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11 - The Invisible Man - H G Wells · Daily Classic Science Fiction Books

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Chapter twenty three in Dreary Lane. But you begin now
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: to realize, said the invisible man, the full disadvantage of
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: my condition. I had no shelter, no covering. To get clothing,
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: was to forego all my advantage to make myself a
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: strange and terrible thing. I was fasting for to eat,
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: to fill myself with unassimilated matter, would be become grotesquely visible. Again.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: I never thought of that, said Kemp, nor had I,
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: and the snow had warned me of other dangers. I
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: could not go abroad in snow. It would settle on
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  Speaker 1: me and expose me. Rain too would make me a
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  Speaker 1: water outline, a glistening surface of a man, a bubble,
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: and fog I should be like a fainter bubble in
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: a fog, a surface, a greasy glimmer of humanity. Moreover,
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: as I went abroad in the London air, I gathered
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: dirt about my ankles, floating smuts and dust upon my skin.
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: I did not know how long it would be before
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  Speaker 1: I should come visible from that cause. Also, but I
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: saw clearly it could not be for long, not in
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: London at any rate. I went into the slums towards
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: Great Portland Street and found myself at the end of
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: the street in which I had lodged. I did not
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: go that way because of the crowd. Halfway down it opposite,
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: still looking at the smoking ruins of the house I
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: had fired, my most immediate problem was to get clothing.
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: What to do with my face puzzled me. Then I
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: saw one of those little miscellaneous shops news, sweets, toys,
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: stationary belated Christmas, Tom furlu and so forth, and a
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: ray of masks and noses. I realized the problem was solved.
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: In a flash. I saw my course. I turned about,
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: no longer aimless, and went secuitously in order to avoid
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: their busy ways towards the back streets north of the strand,
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: for I remembered, though not very distinctly, ware that some
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: theatrical costumiers had shops in that district. The day was cold,
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: with a nipping wind down the northward running streets. I
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: walked fast to avoid being overtaken. Every crossing was a danger,
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: every passenger a thing to wash alertly. One man I
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: was about to pass him at the top of Bedford Street,
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: turned upon me abruptly and came into me, sending me
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: into the road, and almost under the wheel of a
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: passing hansom. The verdict of the cab rank was that
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: he had some sort of stroke. I was so unnerved
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: by this encounter that I went into Covent Garden Market
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: and sat down for some time in a quiet corner
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: by a stall of violets, panting and trembling. I found
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: I had caught a fresh cold and had to turn
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: out after time, lest my sneezes should attract attention. At
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  Speaker 1: last I reached the object of my quest, a dirty,
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: fly blown little shop in a byway near Drury Lane,
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: with a window full of tinsel robes, sham jewels, wigs, slippers, dominoes,
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: and theatrical photographs. The shop was old fashioned and low
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: and dark, and the house rose above it for four stories,
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: dark and dismal. I peered through the window, and, seeing
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: no one within, entered. The opening of the door set
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: a clanking bell ringing. I left it open and walked
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: around a bare costume stand into a corner behind a
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  Speaker 1: cheval glass. For a minute or two, no one came.
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: Then I heard heavy feet striding across a room, and
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: a man appeared down the shop. My plans were now
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: perfectly definite. I proposed to make my way into the house,
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  Speaker 1: secrete myself upstairs, watch my opportunity, and when everything was quiet,
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  Speaker 1: rummage out a wig, masked spectacles and costume, and go
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  Speaker 1: into the world, perhaps a grotesque, but still a credible figure.
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: And incidentally, of course, I could rob the house of
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: any available money. The man who had just entered the
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  Speaker 1: shop was a short, slight hunched, beetle browed man with
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  Speaker 1: long arms and very short bandy legs. Apparently I had
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: interrupted a meal. He stared about the shop with an
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: expression of expectation. This gave way to surprise and then
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  Speaker 1: to anger as he saw the shop empty. Damn the boys,
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: he said. He went a stare up and down the street.
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: He came came in again in a minute, kicked the
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  Speaker 1: door too with his foot spitefully, and went muttering back
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  Speaker 1: to the house door. I came forward to follow him,
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  Speaker 1: and at the noise of my movement, he stopped dead.
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  Speaker 1: I did so, too, Startled by his quickness of ear,
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  Speaker 1: he slammed the house door in my face. I stood hesitating.
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: Suddenly I heard his quick footsteps returning, and the door reopened.
