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The Invisible Man Chapters 13-14 · 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 yourself,
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  Speaker 1: please visit www dot LibriVox dot org. Today's reading by
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  Speaker 1: Alex Foster www dot Alex Foster dot me dot UK.
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  Speaker 1: The Invisible Man by H. G. Wells, Chapter thirteen, mister
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  Speaker 1: Marvel discusses his resignation. When the dust was gathering, and
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  Speaker 1: iping was just beginning to peep timorously forth again upon
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  Speaker 1: the shattered wreckage of its bank holiday, A short, thick
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  Speaker 1: set man in a shabby silk hat was marching painfully
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  Speaker 1: through the twilight behind the beech woods on the road
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  Speaker 1: to Bramblehurst. He carried three books, bound together by some
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  Speaker 1: sort of ornamental elastic ligature, and a bundle wrapped in
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  Speaker 1: a blue tablecloth. His rubicund face expressed consternation and fatigue.
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  Speaker 1: He appeared to be in some sort of spasmodic hurry.
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  Speaker 1: He was accompanied by a voice other than his own,
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  Speaker 1: and ever and again he winced under the touch of
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  Speaker 1: unseen hands. If you give me the slip again, said
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  Speaker 1: the voice. If you attempt to give me the slip again, Lord,
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  Speaker 1: said mister Marvel, that shoulder's a mass of bruises, as
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  Speaker 1: it is, on my honor, said the voice. I will
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  Speaker 1: kill you. I didn't try to give you the slip,
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  Speaker 1: said Marvel, in a voice that was not far remote
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  Speaker 1: from tears. I swear I didn't. I didn't know the
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  Speaker 1: blessed turning. That was all how the devil was I
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  Speaker 1: to know the blessed turning? As it is, I've been
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  Speaker 1: knocked about. You'll get knocked about a great deal more
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  Speaker 1: if you don't mind, said the voice, and mister Marvell
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  Speaker 1: abruptly became silent. He blew out his cheeks, and his
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  Speaker 1: eyes were eloquent of despair. It's bad enough to let
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  Speaker 1: those floundering yokels explode my little secret without your cutting
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  Speaker 1: off with my books. It's lucky for some of them
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  Speaker 1: they cut and ran when they did. Here am I.
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  Speaker 1: No one knew I was invisible? And now what am
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  Speaker 1: I to do? What am I to do? Asked Marvel,
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  Speaker 1: sotto votch, it's all about. It will be in the papers.
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  Speaker 1: Everybody will be looking for me, every one on their guard.
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  Speaker 1: The voice broke off into vivid curses and ceased the
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  Speaker 1: despair of mister Marvell's face. Deepened and his pace slackened.
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  Speaker 1: Go On, said the voice. Mister Marvell's face assumed a
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  Speaker 1: grayish tint between the ruddier patches. Don't drop those books, stupid,
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  Speaker 1: said the voice, sharply, overtaking him. The fact is, said
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  Speaker 1: the voice. I shall have to make use of you.
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  Speaker 1: You're a poor tool, but I must. I'm a miserable tool,
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  Speaker 1: said Marvel. You are, said the voice. I'm the worst
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  Speaker 1: possible tool you could have, said Marvel. I'm not strong,
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  Speaker 1: he said, after a discouraging silence. I'm not over strong,
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  Speaker 1: he repeated. No, and my heart's weak. That little business
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  Speaker 1: I pulled it through, of course, but bless you, I
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  Speaker 1: could have dropped. Well. I haven't the nerve and strength
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  Speaker 1: for the sort of thing you want. I'll stimulate you.
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  Speaker 1: I wish you wouldn't. I wouldn't like to mess up
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  Speaker 1: your plans, you know, but I might out of sheer
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  Speaker 1: funk and misery. You'd better not, said the voice, with
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  Speaker 1: quiet emphasis. I wish I was dead, said Marvel. He
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  Speaker 1: ain't justice, he said, you must admit it seems to
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  Speaker 1: me I've a perfect right. Get on, said the voice.
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  Speaker 1: Mister Marvell mended his pace and for a time they
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  Speaker 1: went in silence again. It's devilish hard, said mister Marvel.
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  Speaker 1: This was quite ineffectual. He tried another tack. What do
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  Speaker 1: I make by it? He began, and again in a
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  Speaker 1: tone of unendurable wrong. Oh, shut up, said the voice,
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  Speaker 1: with sudden, amazing vigor. I'll see to you, all right.
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  Speaker 1: You do what you're told. You'll do it, all right.
