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The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells · Audiobooks & Scary Stories

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  Speaker 1: I hope you enjoy this reading, which comes from a
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  Speaker 1: work in the public domain, The Invisible Man 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 than 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 haul into her guest parlor to strike
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  Speaker 1: his bargain. And with that much introduction that in 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 haul 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 ipping 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 was resolved to show herself worthy of her
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  Speaker 1: good fortune. As soon as the bacon was well under way,
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  Speaker 1: and Milly, her lymphatic maid, had been brisked up a
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  Speaker 1: bit by a few deftly chosen expressions of contempt, she
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  Speaker 1: carried the cloth, plates and glasses into the parlor and
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  Speaker 1: began to lay them with the utmost to claw. Although
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  Speaker 1: the fire was burning up briskly. She was surprised to
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  Speaker 1: see that her visitor still wore his hat and coat,
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  Speaker 1: standing with his back to her and staring out of
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  Speaker 1: the window at the falling snow in the yard. His
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  Speaker 1: gloved hands were clasped behind him, and he seemed to
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  Speaker 1: be lost in thought. She noticed that the melting snow
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  Speaker 1: that still sprinkled his shoulders dripped upon her carpet. Can
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  Speaker 1: I take your hat and coat, sir, she said, and
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  Speaker 1: give them a good dry in the kitchen. No he said,
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  Speaker 1: without turning. She was not sure she had heard him,
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  Speaker 1: and was about to repeat her question. He turned his
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  Speaker 1: head and looked at her over his shoulder. I preferred
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: to keep them on, he said, with emphasis, and she
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  Speaker 1: noticed that he wore big blue spectacles with side lights,
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  Speaker 1: and had a bush side whisker over his coat collar
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  Speaker 1: that completely hid his cheeks and face. Very well, sir,
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  Speaker 1: she said, as you like. In a bit, the room
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  Speaker 1: will be warmer. He made no answer and had turned
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  Speaker 1: his face away from her again, and missus Hall, feeling
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  Speaker 1: that her conversational advances were ill timed, laid the rest
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  Speaker 1: of the table things in a quick staccato and whisked
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  Speaker 1: out of the room. When she returned, he was still
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  Speaker 1: standing there like a man of stone, his back hunched,
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  Speaker 1: his collar turned up, his dripping hat brim turned down,
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  Speaker 1: hiding his face and ears completely. She put down the
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  Speaker 1: eggs and bacon with considerable emphasis and called, rather than said,
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: to him, your lunch is served, sir. Thank you, he
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: said at the same time, and did not stir until
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  Speaker 1: she was closing the door. Then he swung round and
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  Speaker 1: approached the table with a certain eager quickness. As she
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  Speaker 1: went behind the bar to the kitchen, she heard a
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  Speaker 1: sound repeated at regular intervals. Cherk, chirk, chirk. It went
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  Speaker 1: the sound of a spoon being rapidly whisked round a basin.
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  Speaker 1: That girl, she said, there, I clean forgot it. It's
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  Speaker 1: her being so long. And while she herself finished mixing
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  Speaker 1: the mustard, she gave Milly a few verbal stabs for
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  Speaker 1: her excessive slowness. She had cooked the ham and eggs,
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  Speaker 1: laid the table, and done everything while Milly help indeed,
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  Speaker 1: had only succeeded in delaying the mustard and him a
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  Speaker 1: new guest and wanting to stay. Then she filled the
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  Speaker 1: mustard pot and putting it with a certain stateliness upon
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  Speaker 1: a gold and black tea tray, carried it into the parlor,
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: she rapped and entered promptly. As she did so, her
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  Speaker 1: visitor moved quickly, so that she got but a glimpse
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  Speaker 1: of a white object disappearing behind the table. It would
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  Speaker 1: seem he was picking something from the floor. She wrapped
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  Speaker 1: down the mustard pot on the table, and then she
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  Speaker 1: noticed the overcoat and hat had been taken off and
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  Speaker 1: put over a chair in front of the fire, and
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  Speaker 1: a pair of wet boots threatened rust to her steel fender.
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  Speaker 1: She went to these things resolutely. I suppose I may
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  Speaker 1: have them to dry now, she said, in a voice
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  Speaker 1: that brooked no denial. Leave the hat, said her visitor
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  Speaker 1: in a muffled voice, and turning, she saw he had
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  Speaker 1: raised his head and was sitting and looking at her.
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  Speaker 1: For a moment she stood gaping at him, too surprised
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  Speaker 1: to speak. He held a white cloth. It was a
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  Speaker 1: serviet he had brought with him over the lower part
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  Speaker 1: of his face, so that his mouth and jaws were
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  Speaker 1: completely hidden, and that was the reason of his muffled voice.
