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The Invisible Man Chapters 1-2 · 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 w w W dot LibriVox dot org. To day's
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  Speaker 1: reading by Alex Foster w w W dot Alex Foster
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  Speaker 1: dot me dot UK. The Invisible Matten by H. G. Wells,
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  Speaker 1: Chapter one, The Strange Man's Arrival. The Stranger came early
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  Speaker 1: in February one wintry day, through a biting wind and
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  Speaker 1: a driving snow, the last snowfall of the year, over
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  Speaker 1: the down, walking from Bramblehurst Railway station and carrying a
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  Speaker 1: little black portmanteau in his thickly gloved hand. He was
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  Speaker 1: wrapped up from head to foot, and the brim of
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  Speaker 1: his soft felt hat hid every inch of his face
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  Speaker 1: but the shiny tip of his nose. The snow had
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  Speaker 1: piled itself against his shoulders and chest, and added a
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  Speaker 1: white crest to the burden he carried. He staggered into
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  Speaker 1: the coach and horses, more dead then alive, and flung
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  Speaker 1: his portmanteau down a fire. He cried in the name
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  Speaker 1: of human charity, a room and a fire. He stamped
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  Speaker 1: and shook the snow from off himself in the bar
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  Speaker 1: and followed missus Hall into her guest parlor to strike
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  Speaker 1: his bargain. And with that much introduction, that and a
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  Speaker 1: couple of sovereigns flung upon the table, he took up
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  Speaker 1: his quarters in the inn. Missus Hall lit the fire
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  Speaker 1: and left him there while she went to prepare him
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  Speaker 1: a meal with her own hands. A guest to stop
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  Speaker 1: at iping in the winter time was an unheard of
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  Speaker 1: piece of luck, let alone a guest who was no haggler,
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  Speaker 1: and she resolved to show herself worthy of her good fortune.
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  Speaker 1: As soon as the bacon was well under way, and
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  Speaker 1: merely her lymphatic aid had been brisked up a bit
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  Speaker 1: by a few deftly chosen expressions of contempt, she carried
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  Speaker 1: the cloth, plates and glasses into the parlor and began
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  Speaker 1: to lay them with the utmost igler. Although the fire
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  Speaker 1: was burning up briskly. She was surprised to see that
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  Speaker 1: her visitor still wore his hat and coat, Standing with
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  Speaker 1: her back to her and staring out of the window
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  Speaker 1: at the falling snow in the yard. His gloved hands
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  Speaker 1: were clasped behind him, and he seemed to be lost
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  Speaker 1: in thought. She noticed that the melting snows still sprinkled.
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  Speaker 1: His shoulders dripped upon her carpet. Can I take your
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  Speaker 1: hat and coat, sir, she said, and give them a
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  Speaker 1: good dry in the kitchen. No, he said, without turning.
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  Speaker 1: She was not sure she had heard him, and was
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  Speaker 1: about to repeat her question. He turned his head and
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  Speaker 1: looked at her over his shoulder. I prefer to keep
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  Speaker 1: them on, he said, with emphasis, and she noticed that
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  Speaker 1: he wore big blue spectacles with side lights, and had
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  Speaker 1: a bush side whisker over his coat collar that completely
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  Speaker 1: hid his cheeks and face. Very well, sir, she said,
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  Speaker 1: as you like. In a bit, the room will be warmer.
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  Speaker 1: He made no answer and had turned his face away
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  Speaker 1: from her again, and missus Hall, feeling that her conversational
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  Speaker 1: advances were ill, laid the rest of the table things
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  Speaker 1: in a quick staccato and whisked out of the room.
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  Speaker 1: When she returned, he was still standing there like a
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  Speaker 1: man of stone, his back hunched, his collar turned up,
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  Speaker 1: his dripping hat brim turned down, hiding his face and
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  Speaker 1: ears completely. She put down the eggs and bacon with
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  Speaker 1: considerable emphasis and called, rather than said, to him, your
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  Speaker 1: lunch is served, sir. Thank you he said at the
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  Speaker 1: same time, and did not stir until she was closing
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  Speaker 1: the door. Then he swung round and approached the table
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  Speaker 1: with a certain eager quickness. As she went behind the
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  Speaker 1: bar to the kitchen, she heard a sound repeated at
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  Speaker 1: regular intervals. Cherk, chok, cherk. It went the sound of
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  Speaker 1: a spoon being rapidly whisked around a basin. That girl,
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  Speaker 1: she said there, I'd clean. Forgot it. It's her being
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  Speaker 1: so long. And while she herself finished mixing the mustard,
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  Speaker 1: she gave merely a few verbal stabs for her excessive slowness.