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: He stood looking about the shop like one who was
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: still not satisfied. Then, murmuring to himself, he examined the
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  Speaker 1: back of the counter and peered behind some fixtures. Then
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  Speaker 1: he stood doubtful. He had left the house door open,
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: and I slipped into the inner room. It was a
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  Speaker 1: queer little room, poorly furnished, and with a number of
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  Speaker 1: big masks. In the corner. On the table was his
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: belated breakfast. And it was confoundedly exasperating for me Kemp
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: to have to sniff his coffee and stand watching while
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: he came in and resumed his meal. And his table
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: manners were irritating. Three doors opened into the little room,
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: one going upstairs and one down, but they were all shut.
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: I could not get out of the room while he
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: was there. I could scarcely move because of his alertness,
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: and there was a draft down my back. Twice I
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: strangled a sneeze just in time. The spectacular quality of
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: my sensations was curious and novel. But for all that,
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: I was heartily tired and angry long before he had
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: done his eating. But at last he made an end,
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: and putting his beggarly crockery on the black tin tray
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: upon which he had his teapot, and gathering all the
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: crumbs up on the mustard stained cloth. He took the
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: whole lot of things after him. His burden prevented his
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: shutting the door behind him, as he would have done.
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: I had never seen such a man for shutting doors,
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: and I followed him into a very dirty underground kitchen
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  Speaker 1: and scullery. I had the pleasure of seeing him begin
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: to wash up, and then, finding no good in keeping
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: down there, and the brick floor being cold on my feet,
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: I returned upstairs and sat in his chair by the fire.
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: It was burning low, and scarcely thinking, I put on
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  Speaker 1: a little coal. The noise of this brought him up
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  Speaker 1: at once, and he stood a glare. He peered about
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  Speaker 1: the room and was within an ace of touching me.
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: Even after that examination, he scarcely seemed satisfied. He stopped
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: in the doorway and took a final inspection before he
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: went down. I waited in the little parlor for an age,
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: and at last he came up and opened the upstairs door.
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: I just managed to get by him on the staircase.
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: He stopped suddenly, so that I very nearly blundered into him.
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  Speaker 1: He stood looking right back into my face and listening,
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  Speaker 1: I could have sworn, he said. His long, hairy hand
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: pulled at his lower lip. His eye went up and
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: down the staircase. Then he grunted and went on up again.
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: His hand was on the handle of a door, and
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: then he stopped again, with the same puzzled anger on
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  Speaker 1: his face. He was becoming aware of the faint sounds
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: of my movements about him. The man must have had
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: diabolically acute hearing. He suddenly flashed into rage. If there's
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: any one in this house, he cried with an oath,
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: and left the threat unfinished. He put his hand in
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  Speaker 1: his pocket, failed to find what he wanted, and rushing
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  Speaker 1: past me, went blundering noisily and pugnaciously downstairs. But I
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: did not follow him. I sat on the head of
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  Speaker 1: the staircase until his return. Presently he came up again,
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  Speaker 1: still muttering. He opened the door of the room, and
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: before I could enter, slammed it in my face. I
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: resolved to explore the house, and spent some time in
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  Speaker 1: doing it so as noiselessly as possible. The house was
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  Speaker 1: very old and tumble down damp, so that the paper
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  Speaker 1: in the attics was peeling from the walls and rat infested.
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: Some of the door handles were stiff, and I was
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  Speaker 1: afraid to turn them. Several rooms I did inspect were unfurnished,
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: and others were littered with theatrical lumber brought second hand,
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: I judged from its appearance. In one room next to his,
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  Speaker 1: I found a lot of old clothes. I began rooting
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  Speaker 1: among these, and in my eagerness, forgot again the evident
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: sharpness of his ears. I heard a stealthy footstep, and,
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: looking up just in time, saw him peering in at
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  Speaker 1: the tumbled heap and holding an old fashioned revolver in
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  Speaker 1: his hand. I stood perfectly still while he stared about,
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  Speaker 1: open mouthed and suspicious. It must have been her, he said, slowly,
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  Speaker 1: damn her. He shut the door quietly, and immediately I
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: heard the key turn in the lock. Then his footsteps retreated.
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: I realized abruptly that I was locked in for a moment.
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  Speaker 1: I did not know what to do. I walked from
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: door to window and back and stood perplexed. A gust
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: of anger came upon me, but I decided to inspect
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  Speaker 1: the clothes before I did anything further, and my first
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: attempt brought down a pile from an upper shelf. This
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: brought him back, more sinister than ever. That time he
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  Speaker 1: actually touched me, jumped back with amazement, and stood astonished
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: in the middle of the room. He calmed, A little rats,
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: he said, in an undertone, fingers on lips. He was
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  Speaker 1: evidently a little scared. I edged quietly out of the room,
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  Speaker 1: but a plank creaked. Then the infernal little brute started
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  Speaker 1: going all over the house, revolver in hand, and locking
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  Speaker 1: door after door, and pocketing the keys. When I realized
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  Speaker 1: what he was up to, I had a fit of rage.