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  Speaker 1: But it was not that which startled missus Hall. It
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: as the fact that all his forehead above his blue
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  Speaker 1: glasses was covered by a white bandage, and that another
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  Speaker 1: covered his ears, leaving not a scrap of his face exposed,
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  Speaker 1: excepting only his pink peak nose. It was bright, pink
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  Speaker 1: and shiny, just as it had been at first. He
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  Speaker 1: wore a dark brown velvet jacket with a high black
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  Speaker 1: linen lined collar, turned up about his neck. The thick
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  Speaker 1: black hair escaping as it could below and between the
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  Speaker 1: cross bandages, projected in curious tails and horns, giving him
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  Speaker 1: the strangest appearance conceivable. This muffled and bandaged head was
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  Speaker 1: so unlike what she had anticipated that for a moment
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  Speaker 1: she was rigid. He did not remove the serviette, but
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  Speaker 1: remained holding it as she saw now, with a brown
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  Speaker 1: gloved hand, and regarding her with his inscrutable blue glasses.
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  Speaker 1: Leave the hat, he said, speaking very distinctly through the
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  Speaker 1: white cloth. Her nerves began to recover from the shock
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  Speaker 1: they had received. She placed the hat on the chair
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  Speaker 1: again by the fire. I didn't know, sir, she began that,
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  Speaker 1: and she stopped, embarrassed. Thank you, he said Drilly, glancing
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  Speaker 1: from her to the door and then at her again.
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  Speaker 1: I'll have them nicely dried, sir, at once, she said,
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  Speaker 1: and carried his clothes out of the room. She glanced
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  Speaker 1: at his white swathed head and blue goggles again as
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: she was going out of the door, but his napkin
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: was still in front of his face. She shivered a
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  Speaker 1: little as she closed the door behind her, and her
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  Speaker 1: face was eloquent of her surprise and perplexity. I never
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  Speaker 1: she whispered. There. She went quite softly to the kitchen
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  Speaker 1: and was too preoccupied to ask Milly what she was
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  Speaker 1: messing about with now. When she got there, the visitor
• 6:43
  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 souls had an accident,
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: or an operation or something, said missus Hall. What a
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: turn them bandages did give me. To be sure, she
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: put on some more coal, unfolded the clothes horse, and
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  Speaker 1: extended the traveler's coat upon this, and they goggles. Why
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  Speaker 1: he looked more like a divin helmet than a human man.
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: She hung his muffler on a corner of the horse,
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  Speaker 1: and holding that handkerchief over his mouth all the time
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  Speaker 1: talking through it. Perhaps his mouth was hurt too, Maybe
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  Speaker 1: she turned round as one who suddenly remembers. Bless my
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  Speaker 1: soul alive, she said, going off at a tangent. Ain't
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  Speaker 1: you done them taters yet, Milly? When missus Hall went
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  Speaker 1: to clear away the stranger's lunch, her idea that his
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  Speaker 1: mouth must also have been cut or disfigured in the
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  Speaker 1: accident she supposed him to have suffered was confirmed, for
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  Speaker 1: he was smoking a pipe, and all the time that
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  Speaker 1: she was in the room, he never loosened the silk
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  Speaker 1: muffler he had wrapped round the lower part of his
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  Speaker 1: face to put the mouthpiece to his lips. Yet it
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  Speaker 1: was not forgetfulness, for she saw he glanced at it
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  Speaker 1: as it smoldered out. He sat in the corner with
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  Speaker 1: his back to the window blind and spoke, now, having
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  Speaker 1: eaten and drunk, and being comfortably warmed through with less
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  Speaker 1: aggressive brevity than before. The reflection of the fire lent
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  Speaker 1: a kind of red animation to his big spectacles they
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  Speaker 1: had lacked hitherto. I have some luggage, he said, at
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  Speaker 1: Bramblehurst Station, and he asked her how he could have
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  Speaker 1: it sent. He bowed his bandaged head quite politely in
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  Speaker 1: acknowledgment of her explanation tomorrow, he said, there is no
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  Speaker 1: 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? Who
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  Speaker 1: would go over missus hall nothing loath answered his questions
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  Speaker 1: and 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: A carriage was upsettled a year ago, and more a
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  Speaker 1: gentleman killed besides his coachman. Accidents, sir, happen in a moment,
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  Speaker 1: don't they. But the visitor was not to be drawn
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  Speaker 1: so easily. They do, he said, through his muffler, eyeing
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  Speaker 1: her quietly through his impenetrable glasses. But they'd take long
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  Speaker 1: enough to get well, don't they. There was my sister's son,
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  Speaker 1: Tom just cut his arm with a Scythe tumbled on
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  Speaker 1: it in the day field, and bless me, he was
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  Speaker 1: three months tied up. Sir, you'd hardly believe it. It's
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  Speaker 1: regular given me a dread of a scythe sir, I
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  Speaker 1: can quite understand that, said the visitor. He was afraid
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  Speaker 1: one time that he'd have to have an ey. He
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: was that bad, sir. The visitor laughed abruptly, a bark
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  Speaker 1: of a laugh that he seemed to bite and kill
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  Speaker 1: in his mouth was he? He said, he was, sir,
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  Speaker 1: and no laughing matter to them, as had the 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 may make
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  Speaker 1: so bold as to say it, sir, will you get
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  Speaker 1: me some matches? Said the visitor quite abruptly. My pipe
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  Speaker 1: is out, missus Hall was pulled up suddenly. It was
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  Speaker 1: certainly rude of him. After telling him all she had done,
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  Speaker 1: she gasped at him for a moment and remembered the
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  Speaker 1: two sovereigns. 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
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: was altogether too discouraging. Evidently he was sensitive on the
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: topic of operationations 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 still.
