Latest / The H. G. Wells Library / The Invisible Man Chapters 27-28

Transcript

The Invisible Man Chapters 27-28 · The H. G. Wells Library

0:00
Speaker 1: This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
0:04
Speaker 1: the public domain. For more information not a volunteer, please
0:07
Speaker 1: visit LibriVox dot org. To day's reading by Alex Foster
0:13
Speaker 1: w w W dot Alex Foster dot me dot UK.
0:17
Speaker 1: The Invisible Man by H. G. Wells, Chapter twenty seven,
0:23
Speaker 1: The Siege of Kemp's House. Kemp read a strange missive
0:30
Speaker 1: written in pencil on a greasy sheet of paper. You
0:33
Speaker 1: have been amazingly energetic and clever this letter ran, though
0:37
Speaker 1: what you stand to gain by it, I cannot imagine.
0:40
Speaker 1: You are against me For a whole day. You have
0:43
Speaker 1: chased me. You have tried to rob me of a
0:45
Speaker 1: night's rest. But I have had food in spite of you.
0:48
Speaker 1: I have slept in spite of you. And the game
0:51
Speaker 1: is only beginning. The game is only beginning. There is
0:55
Speaker 1: nothing for it but to start the terror. This announces
0:59
Speaker 1: the first day of the t r Port Burdock is
1:01
Speaker 1: no longer under the Queen. Tell your colonel of police
1:04
Speaker 1: and the rest of them. It is under me the terror.
1:08
Speaker 1: This is day one of year one of the New Epoch,
1:12
Speaker 1: the Epoch of the Invisible Man. I am Invisible Man.
1:15
Speaker 1: The first to begin with. The rule will be easy.
1:20
Speaker 1: The first day there will be one execution. For the
1:22
Speaker 1: sake of example, a man named Kemp. Death starts for
1:27
Speaker 1: him today. He may lock himself away, hide himself away,
1:31
Speaker 1: get guards about him, put on armor. If he likes death.
1:35
Speaker 1: The unseen death is coming, let him take precautions. It
1:39
Speaker 1: will impress my people. Death starts from the pillar box.
1:44
Speaker 1: By midday the letter will fall in as the postman
1:46
Speaker 1: comes along. Then off the game begins. Death starts. Help him,
1:51
Speaker 1: not my people. Let death fall upon you also today
1:55
Speaker 1: Kemp is to die. Kemp read this letter twice. It's
2:02
Speaker 1: no hoax, he said. That's his voice, and he means it.
2:06
Speaker 1: He turned the folded sheet over and saw on the
2:08
Speaker 1: addressed side of it the postmark Hinton Dean and the
2:11
Speaker 1: prosaic detail two pence to pay. He got up slowly,
2:16
Speaker 1: leaving his lunch unfinished. The letter had come by the
2:19
Speaker 1: one o'clock post, and went into his study. He rang
2:23
Speaker 1: for his housekeeper and told her to go round the
2:25
Speaker 1: house at once, examining all the fastenings of the windows
2:28
Speaker 1: and closing all the shutters. He closed the shutters of
2:32
Speaker 1: his study himself from a locked straw in his bedroom.
2:35
Speaker 1: He took a little revolver, examined it carefully, and put
2:38
Speaker 1: it into the pocket of his lounge jacket. He wrote
2:41
Speaker 1: a number of brief notes, one to Colonel Ady, gave
2:45
Speaker 1: them to his servant to take with explicit instructions as
2:47
Speaker 1: to her way of leaving the house. There is no danger,
2:51
Speaker 1: he said, and added a mental reservation to you. He
2:55
Speaker 1: remained meditative for a space after doing this, and then
2:58
Speaker 1: returned to his cooling life. He ate with gaps of thought.
3:04
Speaker 1: Finally he struck the table sharply. We will have him,
3:08
Speaker 1: he said, and I am the bait. He will come
3:11
Speaker 1: too far. He went up to the belvidere, carefully shutting
3:15
Speaker 1: every door after him. It's a game, he said, an
3:18
Speaker 1: odd game, but the chances are all for me, mister Griffin,
3:21
Speaker 1: in spite of your invisibility, Gryffin contremundum with a vengeance.
3:28
Speaker 1: He stood at the window, staring at the hot hillside.
3:31
Speaker 1: He must get food every day, and I don't envy him.
3:35
Speaker 1: Did he really sleep last night out in the open
3:38
Speaker 1: somewhere secure from collisions? I wish we could get some good, cold,
3:43
Speaker 1: wet weather instead of the heat. He may be watching
3:47
Speaker 1: me now. He went to close the window. Something wrapped
3:52
Speaker 1: smartly against the brickwork over the frame and made him
3:54
Speaker 1: start violently back. I'm getting nervous, said Kemp. But it
3:59
Speaker 1: was five minutes before he went to the window again.
4:03
Speaker 1: It must have been a sparrow, he said. Presently, he heard
4:07
Speaker 1: the front door bell ringing, and hurried downstairs. He unbolted
4:10
Speaker 1: and unlocked the door, examined the chain, put it up,
4:13
Speaker 1: and opened cautiously without showing himself. A familiar voice hailed him.
4:19
Speaker 1: It was aide I. Your servant's been assaulted, Kemp, he said,
4:23
Speaker 1: round the door? What exclaimed Kemp? Had that note of
4:28
Speaker 1: yours taken away from her? He's close about here, Let
4:31
Speaker 1: me in. Kemp released the chain and aid I entered
4:35
Speaker 1: through as narrow an opening as possible. He stood in
4:39
Speaker 1: the hall, looking with infinite relief at Kemp refastening the door.