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  Speaker 1: She had cooked the ham and eggs, laid the table,
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  Speaker 1: and done everything while Milly help indeed, had only succeeded
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  Speaker 1: in delaying the mustard and him a new guest and
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  Speaker 1: wanting to stay. Then she filled the mustard pot and
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  Speaker 1: putting it with a certain stateliness upon a golden black
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  Speaker 1: tea tray, carried it into the parlor. She rapped and
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  Speaker 1: entered promptly. As she did so, her visitor moved quickly,
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  Speaker 1: so that she got but a glimpse of a white
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  Speaker 1: object disappearing behind the table. It would seem he was
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  Speaker 1: picking something from the floor. She wrapped down the mustard
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  Speaker 1: pot on the table. Then she noticed the overcoat and
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  Speaker 1: hat had been taken off and put over a chair
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  Speaker 1: in front of the fire, and a pair of wet
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  Speaker 1: boots threatened rust to her steel fender. She went to
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  Speaker 1: these things resolutely. I suppose I may have them to
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  Speaker 1: dry now, she said, in a voice that brooked no denial.
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  Speaker 1: Leave the hat, said her visitor, in a muffled voice,
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  Speaker 1: And turning she saw he had raised his head and
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  Speaker 1: was sitting and looking at her. For a moment she
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  Speaker 1: stood gaping at him, too surprised to speak. He held
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  Speaker 1: a white cloth. It was a serviette he had brought
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  Speaker 1: with him over the lower part of his face, so
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  Speaker 1: that his mouth and jaws were completely hidden, and that
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  Speaker 1: was the reason of his muffled voice. But it was
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  Speaker 1: not that which startled missus Hall. It was the fact
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  Speaker 1: that all his forehead above his blue glasses was covered
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  Speaker 1: by a white bandage, and that another covered his ears,
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  Speaker 1: leaving not a scrap of his face exposed, excepting only
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  Speaker 1: his pink peaked nose. It was bright, pink and shiny,
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  Speaker 1: just as it had been at first. He wore a
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  Speaker 1: dark brown velvet jacket with a high black linen lined
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  Speaker 1: collar turned up about his neck, the thick black hair
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  Speaker 1: escaping as it could below and between the cross bandages,
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  Speaker 1: projected in curious tails and horns, giving him the strangest
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  Speaker 1: appearance conceivable. This muffled and bandaged head was so unlike
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  Speaker 1: what she had anticipated that for a moment she was rigid.
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  Speaker 1: He did not remove the serviette, but remained holding it
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  Speaker 1: as she saw now with a brown gloved hand and
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  Speaker 1: regarding her with his inscrutable blue glasses. Leave the hat,
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  Speaker 1: he said, speaking very distinctly through the white cloth. Her
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  Speaker 1: nerves began to recover from the shock that they had received.
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  Speaker 1: She placed the hat on the chair again by the fire.
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  Speaker 1: I I didn't know, sir, she began that, and she stopped, embarrassed.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you, he said, dryly, glancing from her to the door,
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  Speaker 1: then at her again. I'll have them nicely dried, so
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  Speaker 1: at once, she said, and carried his clothes out of
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  Speaker 1: the room. She glanced at his white swathed head and
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  Speaker 1: blue goggles again as she was going out of the door,
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  Speaker 1: but his napkin was still in front of his face.
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  Speaker 1: She shivered a little as she closed the door behind her,
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  Speaker 1: and her face was eloquent of her surprising perplexity. I
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  Speaker 1: never she whispered there. She went quite softly to the kitchen,
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  Speaker 1: and was too preoccupied to ask merely what she was
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  Speaker 1: messing about with now. When she got there, the visitor
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  Speaker 1: sat and listened to her retreating feet. He glanced inquiringly
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  Speaker 1: at the window before he removed his serviette and resumed
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  Speaker 1: his meal. He took a mouthful, glanced suspiciously at the window,
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  Speaker 1: took another mouthful, then rose, and, taking the serviette in
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  Speaker 1: his hand, walked across the room and pulled the blind
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  Speaker 1: down to the top of the white muslin that obscured
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  Speaker 1: the lower panes. This left the room in a twilight.