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: During that time. It would seem he sat in the
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: growing darkness, smoking in the firelight, perhaps dozing. Once or twice.
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: A curious listener might have heard him at the coals,
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  Speaker 1: and for the space of five minutes he was audible
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  Speaker 1: pacing the room. He seemed to be talking to himself.
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  Speaker 1: Then the armchair creaked as he sat down again. Chapter two,
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  Speaker 1: Mister Teddy Henfrey's first impressions. At four o'clock, when it
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: was fairly dark and Missus Hall was screwing up her
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  Speaker 1: courage to go in and ask her visitor if he
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  Speaker 1: would take some tea, Teddy Henfry, the clock jobber, came
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  Speaker 1: into the bar. My sakes, Missus Hall said he but
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: this is terrible weather for thin boots. The snow outside
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  Speaker 1: was falling faster. Missus Hall agreed, and then noticed he
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  Speaker 1: had his bag with him. Now you're here, mister Teddy
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: said she. I'd be glad if you'd give t h
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  Speaker 1: old clock in the parlor a bit of a look
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  Speaker 1: tis going, and it strikes well and hearty. But the
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  Speaker 1: hour hand won't do nothing but point at six and
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: leading the way, She went across to the parlor door
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  Speaker 1: and rapped and entered her visitor. She saw as she
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  Speaker 1: opened the door was seated in the arm chair before
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  Speaker 1: the fire, dozing, it would seem, with his bandaged head
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  Speaker 1: drooping on one side. The only light in the room
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: was the red glow from the fire, which lit his
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: eyes like adverse railway signals, but left his downcast face
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: in darkness, and the scanty vestiges of the day that
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: came in through the open door. Everything was ruddy, shadowy
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: and indistinct to her, the more so since she had
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: just been lighting the bar lamp and her eyes were dazzled.
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: But for a second, and it seemed to her that
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: the man she looked at had an enormous mouth wide open,
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: a vast and incredible mouth that swallowed the whole of
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  Speaker 1: the lower portion of his face. It was the sensation
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  Speaker 1: of a moment, the white bound head, the monstrous goggle eyes,
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  Speaker 1: and this huge yawn below it. Then he stirred, started
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  Speaker 1: up in his chair, put up his hand. She opened
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  Speaker 1: the door wide so that the room was lighter, and
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: she saw him more clearly with the muffler held up
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  Speaker 1: to his face, just as she had seen him hold
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  Speaker 1: the serviet 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, he said, staring round in a
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: drowsy manner and speaking over his hand, and then getting
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: more fully awake. Certainly, Missus Hall went away to get
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: a lamp, and he rose and stretched himself. Then came
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: the light, and mister Teddy Henfry was confronted by this
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: bandaged person. He was, he says, taken aback good afternoon,
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: said the stranger, regarding him as mister Henfry says, with
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  Speaker 1: a vivid sense of the dark spectacles like a lobster.
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  Speaker 1: I hope, said mister Henfry. That it's no intrusion, none, whatever,
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: said the stranger. Though I understand, he said, turning to
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  Speaker 1: missus Hall, that this room is really to be mine
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  Speaker 1: for my own private use, I thought, sir, said Missus Hall.
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: You'd prefer the clock, certainly, said the stranger. Certainly, but
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: as a rule I like to be alone and undisturbed.
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: But I'm really glad to have the clock seen to,
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: he said, seeing a certain hesitation in mister Henfrey's manner,
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: very glad. Mister Henfry had intended to apologize and withdraw,
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: but this anticipation reassured him. The stranger turned round with
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: his back to the fireplace and put his hands hind
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: his back, and presently he said, when the clock mending
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  Speaker 1: is over, I think I should like to have some tea,
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: but not till the clock mending is over. Missus Hall
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: was about to leave the room. She made no conversational
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: advances this time, because she did not want to be
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: snubbed in front of mister hen Fry. When her visitor
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: asked her if she had made any arrangements about his
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: boxes at Bramblehurst, she told him she had mentioned the
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: matter to the postman and that the carrier could bring
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: them over on the morrow. You are certain that is
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: the earliest, he said. She was certain, with a marked coldness.