4:43
Speaker 1: Note was snatched out of her hand. Scared her horribly.
4:46
Speaker 1: She's down at the station hysterics. He's close here. What
4:51
Speaker 1: was it about? Kemp swore? What a fool I was?
4:56
Speaker 1: Said Kemp. I might have known. It's not an hour's
4:59
Speaker 1: walk from Hinton. Dean all ready what's up, said ad I.
5:04
Speaker 1: Look here, said Kemp, and led the way into his study.
5:07
Speaker 1: He handed Ady the Invisible Man's letter. Adi read it
5:10
Speaker 1: and whistled softly. And you, said ad I proposed a
5:16
Speaker 1: trap like a fool, said Kemp, and sent my proposal
5:18
Speaker 1: out by a maid servant to him. Ade I followed
5:22
Speaker 1: Kemp's profanity. He'll clear out, said ad I. Not he,
5:27
Speaker 1: said Kemp. A resounding smash of glass came from upstairs.
5:34
Speaker 1: Ad I had a silvery glimpse of a little revolver
5:36
Speaker 1: half out of Kemp's pocket. It's a window up stairs,
5:39
Speaker 1: said Kemp, and led the way up. There came a
5:43
Speaker 1: second smash while they were still on the staircase. When
5:45
Speaker 1: they reached the study, they found two of the three
5:48
Speaker 1: windows smashed, half the room littered with splendid glass, and
5:51
Speaker 1: one big flint lying on the writing table. The two
5:55
Speaker 1: men stopped in the doorway, contemplating the wreckage. Kemp swore again,
5:59
Speaker 1: and as he did so, the third window went with
6:01
Speaker 1: a snap like a pistol, hung starred for a moment
6:04
Speaker 1: and collapsed in jagged, shivering triangles into the room. What's
6:10
Speaker 1: this for, said ad I. It's a beginning said Kemp.
6:15
Speaker 1: There's no way of climbing up here, not for a cat,
6:18
Speaker 1: said Kemp. No shutters, not here all the downstairs room
6:24
Speaker 1: hullo smash, and then whack of boards hit hard came
6:29
Speaker 1: from downstairs. Confound him, said Kemp. That must be yes,
6:34
Speaker 1: it's one of the bedrooms. He's going to do all
6:36
Speaker 1: the house. But he's a fool. The shutters are up
6:40
Speaker 1: and the glass will fall outside. He'll cut his feet.
6:45
Speaker 1: Another window proclaimed its destruction. The two men stood on
6:48
Speaker 1: the landing, perplexed. I have it, said Ady, Let me
6:52
Speaker 1: have a stick or something. I'll go down to the
6:54
Speaker 1: station and get their bloodhounds put on. That ought to
6:56
Speaker 1: settle him. They're hard. By not ten minutes, another window
7:01
Speaker 1: went the way of its fellows. You haven't a revolver,
7:04
Speaker 1: asked ad I. Kemp's hand went to his pocket. Then
7:08
Speaker 1: he hesitated, I haven't one, at least to spare. I'll
7:13
Speaker 1: bring it back, said Ade. You'll be safe here. Kemp,
7:17
Speaker 1: ashamed of his momentary lapse from truthfulness, handed him the weapon.
7:23
Speaker 1: Now for the door, said ad I. As they stood
7:26
Speaker 1: hesitating in the hall, they heard one of the first
7:29
Speaker 1: floor bedroom windows crack and clash Kemp went to the
7:32
Speaker 1: door and began to slip the bolts as silently as possible.
7:36
Speaker 1: His face was a little paler than usual. You must
7:39
Speaker 1: step straight out, said Kemp. In another moment, ad I
7:43
Speaker 1: was on the doorstep and the bolts were dropping back
7:45
Speaker 1: into the stables. He hesitated for a moment, feeling more
7:49
Speaker 1: comfortable with his back against the door. Then he marched
7:53
Speaker 1: upright and square down the steps. He crossed the lawn
7:56
Speaker 1: and approached the gate. A little breeze seemed to ripple
8:00
Speaker 1: over the grass. Something moved near him. Stop a bit,
8:05
Speaker 1: said a voice, and Ada stopped dead, and his hand
8:09
Speaker 1: tightened on the revolver. Well, said ad I, White and
8:13
Speaker 1: grim and every nerve tense, oblige me by going back
8:19
Speaker 1: to the house, said the voice, as tense and grim
8:22
Speaker 1: as Ade's sorry, said Adi a little hoarsely, and moistened
8:27
Speaker 1: his lips with his tongue. The voice was on his
8:30
Speaker 1: left front. He thought, supposed he were to take his
8:33
Speaker 1: luck with a shot? What are you going for? Said
8:35
Speaker 1: the voice, and there was a quick movement of the
8:38
Speaker 1: two and a flash of sunlight from the open lip
8:41
Speaker 1: of Adi's pocket. Ada I desisted and thought, where I
8:46
Speaker 1: go he said, slowly, is my own business. The words
8:51
Speaker 1: were still on his lips when an arm came round
8:53
Speaker 1: his neck. His back fell to knee, and he was
8:55
Speaker 1: sprawling backward. He drew clumsily and fired absurdly, and in
9:00
Speaker 1: another moment he was struck in the mouth, and the
9:02
Speaker 1: revolver rested from his grip. He made a vain clutch
9:06
Speaker 1: at a slippery limb, tried to struggle up and fell back. Damn,
9:10
Speaker 1: said Adi. The voice laughed, I'd kill you now if
9:14
Speaker 1: it wasn't the waste of a bullet, he said. He
9:17
Speaker 1: saw the revolver in mid air six feet off, covering
9:20
Speaker 1: him well, said ad I. Sitting up, Get up, said
9:26
Speaker 1: the voice. Ada stood up. Attention, said the voice, and
9:31
Speaker 1: then fiercely. Don't try any games. Remember I can see
9:34
Speaker 1: your face, if you can't see mine. You've got to
9:38
Speaker 1: go back to the house. He won't let me in,
9:42
Speaker 1: said ad I. That's a pity, said the invisible man.