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  Speaker 1: This done, he returned with an easier air to the
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  Speaker 1: table than his meal. The poor soles had an accident,
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  Speaker 1: or an operation or something, said missus Hall, What a turn, then,
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  Speaker 1: bandaites to give me. To be sure, she put on
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  Speaker 1: some more coal, unfolded the clothes horse, and extended the
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  Speaker 1: traveler's coat upon this, and they goggles why he looked
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  Speaker 1: more like a diving hell than a human man. She
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  Speaker 1: hung his muffler on a corner of the horse, and
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  Speaker 1: holding that handkerchief over his mouth all the time talking
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  Speaker 1: through it. Perhaps his mouth was hurt too. Maybe she
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  Speaker 1: turned round as one who suddenly remembers. Bless my soul alive,
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  Speaker 1: she said, going off at a tangent. Ain't you done
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  Speaker 1: them tait as yet, Milly. When missus Hall went to
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  Speaker 1: clear away the stranger's lunch, her idea that his mouth
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  Speaker 1: must also have been cut or disfigured in the accident
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  Speaker 1: she supposed him to have suffered was confirmed, for he
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  Speaker 1: was smoking a pipe, and all the time that she
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  Speaker 1: was in the room, he never loosened the silk muffler
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  Speaker 1: he had wrapped around the lower part of his face
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  Speaker 1: to put the mouthpiece to his lips. Yet it was
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  Speaker 1: not forgetfulness, for she saw he glanced at it as
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  Speaker 1: it smolded out. He sat in the corner with his
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  Speaker 1: back to the window, blind and spoke, now, having eaten
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  Speaker 1: and drunk, and being comfortably warmed through with less aggressive
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  Speaker 1: brevity than before. The reflection of the fire lent a
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  Speaker 1: kind of red animation to his big spectacles that they
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  Speaker 1: had lacked hitherto. I have some luggage, she said at
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  Speaker 1: Bramblehurst's station, and he asked her how he could have
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  Speaker 1: its sent He bowed his bandaged head quite politely in
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  Speaker 1: acknowledgment of her explanation to morrow. He said there is
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  Speaker 1: no speedier delivery, and seemed quite disappointed when she answered no.
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  Speaker 1: Was she quite sure no man with a trap could
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  Speaker 1: go over missus hall? Nothing loath answered his questions and
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  Speaker 1: developed a conversation. It's a steep road by the down, sir,
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  Speaker 1: she said, in answer to the question about a trap,
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  Speaker 1: and then, snatching at an opening, said it was there
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  Speaker 1: where a carriage was up settled a year ago, and
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  Speaker 1: more a gentleman killed besides his coachman. Accidents, sir, happen
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  Speaker 1: in a moment, don't they. But the visitor was not
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  Speaker 1: to be drawn so easily they do, he said, through
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  Speaker 1: his muffler, eyeing her quietly through his impenetrable glasses. But
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  Speaker 1: they take long enough to get well, don't they. There
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  Speaker 1: was my sister's son, Tom Jest cut his arm with
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  Speaker 1: a scythe and tumbled on it in the ayfield, and
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  Speaker 1: blessed me. He was three months tied up. Sir, you
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  Speaker 1: hardly believe it. It's regular given a dread of a
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  Speaker 1: scythe sir, I can quite understand, that, said the visitor.