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: I should explain, he added, what I was really too
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: cold and fatigued to do before that. I am an
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: experimental investigator, indeed, sir, said Missus Hall. Much impressed. And
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: my baggage contains apparatus and appliances, very useful things. Indeed
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: they are, sir, said Missus Hall. And I'm very naturally
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: anxious to get on with my inquiries. Of course, sir.
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: My reason for coming to ipping, he proceeded with a
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: certain deliberation of manner, was a desire for solitude. I
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: do not wish to be disturbed in my work. In
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: addition to my work, an accident, I thought as much,
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: said Missus Hall to herself, necessitates a certain retirement. My
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: eyes are sometimes so weak and painful that I have
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: to shut myself up in the dark for hours together.
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: Lock myself up sometimes now and then, not at present. Certainly,
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: at such times the slightest disturbance, the entry of a
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: stranger into the room, is a source of excruciating annoyance
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: to me. It is well these things should be understood, certainly, sir,
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: said Missus Hall. And if I might make so bold
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: as to ask that, I think is all, said the stranger,
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: with that quietly irresistible air of finance he could assume
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: at will. Missus Hall reserved her question and sympathy for
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: a better occasion. After Missus Paul had left the room,
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: he remained standing in front of the fire glaring. So
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: mister Henfry puts it at the clock mending. Mister Henfry
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: not only took off the hands of the clock and
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: the face, but extracted the works, and he tried to
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: work in as slow and quiet and unassuming a manner
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: as possible. He worked with the lamp close to him,
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: and the green shade threw a brilliant light upon his
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: hands and upon the frame and wheels, and left the
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: rest of the room shadowy. When he looked up, colored
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: patches swam in his eyes. Being constitutionally of a curious nature,
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: he had removed the works, a quite unnecessary proceeding, with
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: the idea of delaying his departure and perhaps falling into
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: conversation with the stranger. But the stranger stood there, perfectly,
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: silent and still, so still it got on Henfrey's nerves.
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: He felt alone in the room, and looked up, and there,
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: gray and dim was the bandaged head and huge blue lenses,
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: staring fixedly, with a mist of green spots drifting in
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: front of them. It was so uncanny to Henfry that
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: for a minute they remained staring blankly at one another.
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: Then Henfry looked down again, very uncomfortable position. One would
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: like to say something. Should he remark that the weather
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: was very cold for the time of year. He looked
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: up as if to take aim with that introductory shot
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: the weather he began. Why don't you finish and go,
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: said the rigid figure, evidently in a state of painfully
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: suppressed rage. All you've got to do is to fix
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: the hour hand on its axle. You're simply humbugging, certainly, sir.
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: One minute more I overlooked, and mister Henfry finished and went.
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: But he went feeling excessively annoyed. Damn it, said mister
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: Henfry to himself, trudging down the village through the thawing snow.
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: A man must do a clock at times, surely, and again,
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: can't a man look at you? Ugly? And yet again,
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: seemingly not if the police was wanting you, you couldn't
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: be more robbed and bandaged. At Gleeson's corner he saw Hall,
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: who had recently married the stranger's hostess at the Coach
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: and Horses, and who now drove the iping conveyance when
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: occasional people required it to Citterbridge Junction, coming towards him
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: on his return from that place, Hall had evidently been
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: stopping a bit at Citterbridge, to judge by his driving,
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: How do Teddy? He said passing. You got a rum
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: on up home, said Teddy. Hall very sociably pulled up.
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: What's that? He asked? Rum looking customers stopping at the
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: coach and horses, said Teddy, my sakes, and he proceeded
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: to give Hall a vivid description of his grotesque guest.
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: Looks a bit like a disguise. I'd like to see
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: a man's face if I had him stopping in my place,
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: said Henfry. But women are that trustful where strangers are concerned.
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: He's took your rooms and he ain't even given a name. Hall.
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: You don't say so, said Hall, who was a man
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: of sluggish apprehension. Yes, said Teddy. By the week. Whatever
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: he is, you can't get rid of him under the weak.
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: And he's got a lot of luggage coming tomorrow, so
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: he says, let's hope it won't be stones in boxes Hall.