9:47
Speaker 1: I've got no quarrel with you. Adai moistened his lips again.
9:52
Speaker 1: He glanced away from the barrel of the revolver and
9:55
Speaker 1: saw the sea far off, very blue and dark under
9:57
Speaker 1: the midday sun. The smooth green, down the white cliff
10:01
Speaker 1: of the head, and the multitudinous town, and suddenly he
10:04
Speaker 1: knew that life was very sweet. His eyes came back
10:08
Speaker 1: to this little metal thing hanging between heaven and earth
10:10
Speaker 1: six yards away. What am I to do? He said, sullenly.
10:16
Speaker 1: What am I to do? Asked the invisible man. You
10:18
Speaker 1: will get help. The only thing is for you to
10:21
Speaker 1: go back. I will try if he lets me in.
10:25
Speaker 1: Will you promise not to rush the door. I've got
10:29
Speaker 1: no quarrel with you, said the voice. Kemp had hurried
10:34
Speaker 1: upstairs after letting Adi out, and now crouching among the
10:37
Speaker 1: broken glass and peering cautiously over the edge of the
10:39
Speaker 1: study window sill, he saw Adi stand parleying with the
10:43
Speaker 1: unseen Why doesn't he fire, whispered Kemp to himself. Then
10:48
Speaker 1: the revolver moved a little, and the glint of the
10:50
Speaker 1: sunlight flashed in Kemp's eyes. He shaded his eyes and
10:54
Speaker 1: tried to see the source of the blinding beam. Surely,
10:58
Speaker 1: he said, ADYE has given up the room. Promise not
11:02
Speaker 1: to rush the door. Adi was saying. Don't push a
11:05
Speaker 1: winning game too far. Give a man a chance. You
11:09
Speaker 1: go back to the house. I tell you flatly. I
11:11
Speaker 1: will not promise anything. Ade's decision seemed suddenly made. He
11:17
Speaker 1: turned towards the house, walking slowly with his hands behind him.
11:21
Speaker 1: Kemp watched him, puzzled. The revolver vanished, flashed again into sight,
11:26
Speaker 1: vanished again, and became evident on a closer scrutiny as
11:29
Speaker 1: a little dark object following Adi. Then things happened very quickly.
11:34
Speaker 1: Aid I leapt backwards, swung around, clutched at this little object,
11:37
Speaker 1: missed it, threw up his hands and fell forward on
11:40
Speaker 1: his face, leaving a little puff of blue in the air.
11:43
Speaker 1: Kemp did not hear the sound of the shot. Adi writhed,
11:48
Speaker 1: raised himself on one arm, fell forward, and lay still
11:57
Speaker 1: for a space. Kemp remained staring at the quiet carelessness
12:00
Speaker 1: of Adye's attitude. The afternoon was very hot, and still
12:04
Speaker 1: nothing seemed stirring in all the world, save a couple
12:07
Speaker 1: of yellow butterflies chasing each other through the shrubbery between
12:09
Speaker 1: the house and the road gate. Aidey lay on the
12:12
Speaker 1: lawn near the gate. The blinds of all the villas
12:16
Speaker 1: down the hill road were drawn, but in one little
12:19
Speaker 1: green summer house was a white figure, apparently an old man, asleep.
12:24
Speaker 1: Kemp scrutinized the surroundings of the house for a glimpse
12:26
Speaker 1: of the revolver, but it had vanished. His eyes came
12:30
Speaker 1: back to adi the game was opening well. Then came
12:37
Speaker 1: a ringing and knocking at the front door that grew
12:40
Speaker 1: at last tumultuous, but pursuant to Kemp's instructions, the servant
12:44
Speaker 1: had locked themselves into their rooms. This was followed by
12:48
Speaker 1: a silence. Kemp sat listening, and then began peering cautiously
12:52
Speaker 1: out of the three windows one after another. He went
12:56
Speaker 1: to the staircase head and stood listening uneasily, armed himself
13:00
Speaker 1: with his bedroom poker, and went to examine the interior
13:03
Speaker 1: fastenings of the ground floor windows. Again, everything was safe
13:07
Speaker 1: and quiet. He returned to the belvidere ady lay motionless
13:12
Speaker 1: over the edge of the gravel, just as he had fallen.
13:15
Speaker 1: Coming along the road by the villas with the house
13:17
Speaker 1: maid and two policemen, everything was deadly still. The three
13:23
Speaker 1: people seemed very slow in approaching. He wondered what his
13:26
Speaker 1: antagonist was doing. He started, There was a smash from below.
