laborer struggled to his feet, he was
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  Speaker 1: kicked sideways by a blow that might have felled an ox.
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  Speaker 1: As he went down the rush from the direction of
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  Speaker 1: the village Green came round the corner. The first to
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  Speaker 1: appear was the proprietor of the Cocoanut Shy, a burly
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  Speaker 1: man in blue jersey. He was astonished to see the
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  Speaker 1: lane empty save for three men sprawling absurdly on the ground.
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  Speaker 1: And then something happened to his rearmost foot, and he
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  Speaker 1: went headlong and rolled sideways, just in time to graze
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  Speaker 1: the feet of his brother and partner following headlong. The
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  Speaker 1: two were then kicked, knelt on, fallen over, and cursed
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  Speaker 1: by quite a number of over hasty people. Now, when
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  Speaker 1: Hall and Henry and the laborers ran out of the house.
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  Speaker 1: Missus Hall, who had been disciplined by years of experience,
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  Speaker 1: remained in the bar next to the till. And suddenly
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  Speaker 1: the parlor door was opened and mister Cuss appeared, and
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  Speaker 1: without glancing at her, rushed at once down the steps
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  Speaker 1: round the corner. Hold him, he cried, don't let him
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  Speaker 1: drop that parcel. He knew nothing of the existence of marvel,
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  Speaker 1: for the invisible man had handed over the books and
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  Speaker 1: bundle in the yard. The face of mister Cuss was
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  Speaker 1: angry and resolute, but his costume was defective, a sort
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  Speaker 1: of limp white kilt that could only have passed muster
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  Speaker 1: in Greece. Hold him, he bawled. He's got my trousers,
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  Speaker 1: and every stitch of the vicar's clothes tend to him.
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  Speaker 1: In a minute, he cried to Henry. As he passed
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  Speaker 1: the prostrate huckster, and coming round the corner to join
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  Speaker 1: the tumult, was promptly knocked off his feet into an
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  Speaker 1: indecorous sprawl. Somebody in full flight trod heavily on his finger.
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  Speaker 1: He yelled, struggled to regain his feet, was knocked against
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  Speaker 1: and thrown on all fours again and became aware that
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  Speaker 1: he was involved not in a capture but a rout.
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  Speaker 1: Everyone was running back to the village. He rose again
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  Speaker 1: and was hit severely behind the ear. He staggered and
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  Speaker 1: set off back to the coach and horses forthwith leaping
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  Speaker 1: over the deserted huck, who was now sitting up on
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  Speaker 1: his way behind him. As he was half way up
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  Speaker 1: the inn steps, he heard a sudden yell of rage,
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  Speaker 1: rising sharply out of the confusion of cries, and a
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  Speaker 1: sounding smack in someone's face. He recognized the voice as
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  Speaker 1: that of the Invisible Man, and the note was that
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  Speaker 1: of a man suddenly infuriated by a painful blow. In
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  Speaker 1: another moment, mister Cuss was back in the parlor. He's
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  Speaker 1: coming back, Bunting, he said, rushing in. Save yourself. Mister
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  Speaker 1: Bunting was standing in the window, engaged in an attempt
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  Speaker 1: to clothe himself in the hearth rug and a West
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  Speaker 1: Surrey gazette who's coming, he said, so startled that his
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  Speaker 1: costume narrowly escaped disintegration. Invisible Man, said Cuss, and rushed
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  Speaker 1: on at to the window. We'd better clear out from here.
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  Speaker 1: He's fighting mad mad. In another moment, he was out
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  Speaker 1: in the yard. Good Heavens, said mister Bunting, hesitating between
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  Speaker 1: two horrible alternatives, he heard a frightful struggle in the
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  Speaker 1: passage of the inn, and his decision was made. He
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  Speaker 1: clambered out of the window, adjusted his costume hastily, and
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  Speaker 1: fled up the village as fast as his fat little
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  Speaker 1: legs would carry him. From the moment when the Invisible
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  Speaker 1: Man screamed with rage and mister Bunting made his memorable
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  Speaker 1: flight up the village, it became impossible to give a
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  Speaker 1: consecutive account of affairs in Iping. Possibly the Invisible Man's
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  Speaker 1: original intention were simply to cover Marvel's retreat with the
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  Speaker 1: clothes and books, but his temper at no time very
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  Speaker 1: good seems to have gone completely. At some chance blow
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  Speaker 1: and forthwith he set to smiting and overthrowing. For the
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  Speaker 1: mere satisfaction of hurting. You must figure the street full
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  Speaker 1: of running, figures of doors slamming, and fights for hiding places.
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  Speaker 1: You must figure the tumult suddenly striking on the unstable
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  Speaker 1: equilibrium of old Fletcher's planks and two chairs with cataclysmic results.
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  Speaker 1: You must figure an appalled couple bought dismally in a swing.
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  Speaker 1: And then the whole tumultuous rush has passed, and the
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  Speaker 1: Iping Street, with its gourds and flags, is deserted, save
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  Speaker 1: for the still raging, unseen and littered with cocoanuts, overthrown canvas, screens,
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  Speaker 1: and the scattered stock in trade of a sweet stuff stall.
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  Speaker 1: Everywhere there is a sound of closing shutters and shoving bolts,
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  Speaker 1: and the only visible humanity is an occasional flitting eye
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  Speaker 1: under a raised eyebrow in the corner of a window pane.
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  Speaker 1: The invisible man amused himself for a little while by
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  Speaker 1: breaking all the windows in the coach and horses, and
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  Speaker 1: then he thrust a street lamp through the parlor window
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  Speaker 1: of Missus Gribble. He it must have been who cut
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  Speaker 1: the telegraph wire to Adeddeon, just beyond Higgins's cottage on
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  Speaker 1: the Aderdean Road. And after that, as his peculiar qualities allowed,
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  Speaker 1: he passed out of human perceptions altogether, and he was
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  Speaker 1: neither heard, seen, nor felt in Iping any more. He
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  Speaker 1: vanished absolutely. But it was the best part of two
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  Speaker 1: hours before any human being ventured out again into the
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  Speaker 1: desolation of an Iping Street. End of Chapter twelve, recorded
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  Speaker 1: in Nottingham, England, on the fifth of April two thousand
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  Speaker 1: and six by Alex Foster w w W dot Alex
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  Speaker 1: Foster dot me dot UK