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  Speaker 1: I could hardly control myself sufficiently to watch my opportunity.
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  Speaker 1: By this time I knew he was alone in the house,
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  Speaker 1: and so I made no more ado, but knocked him
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  Speaker 1: on the head. Knocked him on the head, exclaimed Kemp. Yes,
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: stunned him as he was going downstairs, hit him from
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: behind with a stool that stood on the landing. He
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: went downstairs like a bag of old boots. But I say,
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: the common conventions of humanity are all very well for
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: common people. But the point was Kemp, that I had
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  Speaker 1: to get out of that house in a disguise without
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  Speaker 1: his seeing me. And I could and think of another
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: way of doing it. And then I gagged him with
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: a Louis Cator's vest and tied him up in a sheet.
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: Tied him up in a sheet. I made a sort
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: of bag of it. It was rather a good idea
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: to keep the idiot scared and quiet, and a devilish
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: hard thing to get out of head away from the string,
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: My dear Kemp, it's no good you sitting glaring at
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  Speaker 1: me as though I was a murderer. It had to
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: be done. He had his revolver if once he saw
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: me he would be able to describe me. But still,
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: said Kemp. In England today, and the man was in
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: his own house and knew were well, robbing, robbing confound it.
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  Speaker 1: You'll call me a thief next. Surely, Kemp, you're not
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: fool enough to dance on the old strings. Can't you
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: see my position? And he's too, said Kemp. The invisible
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: man stood up sharply. What do you mean to say?
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: Kemp's frace grew a trifle hard. He was about to speak,
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: and checked himself. I suppose, after all, he said, with
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: a sudden change of manner, the thing had to be done.
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: You were in a fix. But still, of course, I
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: was in a fix, an infernal fix, and he made
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: me wild too, hunting me about the house, falling about
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: with his revolver, locking and unlocking doors. He was simply exasperating.
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  Speaker 1: You don't blame me, do you? You don't blame me.
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: I never blame anyone, said Kemp. It's quite out of fashion.
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: What did you do next? I was hungry. Downstairs, I
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: found a loaf and some rank cheese, more than sufficient
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: to satisfy my hunger. I took some brandy and water,
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: and then went up past my impromptu bag. He was
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: lying quite still, to the room containing the old clothes.
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: This looked out upon the street. Two lace curtains, brown
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: with dirt, guarding the window. I went and peered out
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: through their interstices. Outside, the day was bright, by contrast
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: with the brown shadows of the dismal house in which
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: I found myself dazzlingly bright. A brisk traffic was going by,
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: fruit carts a hand, a four wheeler with a pile
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: of boxes, a fishmonger's cart. I turned, with spots of
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: color swimming before my eyes, to the shadowy fixtures behind me.
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: My excitement was giving place to a clear apprehension of
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: my position. Again, the room was full of a faint
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: scent of benzoline, used, I supposed in cleaning the garments.
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: I began a systematic search of the place I should judge.
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: The hunchback had been alone in the house for some time.
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: He was a curious person. Everything that could possibly be
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: of service to me I collected in the clothed storeroom.
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: Then I made a deliberate selection. I found a handbag
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: I thought a suitable possession, and some powder rouge and
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: sticking plaster. I had thought of painting and powdering my
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: face and all that there was to show of me
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: in order to render myself visible. But the disadvantage of
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: this lay in the fact that I should require turpentine
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: and other appliances, and a considerable amount of time before
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: I could vanish again. Finally, I chose a mask of
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: the better type, slightly grote, but not more so than
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: many human beings, dark glasses, grayish whiskers, and a wig.
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: I could find no underclothing but that I could buy. Subsequently,
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: and for the time, I swathed myself in calico dominoes
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: and some white cashmere scarves. I could find no socks
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: but the hunchback's boots were rather a loose fit and sufficed.
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: In a desk in the shop were three sovereigns and
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: about thirty shillings worth of silver, And in a locked
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: cupboard I burst in in the inner room were eight
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: pounds in gold. I could go forth into the world
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: again equipped. Then came a curious hesitation, with my appearance
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: really credible. I tried myself with a little bedroom looking glass,
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: inspecting myself from every point of view to discover any
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: forgotten chink. But it all seemed sound. I was grotesque
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: to the theatrical pitch, a stage miser, but I was
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: certainly not a physical impossibility. Gaining confidence, I took my
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: looking glass down into the shop, pulled down on the
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: shop blinds, and surveyed myself from every point of view
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: with the help of the cheval glass in the corner.