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: He told Hall how his aunted hastings had been swindled
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: by a stranger with empty portmanteaus. Altogether, he left Hall
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: vaguely suspicious. Get up, old girl, said Hall, I suppose
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: I must see about this. Teddy trudged on his way,
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: with his mind considerably relieved. Instead of seeing bout it. However, Hall,
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: on his return was severely raided by his wife on
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: the length of time he had spent in Citterbridge, and
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: his mild inquiries were answered snappishly and in a manner
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: not to the point, but the seed of suspicion Teddy
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: had sown germinated in the mind of mister Hall. In
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: spite of these discouragements, you vim don't know everything, said
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: mister Hall. Resolved to ascertain more about the personality of
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: his guest at the earliest possible opportunity, and after the
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: stranger had gone to bed, which he did about half
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: past nine, mister Hall went very aggressively into the parlor
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: and looked very hard at his wife's furniture, just to
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: show that the stranger wasn't master there, and scrutinized closely
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: and a little contemptuously a sheet of mathematical computations the
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: stranger had left. When retiring for the night. He instructed
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: missus Hall to look very closely at the stranger's luggage
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: when it came next day. You mind your own business, Hall,
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: said Missus Hall, and I'll mind mine. She was all
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: the more inclined to snap at Hall because the stranger
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: was undoubtedly an unusually strange sort of stranger, and she
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: was by no means assured of about him in her
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: own mind. In the middle of the night, she woke
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: up dreaming of huge white heads like turnips that came
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: trailing after her at the end of interminable necks, and
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: with vast black eyes. But being a sensible woman, she
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: subdued her terrors and turned over and went to sleep again.
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: Chapter three, The thousand and one Bottle. So it was
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: that on the twenty ninth day of February, at the
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: beginning of the thaw, this singular person fell out of
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: infinity into ipping village. Next day his luggage arrived through
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: the slush, and very remarkable luggage it was. There were
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: a couple of trunks, indeed such as a rational man
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: might need. But in addition there were a box of books,
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: big fat books, of which some were just in an
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: incomprehensible handwriting, and a dozen or more crates, boxes and
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: cases containing objects packed in straw. As it seemed to
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: hull tugging with a casual curiosity at the straw glass bottles,
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: the stranger, muffled in hat, coat, gloves and wrapper, came
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: out impatiently to meet fier Inside's cart. While Hall was
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: having a word or so of gossip preparatory to helping
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: bring them in out he came, not noticing Fearenside's dog,
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: who was sniffing in a dilatanty spirit at Hall's legs.
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: Come along with those boxes, he said, I've been waiting
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: long enough, and he came down the steps towards the
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: tail of the cart, as if to lay hands on
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: the smaller crate. No sooner had fear Inside's dog caught
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: sight of him, however, than it began to bristle and
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: growl savagely, and when he rushed down the steps, it
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: gave an undecided hop and then sprang straight at his hand. Whoop,
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: cried Hall, jumping back, for he was no hero with dogs,
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: and fear Inside howled lie down and snatched his whip.
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: They saw the dog's teeth had slipped the hand, heard
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: a kick, saw the dog execute a flanking jump and
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: get home on the stranger's leg, and heard the rip
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: of his trousering. Then the finer end of fur Inside's
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: whip reached his property, and the dog, yelping with dismay,
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: retreated under the wheels of the wagon. It was all
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: the business of a swift half minute. No one spoke,
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: every one shouted. The stranger glanced swiftly at his torn
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: glove and at his leg, made as if he would
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: stoop to the ladder, then turn, and rushed swiftly up
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: the steps into the inn. They heard him go headlong
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: across the passage and up the uncarpeted stairs to his bedroom.
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: You brute, you said fear Inside, climbing off the wagon
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: with his whip in his hand, while the dog watched
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: him through the wheel. Come here, said fear Inside. You
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: better hull had stood gaping. He was bit, said Hall,
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: I'd better go and see to end, and he trotted
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: after the stranger. He met missus Hall in the passage.
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: Carrier's dark, he said, bid end. He went straight upstairs,
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: and the stranger's door, being ajar, he pushed it open
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: and was entering without any ceremony, Being of a naturally
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: sympathetic turn of mind. The blind was down and the
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: room dim. He caught a glimpse of a most singular thing,
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: what seemed a handless arm waving towards him, and a
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: face of three huge indeterminate spots on white very like
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: the face of a pale pansy. Then he was struck
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: violently in the chest, hurled back, and the door slammed
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: in his face and locked. It was so rapid that
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: it gave him no time to observe a waving of
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: indecipherable shapes, a blow, and a concussion. There he stood
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: on the dark little landing, wondering what it might be
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: that he had seen. A Couple of minutes after he
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: rejoined the little group that had formed outside the coach
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: and horses, there was fear inside telling about it all
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: over again for the second time. There was Missus Hall
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: saying his dog didn't have no business to bite her guests.
