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