13:33
Speaker 1: He hesitated and went downstairs again. Suddenly the house resounded
13:36
Speaker 1: with heavy blows and the splintering of wood. He heard
13:39
Speaker 1: a smash and the destructive clang of the iron fastenings
13:42
Speaker 1: of the shutters. He turned the key and opened the
13:45
Speaker 1: kitchen door. As he did so, the shutters split and
13:48
Speaker 1: splintering came flying inward. He stood aghast. The window frame,
13:53
Speaker 1: save for one cross bar, was still intact, but only
13:56
Speaker 1: little teeth of glass remained in the frame. The shutters
13:59
Speaker 1: had been driven in with an axe, and now the
14:02
Speaker 1: axe was descending in sweeping blows upon the window frame
14:05
Speaker 1: and the iron bars defending it. Then suddenly it leapt
14:09
Speaker 1: aside and vanished. He saw the revolver lying on the
14:13
Speaker 1: path outside, and then the little weapon sprang into the air.
14:17
Speaker 1: He dodged back. The revolver cracked just too late, and
14:20
Speaker 1: a splinter from the edge of the closing door flashed
14:23
Speaker 1: over his head. He slammed and locked the door, and
14:26
Speaker 1: as he stood outside he heard Griffin shouting and laughing.
14:29
Speaker 1: Then the blows of the axe, with its splitting and
14:31
Speaker 1: smashing consequences, were resumed. Kemp stood in the passage, trying
14:37
Speaker 1: to think. In a moment, the invisible man would be
14:41
Speaker 1: in the kitchen. This door would not keep him a moment,
14:43
Speaker 1: and then a ringing came at the front door. Again.
14:48
Speaker 1: It would be the policeman. He ran into the hall,
14:51
Speaker 1: put up the chain and drew the bolts. He made
14:53
Speaker 1: the girl speak before he dropped the chain, and the
14:55
Speaker 1: three people blundered into the house in a heap, and
14:57
Speaker 1: Kemp slammed the door again. The invisible man said Kemp,
15:02
Speaker 1: he has a revolver with two shots left. He's killed.
15:05
Speaker 1: Adey shot him anyhow, didn't you see him on the lawn.
15:09
Speaker 1: He's lying there? Who, said one of the policemen. A die,
15:15
Speaker 1: said Kemp. We came in the back way, said the girl.
15:18
Speaker 1: What's that smashing, asked one of the policemen. He's in
15:21
Speaker 1: the kitchen or will be. He's found an axe. Suddenly
15:25
Speaker 1: the house was full of the invisible man's resounding blows
15:28
Speaker 1: on the kitchen door. The girl stared towards the kitchen, shuddered,
15:32
Speaker 1: and retreated into the dining room. Kemp tried to explain
15:35
Speaker 1: in broken sentences. They heard the kitchen door. Give this way,
15:40
Speaker 1: said Kemp, starting into activity, and bundled the policeman into
15:44
Speaker 1: the dining room. Doorway poker, said Kemp, and rushed to
15:47
Speaker 1: the fender. He handed the poker he had carried to
15:49
Speaker 1: the policeman and the dining room one to the other.
15:52
Speaker 1: He suddenly flung himself backward. Whoop, said one policeman ducked
15:57
Speaker 1: and caught the axe on his poker. The pistol snapped
15:59
Speaker 1: his penultimate shot and ripped a valuable Sidney cooper. The
16:03
Speaker 1: second policeman brought his poker down on the little weapon
16:06
Speaker 1: as one might knock down a wasp, and sent it
16:09
Speaker 1: rattling to the floor. At the first clash, the girl screamed,
16:14
Speaker 1: stood screaming for a moment by the fireplace, and then
16:17
Speaker 1: ran to open the shutters, possibly with an idea of
16:19
Speaker 1: escaping by the shattered window. The axe receded into the
16:23
Speaker 1: passage and fell to a position about two feet from
16:26
Speaker 1: the ground. They could hear the invisible man breathing, stand away,
16:32
Speaker 1: you two. I want that man, kemp, we want you,
16:36
Speaker 1: said the first policeman, making a quick step forward and
16:39
Speaker 1: wiping with his poker at the voice. The invisible man
16:43
Speaker 1: must have started back, and he blundered into the umbrella stand. Then,
16:47
Speaker 1: as the policeman staggered with the swing of the blow
16:49
Speaker 1: he had aimed, the invisible man countered with the axe.
16:52
Speaker 1: The helmet crumbled like paper, and the blow sent the
16:54
Speaker 1: man spinning to the floor at the head of the
16:56
Speaker 1: kitchen stairs. But the second policeman, aiming behind the axe
17:01
Speaker 1: with his poker, hid something soft that snapped. There was
17:05
Speaker 1: a sharp exclamation of pain, and then the axe fell
17:08
Speaker 1: to the ground. The policeman wiped again at vacancy and
17:11
Speaker 1: hid nothing. He put his foot on the axe and
17:14
Speaker 1: struck again. Then he stood poker clubbed, listening intent for
17:18
Speaker 1: the slightest movement. He heard the dining room window open
17:24
Speaker 1: and a quick rush of feet within. His companion rolled
17:27
Speaker 1: over and sat up, with blood running down between his
17:29
Speaker 1: eye and ear. Where is he asked the man on
17:32
Speaker 1: the floor. Don't know I hit him. He's standing somewhere
17:37
Speaker 1: in the hall unless he slipped past you. Doctor Kemp,
17:40
Speaker 1: Sir pause, Doctor Kemp, cried the policeman again. The second
17:48
Speaker 1: policeman began struggling to his feet. He stood up. Suddenly,
17:53
Speaker 1: the faint pad of bare feet on the kitchen stairs
17:55
Speaker 1: could be heard. Yap, cried the first policeman, and incontinently
17:59
Speaker 1: flung his ogre. It smashed a little gas bracket. He
18:04
Speaker 1: made as if he would pursue the invisible man downstairs.