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  Speaker 1: He was afraid one time that he'd have to have
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  Speaker 1: an operation. He was that bad, sir. The visitor laughed abruptly,
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  Speaker 1: a bark of a laugh that he seemed to bite
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  Speaker 1: and kill in his mouth. Was he, he said, he was, sir,
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  Speaker 1: And no laughing matter to them, as had for doing
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  Speaker 1: for him, as I had my sister being took up
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  Speaker 1: with her little one so much. There was bandages to do, sir,
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  Speaker 1: and bandages to undo. So that if I might be
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  Speaker 1: so bold as to say, sir, will you get me
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  Speaker 1: some matches? Said the visitor, quite abruptly. My pipe is out,
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  Speaker 1: missus Hall was pulled up suddenly. It was certainly rude
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  Speaker 1: of him. After telling him all she had done, she
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  Speaker 1: gasped at him for a moment, and then remembered the
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  Speaker 1: two sovereigns, and she went for the matches. Thanks, he said,
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  Speaker 1: concisely as she put them down, and turned his shoulder
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  Speaker 1: upon her and stared out of the window again. It
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  Speaker 1: was altogether too discouraging. Evidently he was sensitive on the
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  Speaker 1: topic of operations and bandages. She did not make so
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  Speaker 1: bold as to say, however, after all, but his snubbing
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  Speaker 1: way had irritated her, and Milly had a hot time
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  Speaker 1: of it that afternoon. The visitor remained in the parlor
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  Speaker 1: until four o'clock, without giving the ghost of an excuse
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  Speaker 1: for an intrusion. For the most part, he was quite
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  Speaker 1: still during that time, as it would seem he sat
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  Speaker 1: in the growing darkness, smoking in the firelight, perhaps dozing.
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  Speaker 1: Once or twice. A curious listener might have heard him
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  Speaker 1: at the coals, and for the space of five minutes
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  Speaker 1: he was audible pacing the room. He seemed to be
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  Speaker 1: talking to himself. Then the arm chair creaked as he
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  Speaker 1: sat down again. Chapter two, Mister Teddy Henfrey's first impressions.
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  Speaker 1: At four o'clock, when it was fairly dark and Missus
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  Speaker 1: Hall was screwing up her courage to go in and
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  Speaker 1: ask her visitor if he would take some tea, Teddy Henfrey,
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  Speaker 1: the clock dropper, came into the bar. My sakes, Missus
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  Speaker 1: Hall said, he but this is terrible weather for thin boots.
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  Speaker 1: The snow outside was falling faster. Missus Hall agreed, and
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  Speaker 1: then noticed he had his bag with him. Now you're here,
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  Speaker 1: mister Teddy said she. I'd be glad if you'd give
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  Speaker 1: the old clock in the par a bit of a
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  Speaker 1: look tis going, and it strikes well and hearty. But
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  Speaker 1: the hour hand won't do nothing but point at six
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  Speaker 1: and leading the way. She went across to the parlor
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  Speaker 1: door and rapped and entered her visitors. She saw as
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  Speaker 1: she opened the door was seated in the arm chair
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  Speaker 1: before the fire, dozing, it would seem, with his bandaged
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  Speaker 1: head drooping on one side. The only light in the
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  Speaker 1: room was the red glow from the fire, which lit
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  Speaker 1: his eyes like adverse rails signals, but left his downcast
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  Speaker 1: face in darkness, and the scanty vestiges of the day
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  Speaker 1: that came in through the open door. Everything was ruddy,
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  Speaker 1: shadowy and indistinct to her, though more so since she
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  Speaker 1: had just been lighting the bar lamp and her eyes
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  Speaker 1: were dazzled. But for a second it seemed to her
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  Speaker 1: that the man she looked at had an enormous mouth
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  Speaker 1: wide open, a vast and incredible mouth that swallowed the
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  Speaker 1: whole of the lower portion of his face. It was
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  Speaker 1: the sensation of a moment, the white bound head, the
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  Speaker 1: monstrous goggle eyes, and this huge yawn below it. Then
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  Speaker 1: he stirred, started up in his chair, put up his hand.
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  Speaker 1: She opened the door wide so that the room was lighter,
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  Speaker 1: and she saw him more clearly with the muffler held
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  Speaker 1: up to his face, just as she had seen him
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  Speaker 1: hold the serviette before the shadows, she fancied, had tricked her.
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  Speaker 1: Would you mind, sir, this man a coming to look
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  Speaker 1: at the clock, sir, she said, recovering from the momentary shock.
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  Speaker 1: Look at the clock, said, staring round in a drowsing
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  Speaker 1: manner and speaking over his head, and then getting more
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  Speaker 1: fully awake. Certainly, Missus Hall went away to get a lamp,
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  Speaker 1: and he rose and stretched himself. Then came the light,
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  Speaker 1: and mister Teddy Henfrey, entering, was confronted by this bandaged person.