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: There was Huckster, the general dealer from over the road,
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: interrogative and Sandy Wadgers from the forge judicial, besides women
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: and children, all of them saying, for tis uities, wouldn't
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: let ann bite me? I knows tasn't right have such
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: dogs wad e bite and four then and so forth.
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: Mister Hall, staring at them from the steps and listening,
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: found it incredible that he had seen anything so very
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: remarkable happen upstairs. Besides, his vocabulary was altogether too limited
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: to express his impressions. He don't want no help, he says,
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: He said an answer to his wife's enquiry, we'd better
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: be a takeen of his luggage in He ought to
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: have it cauterized at once, said mister huckster, especially if
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: it's at all inflamed. I'd shoot ann, That's what I'd do,
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: said a lady in the group. Suddenly the dog began
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: growling again. Come along, cried an angry voice in the doorway,
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: And there stood the muffled stranger, with his collar turned
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: up and his hat brim bent down. The sooner you
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: get those things, and the better I'll be pleased. It
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: is stated by an anonymous bystander that his trousers and
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: gloves had been changed. Was you hurt, sir, said fear inside.
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: I'm rare sorry the dark not a bit, said the stranger.
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: Never broke the skin. Hurry up with those things, he
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: then swore to himself. So mister Hall asserts directly. The
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: first crate was, in accordance with his directions. Carried into
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: the parlor, the stranger flung himself upon it with extraordinary
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: eagerness and began to unpack it, scattering the straw with
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: an utter disregard of missus Hall's carpet, and from it
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: he began to produce bottles. Little fat bottles containing powders,
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: small and slender bottles containing colored and white fluids, fluted
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: blue bottles, labeled poison, bottles with round bodies and slender necks,
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: large green glass bottles, large white glass bottles, bottles with
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: glass stoppers and frosted labels, bottles with fine corks, bottles
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: with bungs, bottles with wooden caps, wine bottles, salad oil bottles,
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: putting them in rows on the chiffonier, on the mantel,
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: on the table under the window, round the floor, on
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: the bookshelf, everywhere. The chemist's shop in Bramblehurst could not
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: boast half so many. Quite a sight. It was crate
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: after crate yielded bottles, until all six were empty and
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: the table high with straw. The only things that came
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: out of these crates besides the bottles were a number
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: of test tubes and a carefully packed balance. And directly
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: the crates were unpacked, the stranger went to the window
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: and set to work, not troubling in the least about
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: the litter of straw. The fire, which had gone out
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: the box of books outside, nor for the trunks and
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: other luggage that had gone upstairs. When missus Hall took
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: his dinner into him, he was already so absorbed in
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: his work pouring little drops out of the bottles into
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: test tubes that he did not hear her until she
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: had swept away the bulk of the straw and put
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: the tray on the table with some little emphasis, perhaps
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: seeing the state that the floor was in. Then he
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: half turned his head and immediately turned it away again.
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: But she saw he had removed his glasses. They were
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: beside him on the table, and it seemed to her
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: that his eye sockets were extraordinarily hollow. He put on
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: his spectacles again, and then turned and faced her. She
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: was about to complain of the straw on the floor
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: when he anticipated her. I wish you wouldn't come in
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: without knocking, he said, in the tone of abnormal exasperation
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: that seemed so characteristic of him. I knocked, but seemingly
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: perhaps you did. But in my investigations, my really very
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: urgent and necessary investigations, the slightest disturbance the jar of
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: a door, I must ask you, certainly, sir, you can
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: turn the lock if you're like that, you know, any
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: time a very good idea, said the stranger. This strare, sir,
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: If I might make so bold as to remark, don't
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: if the straw makes trouble, put it down in the bill.
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: And he mumbled at her words suspiciously like curses. He
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: was so odd standing there, so aggressive and explosive, bottle
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: in one hand and test tube in the other, that
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: Missus Hall was quite alarmed. But she was a resolute woman,
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: in which case I should like to know, sir, what
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: you consider a shilling. Put down a shilling. Surely a
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: shilling's enough, So be it, said Missus Hall, taking up
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: the tablecloth and beginning to spread it over the table.
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: If you're satisfied, of course, he turned and sat down,
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: with his coat collar toward her. All the afternoon he
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: worked with the door locked, and as Missus Hall testif's,
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: for the most part in silence. But once there was
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: a concussion and a sound of bottles ringing together as
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: though the table had been hit, and the smash of
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: a bottle flung violently down, and then a rapid pacing
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: athwart the room. Fearing something was the matter, she went
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: to the door and listened, not caring to knock. I
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: can't go on, he was raised. I can't go on.
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: Three hundred thousand, four hundred thousand. The huge multitude cheated
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: all my life. It may take me patience, patience, indeed, fool, fool.