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: I spent some moments screwing up my courage, and then
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: unlocked the shop door and marched out into the street,
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: leaving the little man to get out of his sheet
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: again when he liked, And five minutes a dozen turnings
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: intervened between me and the costumious shop. No one appeared
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: to notice me very pointedly. My last difficulty seemed overcome.
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: He stopped again, and you troubled. No more about the hunchback,
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: said Kemp. No said the invisible man. Nor have I
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: heard what became of him. I suppose he untied himself
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: or kicked himself out. The knots were pretty tight. He
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: became silent and went to the window and stared out
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: what happened when he went out into the strand. Oh,
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: disillusionment again. I thought my troubles were over. Practically, I
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: thought I had impunity to do whatever I chose, everything
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: save to give away my secret. So I thought whatever
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: I did, whatever the consequences might be, was nothing to me.
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: I had merely to fling aside my garments and vanish.
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: No person could hold me. I could take my money
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: where I found it. I decided to treat myself to
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: a sumptuous feast and then put up at a good
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: hotel and accumulate a new outfit of property. I felt
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: amazingly confident. It's not particularly pleasant recalling that I was
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: an ass. I went into a place and was already
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: ordering lunch when it occurred to me that I could
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: not eat unless I exposed my invisible face. I finished
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: ordering the lunch, told the man I should be back
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: in ten minutes, and went out, exasperating. I don't know
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: if you've ever been disappointed in your appetite. Not quite so, badly,
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: said Camp, But I can imagine it. I could have
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: smashed the silly devils. At last, Faint with the desire
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: for tasteful food, I went into another place and demanded
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: a private room. I am disfigured, I said badly. They
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: looked at me curiously, but of course it was not
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: their affair, and so at last I got my lunch.
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: Was not particularly well served, but it sufficed. And when
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: I had it, I sat over a cigar, trying to
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: plan my line of action, and outside a snow storm
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: was beginning. The more I thought it over, Kemp, the
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: more I realized what a helpless absurdity an invisible man
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: was in a cold and dirty climate and a crowded
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: civilized city. Before I made this mad experiment, I had
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: dreamt to a thousand advantages. That afternoon, it seemed all disappointment.
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: I went over the heads of the things a man
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: reckons desirable. No doubt invisibility made it possible to get
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: them but it made it impossible to enjoy them when
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: they are got ambition. What is the good of pride
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: of place when you cannot appear there? What is the
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: good of the love of a woman when her name
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: must needs be Delilah? I have no taste for politics,
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: for the blaggardisms of fame, for philanthropy, for sport. What
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: was I to do? And for this I had become
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: a wrapped up mystery, a swathed and bandaged caricature of
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: a man. He paused, and his attitude suggested a roving
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: glance at the window. But how did you get to Iping?
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: Said Kemp, anxious to keep his guest busy talking. I
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: went there to work. I had one hope. It was
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: a half idea. I have it still. It is a
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: full blown idea now, a way of getting back, of
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: restoring what I have done when I choose, when I
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: have done all I mean to do invisibly. And that
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: is what I chiefly want to talk to you about.
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: Now you went straight to Iping? Yes, I had simply
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: to get my three volumes of memoranda, and my check book,
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: my luggage and underclothing order a quantity of chemicals to
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: work out this idea of mine. I will show you
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: the calculations as soon as I get my books. And
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: then I started. Jove, I remember the snow storm now
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: and the accursed bother. It was to keep the snow
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: from damping my pasteboard nose at the end, said Kemp.
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: The day before yesterday, when they found you out, you
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: rather to judge by the papers I did? Rather? Did
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: I kill that fool of a constable? No, said Kemp.
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: He's expected to recover. That's his luck. Then I clean
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: lost my temper the fools. Why couldn't they leave me alone?
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: And that grosser lout There are no deaths expected, said Kemp.
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: I don't know about that tramp of mine, said the
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: invisible man, with an unpleasant laugh. By heaven, Kemp, you
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: don't know what rage is to have worked for years,
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: to have planned and plotted, and then to get some fumbling,
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: purblind idiot messing across your course. Every conceivable sort of
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: silly creature that has ever been created has been sent
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: across me. If I have much more of it, I
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: shall go wild. I shall stop mowing them as it is.
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: They've made things a thousand times more difficult, No doubt,
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: it's exasperating, said Kemp dryly, end of Chapter twenty three,