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  Speaker 1: He was, he says, taken aback good afternoon, said the stranger,
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  Speaker 1: regarding him as mister Henry says, with a vivid sense
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  Speaker 1: of the dark spectacles like a lobster. I hope, said
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  Speaker 1: mister Henfrey. That it's no intrusion, er none whatever, said
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  Speaker 1: the stranger, though I understand, he said, turning to missus Hall,
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  Speaker 1: that this room is really to be mine for my
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  Speaker 1: own private use, I thought, sir, said missus Hall, you'd
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  Speaker 1: prefer the clock, certainly, said the stranger. Certainly, but as
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  Speaker 1: a rule. I like to be alone and undisturbed. But
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  Speaker 1: I'm really glad to have the clock seen to, he said,
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  Speaker 1: seeing a certain hesitation in mister Henfrey's manner, very glad.
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  Speaker 1: Mister Henry had intended to apologize and withdraw, but this
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  Speaker 1: anticipation reassured him. The stranger turned round with his back
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  Speaker 1: to the fireplace and put his hands behind his back,
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  Speaker 1: and presently he said, when the clock mending is over,
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  Speaker 1: I think I should like to have some tea, but
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  Speaker 1: not till the clock mending is over. Missus Hall was
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  Speaker 1: about to leave the room. She made no conversational advances
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  Speaker 1: this time, because she did not want to be snubbed
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  Speaker 1: in front of mister Henfrey. When her visitor asked her
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  Speaker 1: if she had made any arrangements about his boxes at Bramblehurst,
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  Speaker 1: she told him she had mentioned the matter to the
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  Speaker 1: postman and that the carrier could bring them over on
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  Speaker 1: the morrow. You are certain that that is the earliest,
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  Speaker 1: he said. She was certain, with a marked coldness. I
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  Speaker 1: should explain, he added, what I was really too cold
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  Speaker 1: and fatigued to do before that. I am an experimental investigator. Indeed,
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  Speaker 1: Sir said Missus Hall much impressed, and my baggage contains
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  Speaker 1: apparatus and appliances, very useful things, indeed they are, sir,
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  Speaker 1: said missus Hall. And I am very naturally anxious to
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  Speaker 1: get on with my inquiries. Of course, sir, my reason
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  Speaker 1: for coming to iping, he proceeded with a certain deliberation
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  Speaker 1: of manner, was a desire for solitude. I do not
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  Speaker 1: wish to be disturbed in my work. In addition to
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  Speaker 1: my work, an accident, I thought as much, said Missus
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  Speaker 1: Hall to herself. An accident necessitates a certain retirement. My
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  Speaker 1: eyes are sometimes so weak and painful that I have
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  Speaker 1: shut myself up in the dark for hours together. Lock
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  Speaker 1: myself up sometimes now and then, not at present, certainly,
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  Speaker 1: but at such times the slightest disturbance, the entry of
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  Speaker 1: a stranger into the room, is a source of excruciating
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  Speaker 1: annoyance to me. It is well these things should be understood, certainly, sir,
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  Speaker 1: said missus Hall. And if I might make so bold
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  Speaker 1: as to ask, that, I think is all, said the stranger,
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  Speaker 1: with that quietly irresistible air of finality he could assume
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  Speaker 1: at will. Missus Hall reserved her question and sympathy for
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  Speaker 1: a better occasion. After Missus Hall had left the room,
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  Speaker 1: he remained standing in front of the fire glaring, so
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  Speaker 1: mister Henry puts it at the clock mending. Mister Henry
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  Speaker 1: not only took off the hands of the clock and
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  Speaker 1: the face, but extracted the works, and he tried to
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  Speaker 1: work in a slow and quiet and unassuming manner as possible.
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  Speaker 1: He worked with the lamp close to him, and the
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  Speaker 1: green shade threw a brilliant light upon his hands and
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  Speaker 1: upon the frame and wheels, and left the rest of
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  Speaker 1: the room shadowy. When he looked up, colored patches swam
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  Speaker 1: in his eyes. Being constitutionally of a curious nature, he
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  Speaker 1: had removed the works, a quite unnecessary proceeding, with the
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  Speaker 1: idea of delaying his departure and perhaps falling into conversation
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  Speaker 1: with the stranger. But the stranger stood there, perfectly, silent
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  Speaker 1: and still, so still it got on Henfrey's nerves. He
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  Speaker 1: felt alone in the room and looked up, and there,
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  Speaker 1: gray and dim was the bandaged head and huge blue lenses,
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  Speaker 1: staring fixedly, with a mist of green spots drifting in
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  Speaker 1: front of them. It was so uncanny to Henry that
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  Speaker 1: for a minute they remained staring blankly at one another.