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  Speaker 1: You're a fool and all that, but you'll do I
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  Speaker 1: tell you, sir, I'm not the man for it, respectfully,
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  Speaker 1: but it is so. If you don't shut up, I
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  Speaker 1: shall twist your wrist again, said the invisible man. I
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  Speaker 1: want to think presently. Two oblongs of yellow light appeared
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  Speaker 1: through the trees, and the square tower of a church
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  Speaker 1: loomed through the gloaming. I shall keep my hand on
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  Speaker 1: your shoulder, said the voice, all through the village. Go
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  Speaker 1: straight through and try no foolery. It'll be the worse
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  Speaker 1: for you if you do. I know that, sighed mister Marvell.
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  Speaker 1: I know all that. The un happy looking figure in
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  Speaker 1: the obsolete silk hat passed up the street of the
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  Speaker 1: little village with his burdens and vanished into the gathering
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  Speaker 1: darkness beyond the lights. Of the Windows, Chapter fourteen. At
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  Speaker 1: Port Stowe, ten o'clock the next morning found mister Marvel, unshaven,
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  Speaker 1: dirty and travel stained, sitting with the books beside him,
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  Speaker 1: and his hands deep in his pockets, looking very weary,
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  Speaker 1: nervous and uncomfortable, and inflating his cheeks at infrequent intervals
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  Speaker 1: on the bench outside a little inn on the outskirts
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  Speaker 1: of Port Stowe. Beside him were the books, but now
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  Speaker 1: they were tied with string. The bundle had been abandoned
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  Speaker 1: in the pine woods beyond Bramblehurst in accordance with a
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  Speaker 1: change of plans in the Invisible Man. Mister Marvel sat
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  Speaker 1: on the bench, and although no one took the slightest
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  Speaker 1: notice of him, his agitation remained at fever heat. His
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  Speaker 1: hands would go ever and again to his various pockets
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  Speaker 1: with a curious, nervous fumbling. When he had been sitting
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  Speaker 1: for the best part of an hour, however, an elderly
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  Speaker 1: mariner carrying a newspaper came out of the inn and
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  Speaker 1: sat down beside him. Pleasant day, said the mariner. Mister
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  Speaker 1: Marvell glanced about him with something very like terror. Very,
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  Speaker 1: he said, just seasonable weather for the time of year,
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  Speaker 1: said the mariner, taking no denial, quite, said mister Marvell.
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  Speaker 1: The mariner produced a toothpick, and, saving his regard, was
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  Speaker 1: engrossed thereby for some minutes. His eyes, meanwhile, were at
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  Speaker 1: liberty to examine mister Marvell's dusty figure and the books
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  Speaker 1: beside him. As he had approached mister Marvell, he had
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  Speaker 1: heard a sound like the dropping of coins into a pocket.
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  Speaker 1: He was struck by the contrast of mister Marvell's appearance
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  Speaker 1: with this sudden suggestion of opulence. Thence, his mind wandered
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  Speaker 1: back again to a topic that had taken curiously firm
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  Speaker 1: hold of his imagination. Books, he said suddenly, noisily, finishing
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  Speaker 1: with a tuthpick. Mister Marvell started and looked at them. Oh, yes,
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  Speaker 1: he said, Yes, they're books. There's some extraordinary things in books,
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  Speaker 1: said the mariner. We believe you, said mister Marvell. And
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  Speaker 1: some extraordinary things out of them, said the mariner. True. Likewise,
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  Speaker 1: said mister Marvell. He eyed his interlocutor, and then glanced
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  Speaker 1: about him. There's some extraordinary things in newspapers, for example,
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  Speaker 1: said the mariner. There are in this newspaper, said the mariner. Ah,
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  Speaker 1: said mister Marvell, there's a story, said the mariner, fixing
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  Speaker 1: mister Marvell with an eye that was firm and deliberate.
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  Speaker 1: There is a story about an invisible man. For instance,
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  Speaker 1: mister Marvell pulled his mouth askew and scratched his cheek,
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  Speaker 1: and felt his ears glowing. What will they be writing next,
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  Speaker 1: he asked, faintly. Austria or America. Neither, said the mariner. Here, lord,
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  Speaker 1: said mister Marvel. Starting when I say here, said the mariner,
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  Speaker 1: said mister Marvell's intense relief, I don't, of course mean
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  Speaker 1: here in this place. I mean hereabouts an invisible man,
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  Speaker 1: said mister Marvel. And what's he been up to? Everything,
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  Speaker 1: said the mariner, controlling Marvel with his eye, and then
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  Speaker 1: amplifying every blessed thing. I ain't seen a paper these
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  Speaker 1: four days, said Marvel. Iping's the place he started at,
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  Speaker 1: said the mariner. Indeed, said mister Marvel, he started there,
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  Speaker 1: and where he came from. Nobody don't seem to know here.