18:07
Speaker 1: Then he thought better of it and stepped into the
18:09
Speaker 1: dining room. Doctor Kemp, he began and stopped short. Doctor
18:16
Speaker 1: Kemp's a hero, he said, as his companion looked over
18:18
Speaker 1: his shoulder. The dining room window was wide open, and
18:23
Speaker 1: neither housemaid nor Kemp was to be seen. The second
18:27
Speaker 1: policeman's opinion of Kemp was Terson Vivid, Chapter twenty eight.
18:37
Speaker 1: The Hunter hunted. Mister Helas, mister Kemp's nearest neighbor among
18:45
Speaker 1: the villa holders, was asleep in his summer house when
18:48
Speaker 1: the siege of Kemp's house began. Mister Helas was one
18:51
Speaker 1: of the sturdy minority who refused to believe in all
18:54
Speaker 1: this nonsense about an invisible man. His wife, However, as
18:59
Speaker 1: he was subsequently to be reminded did he insisted on
19:04
Speaker 1: walking about his garden just as if nothing was the matter,
19:07
Speaker 1: and he went asleep in the afternoon in accordance with
19:09
Speaker 1: the custom of years. He slept through the smashing of
19:12
Speaker 1: the windows, and then woke up suddenly, with a curious
19:15
Speaker 1: persuasion of something wrong. He looked across at Kemp's house,
19:19
Speaker 1: rubbed his eyes, and looked again. Then he put his
19:22
Speaker 1: feet to the ground and sat listening. He said he
19:25
Speaker 1: was damned, but still the strange thing was visible. The
19:28
Speaker 1: house looked as though it had been deserted for weeks
19:30
Speaker 1: after a violent riot. Every window was broken, and every
19:34
Speaker 1: window save those of the belvedere study was blinded by
19:37
Speaker 1: the internal shutters. I could have sworn it was all right.
19:42
Speaker 1: He looked at his watch. Twenty minutes ago he became
19:47
Speaker 1: aware of a measured concussion and the clash of glass
19:50
Speaker 1: far away in the distance. And then, as he sat
19:53
Speaker 1: open mouthed, came a still more wonderful thing. The shutters
19:56
Speaker 1: of the drawing room window were flung open violently, and
19:59
Speaker 1: the house ma, in her outdoor hat and garments, appeared,
20:02
Speaker 1: struggling in a frantic manner to throw up the sash.
20:06
Speaker 1: Suddenly a man appeared beside her, helping her, doctor Kemp.
20:09
Speaker 1: In another moment, the window was open and the housemaid
20:12
Speaker 1: was struggling out. She pitched forward and vanished among the shrubs.
20:16
Speaker 1: Mister Helas stood up, exclaiming vaguely and vehemently at all
20:19
Speaker 1: these wonderful things. He saw Kemp stand on the sill
20:23
Speaker 1: spring from the window and reappear almost instantaneously, running along
20:27
Speaker 1: a path in the shrubbery and stooping as he ran,
20:30
Speaker 1: like a man who evades observation. He vanished behind a
20:34
Speaker 1: laburnum and appeared again, clambering over a fence that had
20:37
Speaker 1: butted on the open down. In a second he had
20:40
Speaker 1: tumbled over and was running at a tremendous pace down
20:42
Speaker 1: the slope towards mister Helas. Lord cried. Mister Helas struck
20:48
Speaker 1: with an idea. It's thy invisible man, brute. It's right
20:52
Speaker 1: after all with mister Helas to think things like that
20:58
Speaker 1: was to act. And his cook, watching him from the
21:00
Speaker 1: top window, was amazed to see him come pelting towards
21:03
Speaker 1: the house at a good nine miles an hour. There
21:05
Speaker 1: was a slamming of doors, a ringing of bells, and
21:08
Speaker 1: the voice of mister Helas bellowing like a bull. Shut
21:11
Speaker 1: the doors, shut, the windows, shut everything. The invisible man
21:14
Speaker 1: is coming. Instantly. The house was full of screams and
21:18
Speaker 1: directions and scurrying feet. He ran himself to shut the
21:22
Speaker 1: French windows that opened on the verandah As he did so,
21:25
Speaker 1: Kemp's head and shoulders and knee appeared over the edge
21:27
Speaker 1: of the garden fence. In another moment, Kemp had plowed
21:31
Speaker 1: through the asparagus and was running across the tennis lawn
21:33
Speaker 1: to the house. You can't come in, said mister Helas,
21:37
Speaker 1: shutting the bolts. I am very sorry if he's after you,
21:40
Speaker 1: but you can't come in. Kemp appeared with a face
21:44
Speaker 1: of terror, close to the glass, rapping and then shaking
21:48
Speaker 1: frantically at the French window. Then, seeing his efforts were useless,
21:52
Speaker 1: he ran along the verandah vaulted the end and went
21:54
Speaker 1: to hammer at the side door. Then he ran around
21:57
Speaker 1: by the side gate to the front of the house
21:59
Speaker 1: and so into the hill road. And mister Helas, staring
22:03
Speaker 1: from his window a face of horror, had scarcely witnessed
22:07
Speaker 1: Kemp vanish ere. The asparagus was being trampled this way
22:10
Speaker 1: and that by feet unseen at that mister Helas fled
22:15
Speaker 1: precipitately upstairs, and the rest of the chases beyond his purview.