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  Speaker 1: Then Henry looked down again, very uncomfortable position. One would
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  Speaker 1: like to say something, should he remark that the weather
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: was very cold for the time of the year. He
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: looked up as if to take aim with that introductory
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: shot the weather. He began. Why don't you finish and go,
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: said the rigid figure, evidently in a state of painfully
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: suppressed rage. All you've got to do is fix the
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: hour hand on its axle. You're simply humbugging, certainly, he said.
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: One minute more. I overlooked, and mister Henry finished and went.
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: But he was feeling excessively annoyed. Damn it, said mister
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: Henfrey to himself, trudging down the village through the thawing snow.
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: A man must do o'clock at times, surely, and again,
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: can't a man look at you? Ugly? And yet again,
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: seemingly not if the police was wanting you, you wouldn't
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: be more wrapped and bandaged. At Gleaston's corner he saw Hall,
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: who had recently married the stranger's hostess at the Coach
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: and Horses, and who now drove the iping conveyance when
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: occasional people required it to cid abridge junction coming towards him.
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: On his return from that place, Hall had evidently been
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: a stopping a bit at Ciderbridge, to judge by his driving,
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: How do Teddy, he said, passing You've got a rumman
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: up at home, said Teddy. Hall very socially pulled up.
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: Was that? He said, rum looking customer stopping at the
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: coach nurses said Teddy, my sakes, and he proceeded to
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: give Hall a vivid description of his grotesque guest. Looks
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: a bit like a disguise, don't it. I'd like to
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: see a man's face if I had him stopping in
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: my place, said Henfrey. But women are that trustful when
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: strangers are concerned. He's took your rooms and he ain't
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: even given a name. Hall, You don't say so, said Hall,
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: who was a man of sluggish apprehension. Yes, said Teddy.
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: By the week. Wherever he is, you can't get rid
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: of him under the week. And he's got a lot
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: of luggage coming tomorrow, so he says, let's hope it
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: won't be stones in boxes. Howl. He told Hall how
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: his aunt at Hastings had been swindled by a stranger
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: with empty portmanteau. Altogether, he left Hall vaguely suspicious. Get up,
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: old girl, said Hall. I suppose I must see about this.
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: Teddy trudged on his way with his mind considerably relieved,
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: instead of seeing about it. However, Hall, on his return
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: was soverely rated by his wife on the length of
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: time he had spent in Ciderbridge, and his mild inquiries
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: were answered snappishly and in a manner not to the point.
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: But the seed of suspicion Teddy had sown germinated in
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: the mind of mister Hall. In spite of these discouragements,
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: you wim don't know anything, said mister Hall. Resolved to
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: ascertain more about the personality of his guests at the
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: earliest possible opportunity, and after the stranger had gone to bed,
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: which he did about half past nine, mister Hall went
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: very aggressively into the parlor and looked very hard at
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: his wife's furniture, just to show that the stranger wasn't
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: master there, and scrutinized closely and a little contentiously a
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: sheet of mathematical computations the stranger had left when retiring
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: for the night. He instructed missus Hall to look very
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: closely at the stranger's luggage when it came the next day.
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: You mind your own business, Hall, said missus Hall, and
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: I'll mind mine. She was all the more inclined to
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: snap it Hall, because the stranger was undoubtedly an unusually
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: strange sort of stranger, and she was by no means
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: assured about him in her own mind. In the middle
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: of the night, she woke up dreaming of huge white
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: heads like turnips that came trailing after it at the
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: end of interminable necks, and with vast black eyes. But
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: being a sensible woman, she subdued her terrors and turned
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: over and went to sleep again. End of Chapter two,
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: recorded by Alex Foster w w W dot Alex Foster
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: dot me dot Duque in Nottingham, England, on the thirteenth
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: of March twenty o six.