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  Speaker 1: It is peculiar story from Iping, And it says in
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  Speaker 1: this paper that the evidence is extraordinary strong, extraordinary, Lord,
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  Speaker 1: said mister Marvel. But then it's an extraordinary story. There
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  Speaker 1: is a clergyman and a medical gent. Witnesses saw him
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  Speaker 1: all right and proper at leastways didn't see him. He
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  Speaker 1: was staying it as at the coach and horses. And
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  Speaker 1: don't no one seem being aware of his misfortune? Aware
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  Speaker 1: of his misfortune, it says, until in an altercation at
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  Speaker 1: the inn. It says, his bandages on his head was
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  Speaker 1: torn off. It was then observed that his head was invisible.
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  Speaker 1: Attempts were at once made to secure him, but casting
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  Speaker 1: off his garments. It says. He succeeded in escaping, but
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  Speaker 1: not until after a desperate struggle in which he had
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  Speaker 1: inflicted serious injuries. It says on her worthy and able
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  Speaker 1: Constable mister J. A. Jaffers, pretty straight story ehe names
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  Speaker 1: and everything, Lord, said mister Marvell, looking nervously about him,
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  Speaker 1: trying to count the money in his pockets, by his
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  Speaker 1: unaided sense of touch, and full of a strange and
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  Speaker 1: novel idea, it sounds most wishing, don't it extraordinary? I
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  Speaker 1: call it? Never a tell of invincible men before I haven't,
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  Speaker 1: But nowadays when he hears such a lot of extraordinary things,
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  Speaker 1: that that all he did, asked Marvel, trying to seem
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  Speaker 1: at his ease. It's enough, ain't it? Said the mariner.
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  Speaker 1: Didn't go back by any chance, asked Marvel. Just escaped
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  Speaker 1: and that's all, eh all, said the mariner. Why ain't
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  Speaker 1: it enough? Quite enough? Said Marvel. I should think it
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  Speaker 1: was enough, said the mariner. I should think it was enough.
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  Speaker 1: You didn't have any pals. It don't say he had
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  Speaker 1: any pals, does it, asked mister Marvel. Anxious? Ain't one
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  Speaker 1: of us saw it enough for you? Asked the mariner. No,
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  Speaker 1: thank heaven, as one say he didn't. He nodded his
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  Speaker 1: head slowly. It makes me regular uncomfortable the bare thought
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  Speaker 1: of that chap running about the country. He is at
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  Speaker 1: present at large, and from certain evidence, it is supposed
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  Speaker 1: that he has taken took I suppose they mean the
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  Speaker 1: road to Port Stow. You see, we're right in it,
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  Speaker 1: none of your American wonderers this time. And just think
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  Speaker 1: of the things he might do. Where'd ye be if
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  Speaker 1: he took a drop over and above and had a
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  Speaker 1: fancy to go for you? Supposing he wants to rob,
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  Speaker 1: who can prevent him? He can trespass, he can burgle,
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  Speaker 1: He could walk through the cordon of a policeman as
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  Speaker 1: easy as me or you could give the slip to
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  Speaker 1: a blind man easier for the easier blind chaps. Here
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  Speaker 1: uncommon sharp, I'm told, and wherever there was liquor, he fancied.
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  Speaker 1: He's got a tremendous advantage, certainly, said mister Marvel. And
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  Speaker 1: well you're right, said the mariner. He has. All of
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  Speaker 1: this time, mister Marvel had been glancing about him intently,
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  Speaker 1: listening for faint footfalls, trying to detect imperceptible movements. He
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  Speaker 1: seemed on the point of some great resolution. He coughed
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  Speaker 1: behind his hand. He looked about him again, listened, bent
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  Speaker 1: towards the Mariner, and lowered his voice. The fact of
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  Speaker 1: it is, I happen to know just a thing or
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  Speaker 1: two about this invisible man from private sources, oh, said
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  Speaker 1: the mariner. Interested you, yes, said mister Marvel. Me indeed,
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  Speaker 1: said the Mariner. And may I ask you will be astonished,
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  Speaker 1: said mister Marvel behind his hand. It's tremendous, indeed, said
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  Speaker 1: the mariner. The fact is, began mister Marvell eagerly, in
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  Speaker 1: a confidential undertone. Suddenly his expression changed marvelously ow, he said.
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  Speaker 1: He rose stiffly in his seat. His face was eloquent
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  Speaker 1: of physical Wow, he said, what's up, said the mariner.