22:20
Speaker 1: But as he passed the staircase window he heard the
22:22
Speaker 1: side gate slam. Emerging into the hill road, Kemp naturally
22:28
Speaker 1: took the downward direction, and so it was he came
22:31
Speaker 1: to run in his own person, the very race he
22:33
Speaker 1: had washed with such a critical eye from the Belvedere
22:35
Speaker 1: study only four days ago. He ran it well for
22:39
Speaker 1: a man out of training, and though his face was
22:41
Speaker 1: white and wet, his wits were cool to the last.
22:45
Speaker 1: He ran with wide strides, and wherever a patch of
22:48
Speaker 1: rough ground intervened, wherever there came a patch of raw
22:51
Speaker 1: flints or a bit of broken glass shone dazzling, he
22:54
Speaker 1: crossed it and left the bare, invisible feet that followed
22:56
Speaker 1: to take what line they would. For the first time
23:01
Speaker 1: in his life, Kemp discovered that the hill Road was
23:04
Speaker 1: indescribably vast and desolate, and that the beginnings of the
23:08
Speaker 1: town far below at the hill foot were strangely remote.
23:12
Speaker 1: Never had there been a slower or more painful method
23:14
Speaker 1: of progression than running. All the gaunt villas, sleeping in
23:18
Speaker 1: the afternoon sun looked locked and barred. No doubt they
23:22
Speaker 1: were locked and barred by his own orders, but at
23:26
Speaker 1: any rate they might have kept a look out for
23:27
Speaker 1: an eventuality like this. The town was rising up now,
23:32
Speaker 1: the sea had dropped out of sight behind it, and
23:34
Speaker 1: people down below were stirring. A tram was just arriving
23:38
Speaker 1: at the hill foot, Beyond that was the police station.
23:43
Speaker 1: Was that footsteps he heard behind him spurred. The people
23:48
Speaker 1: below were staring at him, One or two were running,
23:51
Speaker 1: and his breath was beginning to soar in his throat.
23:54
Speaker 1: The tram was quite near now, and the Jolly Cricketers
23:57
Speaker 1: was noisily barring its doors. Beyond on the tram were
24:00
Speaker 1: posts and heaps of gravel the drainage works. He had
24:04
Speaker 1: a transitory idea of jumping into the tram and slamming
24:07
Speaker 1: the doors, and then he resolved to go for the
24:09
Speaker 1: police station. In another moment, he had passed the door
24:12
Speaker 1: of the Jolly Cricketers and was in the blistering fag
24:15
Speaker 1: end of the street, with human beings about him. The
24:18
Speaker 1: tram driver and his helper, arrested by the sight of
24:21
Speaker 1: his furious haste, stood staring with the tram horses unhitched.
24:25
Speaker 1: Further on, the astonished features of Navvies appeared above the
24:28
Speaker 1: mounds of gravel. His pace broke a little, and then
24:32
Speaker 1: he heard the swift pad of his pursuer, and leaped
24:35
Speaker 1: forward again. The invisible man. He cried to the Navvies
24:38
Speaker 1: with a vague indicative gesture, and by an inspiration leaped
24:42
Speaker 1: the excavation and placed a burly group between him and
24:45
Speaker 1: the chase. Then, abandoning the idea of the police station,
24:48
Speaker 1: he turned into a little side street, rushed by a
24:51
Speaker 1: green grocer's cart, hesitated for the tenth of a second
24:54
Speaker 1: at the door of a sweet stuff shop, and then
24:56
Speaker 1: made for the mouth of an alley that ran back
24:58
Speaker 1: into the main hill street again. Two or three little
25:01
Speaker 1: children were playing here and shrieked and scattered at his apparition,
25:04
Speaker 1: and forthwith doors and windows opened, and excited mothers revealed
25:08
Speaker 1: their hearts out. He shot into Hill Street again, three
25:12
Speaker 1: hundred yards from the tram line end, and immediately he
25:15
Speaker 1: became aware of a tumultuous vociferation and running people. He
25:21
Speaker 1: glanced up the street towards the hill. Hardly a dozen
25:26
Speaker 1: yards off ran a huge navvy, cursing in fragments and
25:28
Speaker 1: slashing viciously with a spade and hard Behind him came
25:32
Speaker 1: the tram conductor, with his fists clenched up the street.
25:35
Speaker 1: Others followed these two, striking and shouting down towards the town.
25:39
Speaker 1: Men and women were running, and he noticed clearly one
25:42
Speaker 1: man coming out of a shop door with a stick
25:44
Speaker 1: in his hand spread out, spread out, cried some one.
25:48
Speaker 1: Kemp suddenly grasped the altered condition of the chase. He
25:52
Speaker 1: stopped and looked around, panting, He's close here, he cried,
25:56
Speaker 1: form a line across. He was hit hard under the
25:59
Speaker 1: ear and went reeling, trying to face round towards his
26:02
Speaker 1: unseen antagonist. He just managed to keep his feet and
26:06
Speaker 1: he struck a vain counter in the air. Then he
26:09
Speaker 1: was hit again under the jaw and sprawled headlong on
26:11
Speaker 1: the ground. In another moment, a knee compressed his diaphragm,
26:15
Speaker 1: and a couple of eager hands gripped his throat, but
26:18
Speaker 1: the grip of one was weaker than the other. He
26:21
Speaker 1: grasped the wrists, heard a cry of pain from his assailant,
26:24
Speaker 1: and then the spade of the navvy came whirling through
26:27
Speaker 1: the air above him and struck something with a dull thud.