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: There was a noise of hobnails on the bricks in
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: the bar, and missus Hall had very reluctantly to leave
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: the rest of his soliloquy. When she returned, the room
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: was silent again, save for the faint crepitation of his
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: chair and the occasional clink of a bottle. It was
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: all over. The stranger had resumed work. When she took
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: in his tea, she saw broken glass in the corner
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: of the room, under the concave mirror, and a golden
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: stain that had been carelessly wiped. She called attention to it.
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: Put it down in the bill, snapped her visitor. For
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: God's sake, don't worry me if there's damage done. Put
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: it down in the bill, and he went on ticking
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: a list in the exercise book before him. I'll tell
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: you something, said fear inside, mysteriously. It was late in
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: the afternoon and they were in the little beer shop
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: of Ipping hangar, well, said Teddy Henfry, this chap you're
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: speaking of what my dog bit. Well, he's black leastways
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: his legs are, I seed through the tear of his
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: trousers and the tear of his glove. You'd have expected
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: a sort of pinky to show, wouldn't you. Well, there
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: wasn't none, just blackness. I tell you he's as black
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: as my hat, my sakes, said Henfry. It's a rummy
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: case altogether. Why his nose is as pink as paint.
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: That's true, said Fear inside. I knows that, And I
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: tell ee what I'm thinking that Marm's a piebald teddy
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: black here and white there in patches, and he's ashamed
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: of it. He's a kind of breed and the colors
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: come off patchy instead of mixing. I've heard of such
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: things before, and it's the common way with horses, as
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: any one can see. Chapter four, mister Cuss interviews the Stranger.
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: I have told the circumstances of the stranger's arrival in
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: Ipping with a certain fullness of detail, in order that
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: the curious impression he created may be understood by the reader.
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: But accepting two odd incidents. The circumstances of his stay
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: until the extraordinary day of the club festival may be
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: passed over very cursorily. There were a number of skirmishes
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: with Misses Hall on matters of domestic discipline, but in
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: every case until late April, when the first signs of
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: penury began, he overrode her by the easy expedient of
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: an extra payment. Hall did not like him, and whenever
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: he dared he talked of the advisability of getting rid
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: of him. But he showed his dislike chiefly by concealing
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: it ostentatiously and avoiding his visitor as much as possible.
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: Wait till the summer, said Missus Hall sagely, when the
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: artists are beginning to come. Then we'll see. He may
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: be a bit overbearing, but Bill settled punctual as Bill's
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: settled punctual. Whatever you'd like to say. The stranger did
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: not go to church, and indeed made no difference between
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: Sunday and the irreligious days. Even in costume. He worked,
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: as Missus Hall thought, very fitfully. Some days he would
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: come down early and be continuously busy. On others he
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: would rise late, pace his room fretting audibly for hours together, smoke,
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: sleep in the arm chair by the fire. Communication with
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: the world beyond the village he had none. His temper
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: continued very uncertain. For the most part. His manner was
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: that of a man suffering under almost unendurable provocation, and
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: once or twice things were snapped, torn, crushed, or broken
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: in spasmodic gusts of violence. He seemed under a chronic
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: irritation of the greatest intensity. His habit of talking to
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: herm himself in a low voice grew steadily upon him.
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: But though missus Hall listened conscientiously, she could make neither
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: head nor tail of what she heard. He rarely went
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: abroad by daylight, but at twilight he would go out,
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: muffled up invisibly, whether the weather were cold or not,
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: and he chose the loneliest paths and those most overshadowed
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: by trees and banks. His goggling spectacles and ghastly bandaged
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: face under the penthouse of his hat came with a
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: disagreeable suddenness out of the darkness upon one or two
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: homegoing laborers, and Teddy Henfry tumbling out of the scarlet coat.
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: One night at half past nine was scared shamefully by
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: the stranger's skull like head. He was walking, hat in hand,
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: lit by the sudden light of the opened indoor. Such
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: children as saw him at nightfall dreamt of bogies, And
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: it seemed doubtful whether he disliked boys more than they
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: disliked him, or the reverse, But there was certainly a
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: vivid enough dislike on either side. It was inevitable that
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: a person of so remarkable an appearance and bearing should
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: form a frequent type in such a village as ipping.