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  Speaker 1: Concerned toothache, said mister Marvell, and put his hand to
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  Speaker 1: his ear. He caught hold of his books. You must
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  Speaker 1: be getting on, I think, he edged in a curious
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  Speaker 1: way along the seat, away from his interlocutor. But you
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  Speaker 1: was just a gonna tell me about this here, invisible man,
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  Speaker 1: protested the mariner. Mister Marvel seemed to consult it himself. Hoax,
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  Speaker 1: said a voice. It's a hoax, said mister Marvel. But
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  Speaker 1: it's in the paper, said the mariner. Hoax all the same,
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  Speaker 1: said Marvel. I know the chap that started the lie.
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  Speaker 1: There ain't no invisible man whatsoever, bloy me. But how
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  Speaker 1: about this paper? Do you mean to say not a
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  Speaker 1: word of it? Said Marvel stoutly. The mariner stared paper
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  Speaker 1: in hand. Mister Marvel jerkily faced about Wait a bit,
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  Speaker 1: said the mariner, rising and speaking slowly. Do you mean
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  Speaker 1: to say I do, said mister Marvell. Then why do
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  Speaker 1: you let me go on and tell you all this
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  Speaker 1: blasted stuff? Then what do ye mean by letting a
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  Speaker 1: man make a fool of himself like that? For eh?
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  Speaker 1: Mister Marvell blew out his cheeks. The mariner was suddenly
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  Speaker 1: very red. Indeed, he clenched his hands. I've been talking here,
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  Speaker 1: there's ten minutes, he said. And you, your little pot bellied,
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  Speaker 1: leathery faced son of an old boot, couldn't have the
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  Speaker 1: elementary manners. Don't you come bandying words with me, said
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  Speaker 1: mister Marvell, bandying words. I've a jolly good mind. Come up,
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  Speaker 1: said a voice, and mister Marvell was suddenly whirled about
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  Speaker 1: and started marching off in a curious, spasmodic manner. You'd
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  Speaker 1: better move on, said the mariner. Who's moving on, said
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  Speaker 1: mister Marvell. He was receding obliquely with a curious, hurrying gait,
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  Speaker 1: with occasional violent jerks forward somewhay along the road. He
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  Speaker 1: began a muttered monologue protests and recriminations. Silly devil, said
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  Speaker 1: the mariner, legs wide part elbows akimbo, watching the receding figure.
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  Speaker 1: I'll show you, you silly ass hoaxing me. It's here
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  Speaker 1: on the paper, mister Marvell retorted incoherently, and receding was
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  Speaker 1: hidden by a bend in the road, but the mariner
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  Speaker 1: still stood magnificent in the midst of the way until
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  Speaker 1: the approach of a butcher's cart dislodged him. Then he
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  Speaker 1: turned himself towards Portstow. Full of extraordinary asses, he said
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  Speaker 1: softly to himself, just take me down a bit. That
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  Speaker 1: was his silly game. That's on the paper. And there
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  Speaker 1: was another extraordinary thing he was presently to hear that
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  Speaker 1: had happened quite close to him, And that was a
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  Speaker 1: vision of a fistful of money, no less, traveling without
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  Speaker 1: visible agency along by the wall at the corner of
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  Speaker 1: Saint Michael's Lane. A brother Mariner had seen this wonderful
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  Speaker 1: sight that very morning. He had snow patched at the
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  Speaker 1: money forthwith and had been knocked headlong, And when he
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  Speaker 1: got to his feet, the butterfly money had vanished. Our
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  Speaker 1: Mariner was in the mood to believe anything, he declared,
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  Speaker 1: but that was a bit too stiff. Afterwards, however, he
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  Speaker 1: began to think things over. The story of the flying
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  Speaker 1: money was true, and all about that neighborhood, even from
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  Speaker 1: the August London and Country Banking Company, from the tills
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  Speaker 1: of shops and inns doors, standing that sunny weather, entirely open,
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  Speaker 1: money had been quietly and dexterously making off that day
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  Speaker 1: in handfuls and ruleo, floating quietly along by walls and
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  Speaker 1: shady places, dodging quickly from the approaching eyes of men.
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  Speaker 1: And it had, though no man had traced it, invariably
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  Speaker 1: ended its mysterious flight in the pocket of that agitated
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  Speaker 1: gentleman in the obsolete silk hat, sitting outside the little
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  Speaker 1: inn on the outskirts of port Stow. It was ten
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  Speaker 1: days after, and indeed only when the Burdock story was
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  Speaker 1: already old, that the mariner collated these facts and began
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  Speaker 1: to understand how near he had been to the wonderful
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  Speaker 1: invisible Man. Recorded in Nottingham, England, on the fifth of
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  Speaker 1: April twenty o six by Alex Foster www dot Alex
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  Speaker 1: Foster dot me dot uk.