26:31
Speaker 1: He felt a drop of moisture on his face. The
26:34
Speaker 1: grip at his throat suddenly relaxed, and with a convulsive effort,
26:38
Speaker 1: Kemp loosed himself, grasped a limp shoulder and rolled uppermost.
26:43
Speaker 1: He gripped the unseen elbows near the ground. I've got
26:46
Speaker 1: him screamed, Kemp, help help, hold he's down, hold his feet.
26:53
Speaker 1: In another second there was a simultaneous rush upon the struggle,
26:57
Speaker 1: and a stranger coming into the road suddenly might have
26:59
Speaker 1: thought an exceptionally savage game of rugby football was in progress.
27:04
Speaker 1: And there was no shouting after Kemp's cry, only a
27:07
Speaker 1: sound of blows and feet and heavy breathing. Then came
27:11
Speaker 1: a mighty effort, and the invisible man threw off a
27:14
Speaker 1: couple of his antagonists and rose to his knees. Kemp
27:17
Speaker 1: clung to him in front, like a hound to a stag,
27:19
Speaker 1: and a dozen hands gripped, clutched and tore at the unseen.
27:23
Speaker 1: The tram conductor suddenly got the neck and shoulders and
27:26
Speaker 1: lugged him back. Down went the heap of struggling men
27:30
Speaker 1: again and rolled over. There was I am afraid, some
27:34
Speaker 1: savage kicking, and then suddenly a wild scream of mercy,
27:38
Speaker 1: mercy that died down swiftly to a sound like choking.
27:43
Speaker 1: Get back, you fools, cried the muffled voice of Kemp,
27:46
Speaker 1: and there was a vigorous shoving back of stalwart forms
27:50
Speaker 1: he's hurt, I till you stand back. There was a
27:53
Speaker 1: brief struggle to clear a space, and then the circle
27:57
Speaker 1: of eager faces saw the doctor kneeling as it seemed
28:00
Speaker 1: fifteen inches in the air and holding invisible arms to
28:03
Speaker 1: the ground. Behind him, a constable gripped invisible ankles. Don't
28:09
Speaker 1: you leave, Goavien, cried the big navvy, holding a blood
28:12
Speaker 1: stained spade. He's shamming. He's not shamming, said the doctor,
28:17
Speaker 1: cautiously raising his knee, and I'll hold him. His face
28:21
Speaker 1: was bruised and already going red. He spoke thickly because
28:25
Speaker 1: of a bleeding lip. He released one hand and seemed
28:28
Speaker 1: to be feeling at the face. The mouth's all wet,
28:31
Speaker 1: he said, and then, good God. He stood up abruptly
28:38
Speaker 1: and then knelt down on the ground by the side
28:40
Speaker 1: of the thing unseen. There was a pushing and shuffling,
28:44
Speaker 1: a sound of heavy feet as fresh people turned up
28:46
Speaker 1: to increase the pressure of the crowd. People were coming
28:49
Speaker 1: out of the houses. Now the doors of the Jolly
28:52
Speaker 1: Cricketers stood suddenly wide open. Very little was said. Kemp
29:00
Speaker 1: felt about his hand, seeming to pass through empty air.
29:05
Speaker 1: He's not breathing, he said, And then I can't feel
29:09
Speaker 1: his heart. His side uugh. Suddenly, an old woman, peering
29:16
Speaker 1: under the arm of the big navvy, screamed, sharply. Lookye there,
29:20
Speaker 1: she said, and thrust out a wrinkled finger, And looking
29:25
Speaker 1: where she pointed, every one saw faint and transparent, as
29:28
Speaker 1: though it were made of glass, so that veins and arteries,
29:31
Speaker 1: and bones and nerves could be distinguished. The outline of
29:34
Speaker 1: a hand, a hand, limp and prone. It grew clouded
29:40
Speaker 1: and opaque. Even as they stared. Hallo cried the constable,
29:45
Speaker 1: here is his feet a showing, and so slowly, beginning
29:51
Speaker 1: at his hands and feet, and creeping along his limbs
29:54
Speaker 1: to the vital centers of his body, that strange change continued.
29:59
Speaker 1: It was like the slow spreading of a poison. First
30:02
Speaker 1: came the little white nerves, a hazy gray sketch of
30:05
Speaker 1: a limb, Then the glassy bones and intricate arteries, Then
30:09
Speaker 1: the flesh and skin, first a faint fogginess, and then
30:12
Speaker 1: growing rapidly dense and opaque. Presently they could see his
30:17
Speaker 1: crushed chest and his shoulders, and the dim outline of
30:20
Speaker 1: his drawn and battered features. When at last the crowd
30:24
Speaker 1: made way for camp to stand erect. There lay naked
30:28
Speaker 1: and pitiful on the ground the bruised and broken body
30:31
Speaker 1: of a young man about thirty. His hair and brow
30:34
Speaker 1: were white, not gray with age, but white with the
30:38
Speaker 1: whiteness of albinism, and his eyes were like garnets. His
30:43
Speaker 1: hands were clenched, his eyes wide open, and his expression
30:46
Speaker 1: was one of anger and dismay. Cover his face, said
30:51
Speaker 1: a man, for God's sake, cover that face, And three
30:55
Speaker 1: little children, pushing forward through the crowd, were suddenly twisted
30:58
Speaker 1: round and sent packing off again. Someone brought a sheet
31:04
Speaker 1: from the jolly cricketers, and having covered him, they carried
31:07
Speaker 1: him into the house. And there it was, on a
31:11
Speaker 1: shabby bed, in a tawdry, ill lighted bedroom, surrounded by
31:14
Speaker 1: a crowd of ignorant and excited people, broken and wounded,
31:18
Speaker 1: betrayed and unpitied, that Gryffin, the first of all men
31:23
Speaker 1: to make himself invisible. Gryffin, the most gifted physicist the
31:27
Speaker 1: world has ever seen, ended in infinite disaster his strange
31:33
Speaker 1: and terrible career. The epilogue so ends the story of
31:43
Speaker 1: the strange and evil experiments of the Invisible Man. And
31:47
Speaker 1: if you would learn more of him, you must go
31:49
Speaker 1: to a little inn near port stow and talk to
31:51
Speaker 1: the landlord. The sign of the inn is an empty
31:54
Speaker 1: board save for a hat and boots, and the name
31:57
Speaker 1: is the title of this story. Is a short and
32:01
Speaker 1: corpulent little man with a nose of cylindrical proportions, wiry hair,
32:04
Speaker 1: and a sporadic rosiness of visage. Drink generously, and he
32:08
Speaker 1: will tell you generously of all the things that happened
32:11
Speaker 1: to him after that time, and of how the lawyers
32:13
Speaker 1: tried to do him out of the treasure found upon
32:15
Speaker 1: him when they found they couldn't prove whose money was.
32:19
Speaker 1: Which I'm blessed, he says, if they didn't try to
32:22
Speaker 1: make me out a blooming treasure trove, do I look
32:24
Speaker 1: like a treasure trove? And then a gentleman gave me
32:27
Speaker 1: a guinea a night to tell a story at the
32:28
Speaker 1: Empire Music all just to tell him all in my
32:30
Speaker 1: own words, barring one. And if you want to cut
32:34
Speaker 1: off the flow of his reminiscences abruptly, you can always
32:38
Speaker 1: do so by asking if there weren't three manuscript books
32:41
Speaker 1: in the story. Admits there were, and proceeds to explain
32:45
Speaker 1: with asseverations that everybody thinks he hasn't, but bless you.
32:48
Speaker 1: He hasn't the invisible man. It was took him off
32:51
Speaker 1: to idem when I cut and ran for Portstow. Is
32:54
Speaker 1: that mister Kemp put people on with the idea of
32:56
Speaker 1: may avindom, and then he subsided into a pensive state,
33:01
Speaker 1: watches you furtively, bustles nervously with glasses, and presently leaves
33:06
Speaker 1: the bar. He is a bachelor man, his tastes were
33:11
Speaker 1: ever bachelor, and there are no women folk in the house.
33:15
Speaker 1: Outwardly he buttons it is expected of him, But in
33:18
Speaker 1: his more vital privacies, in the manner of braces, for examples,
33:21
Speaker 1: he still turns to string. He conducts his house without enterprise,
33:26
Speaker 1: but with eminent decorum. His movements are slow, and he
33:29
Speaker 1: is a great thinker. But he has a reputation for
33:32
Speaker 1: wisdom and for a respectable parsi money in the village,
33:36
Speaker 1: and his knowledge of the roads of the south of
33:37
Speaker 1: England would beat Cobbet. And on Sunday mornings, every Sunday
33:43
Speaker 1: morning all the year round, while he is close to
33:46
Speaker 1: the outer world, and every night after ten he goes
33:49
Speaker 1: into his bar parlor bearing a glass of gin faintly
33:52
Speaker 1: tinged with water, and having placed this down, He locks
33:56
Speaker 1: the door and examines the blinds, and even looks under
33:59
Speaker 1: the table, and then, being satisfied of his solitude, he
34:03
Speaker 1: unlocks the cupboard, and a box in the cupboard, and
34:05
Speaker 1: a drawer in that box, and produces three volumes bound
34:09
Speaker 1: in brown leather, and places them solemnly in the middle
34:11
Speaker 1: of the table. The covers are weather worn and tinged
34:16
Speaker 1: with an algal green, for once they sojourned in a ditch,
34:19
Speaker 1: and some of the pages have been washed blank by
34:21
Speaker 1: dirty water. The landlord sits down in an arm chair
34:26
Speaker 1: fills a long clay pipe, slowly gloating over the books
34:30
Speaker 1: the while. Then he pulls one towards him and opens
34:34
Speaker 1: him and begins to study it, turning over the leaves
34:38
Speaker 1: backwards and forwards. His browser knit and his lips move painfully.
34:45
Speaker 1: X A little two up in the air, cross and
34:48
Speaker 1: a fiddle dede lord, what a one he was for intellect. Presently,
34:55
Speaker 1: he relaxes and leans back and blinks through his smoke
34:58
Speaker 1: across the room at things invisible to other eyes. Full
35:03
Speaker 1: of secrets, he says, wonderful secrets. Once I get a
35:09
Speaker 1: ore of them. Short, I wouldn't do what he did.
35:14
Speaker 1: I just well. He pulls at his pipe, so he
35:22
Speaker 1: lapses into a dream, the undying, wonderful dream of life.
35:27
Speaker 1: And though Kemp has fished unceasingly, no human being save
35:31
Speaker 1: the Landlord knows those books are there, with the subtle
35:34
Speaker 1: secret of invisibility, and a dozen other strange secrets written therein,
35:39
Speaker 1: and none other will know of them until he dies.
35:45
Speaker 1: End of the Invisible Man by H. G. Wells, read
35:49
Speaker 1: for Librivoux dot Org by Alex Foster www dot Alex
35:54
Speaker 1: Foster dot me dot UK in Nottingham, England, on the
35:58
Speaker 1: thirteenth of June two thousand, non six.