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: Opinion was greatly divided about his occupation. Missus Hall was
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: sensitive on the point. When questioned, she explained very carefully
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: that he was an experimental investigator, going gingerly over the
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: syllables as one who dreads pitfalls. When asked what an
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: experimental investigator was, she would say, with a touch of superiority,
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: that most educated people knew such things as that, and
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: would thus explain that he discovered things. Her visitor had
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: had an accident, she said, which temporarily discolored his face
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: and hands, and being of a sensitive disposition, he was
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: averse to any public notice of the fact. Out of
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: her hearing, there was a view largely entertained that he
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: was a criminal trying to escape from justice by wrapping
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: himself up so as to conceal himself altogether from the
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: eye of the police. This idea sprang from the brain
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: of mister Teddy Henfry. No crime of any magnitude dating
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: from the middle or end of February was known to
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: have occurred. Elaborated in the imagination of mister Gould, the
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: probationary assistant in the National School. This theory took the
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: form that the stranger was an anarchist in disguise preparing explosives,
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: and he resolved to undertake such detective operations as his
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: time permitted. These consisted, for the most part, in looking
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: very hard at the stranger whenever they met, or in
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: asking people who had never seen the stranger leading questions
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: about him, but he detected nothing. Another school of opinion
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: followed mister fear inside and either accepted the Piebald view
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: or some modification of it, as for instance Silas Durgan,
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: who was heard to assert that if he chooses to
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: show him self affairs, he'd make his fortune in no time,
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: and being a bit of a theologian, compared the stranger
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: to the man with the one talent. Yet another view
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: explained the entire matter by regarding the stranger as a
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: harmless lunatic that had the advantage of accounting for everything straightway.
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: Between these main groups there were waverers and co compromisers.
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: Sussex folk have few superstitions, and it was only after
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: the events of early April that the thought of the
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: supernatural was first whispered in the village. Even then it
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: was only credited among the women folk. But whatever they
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: thought of him, people in ipping on the whole agreed
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: in disliking him. His irritability, though it might have been
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: comprehensible to an urban brain worker, was an amazing thing
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: to these quiet Sussex villagers. The frantic gesticulations they surprised
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: now and then, the headlong pace after nightfall that swept
• 38:33
  Speaker 1: him upon them round quiet corners, the inhuman bludgeoning of
• 38:36
  Speaker 1: all tentative advances of curiosity, the taste for twilight that
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: led to the closing of doors, the pulling down of blinds,
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: the extinction of candles and lamps. Who could agree with
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: such goings on, they drew aside as he passed down
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: the village, and when he had gone by. Young humorists
• 38:53
  Speaker 1: would up with coat collars and down with hat brims,
• 38:56
  Speaker 1: and go pacing nervously after him, in imitation of his
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: occult bearing. There was a song popular at that time
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: called the Bogie Man. Miss Statchel sang it at the
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: school room concert in aid of the church lamps, and thereafter,
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: whenever one or two of the villagers were gathered together
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: and the stranger appeared, a bar or so of this tune,
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: more or less sharp or flat, was whistled in the
• 39:17
  Speaker 1: midst of them. Also, belated little children would call bogie
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: Man after him and make off tremulously elated cuss The
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: general practitioner was devoured by curiosity. The bandages excited his
• 39:32
  Speaker 1: professional interest. The report of the thousand and one bottles
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: aroused his jealous regard. All through April and May he
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: coveted an opportunity of talking to the stranger, and at last,
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: towards Whitzentide, he could stand it no longer, but hit
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: upon the subscription list for a village nurse as an excuse.
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: He was surprised to find that mister Hall did not
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: know his guest's name. He give a name, said missus Hall,
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: an assertion, which was quite un found it. But I
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: didn't rightly hear it. She thought it seemed so silly
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: not to know the man's name. Cus rapped at the
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: parlor door and entered. There was a fairly audible imprecation
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: from within. Pardon my intrusion, said Cuss, and then the
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: door closed and cut Missus haul off from the rest
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: of the conversation. She could hear the murmur of voices
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: for the next ten minutes, then a cry of surprise,
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: a stirring of feet, a chair flung aside, a bark
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: of laughter. Quick steps to the door, and Cuss appeared,
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: his face white, his eyes staring over his shoulder. He
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: left the door open behind him, and without looking at her,
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: strode across the hall and went down the steps, and
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: she heard his feet hurrying along the road. He carried
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: his hat in his hand. She stood behind the door,
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: looking at the open door of the parlor. Then she
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: heard the stranger laughing quietly, and then his footsteps came
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: across the room. She could not see his face where
• 40:57
  Speaker 1: she stood. The parlor door slammed and the place was
• 41:01
  Speaker 1: silent again. Cuss went straight up the village to Bunting
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: the vicar, Am I mad? Cuss began abruptly as he
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: entered the shabby little study. Do I look like an
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: insane person? What's happened? Said the vicar, putting the ammonite
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: on the loose sheets of his forthcoming sermon that chap
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: at the inn. Well, give me something to drink, said Cuss,
• 41:25
  Speaker 1: and he sat down. When his nerves had been steadied
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: by a glass of cheap sherry, the only drink the
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: good vicar had available. He told him of the interview
• 41:34
  Speaker 1: he had just had. Went in. He gasped and began
• 41:38
  Speaker 1: to demand a subscription for that nurse fund. He'd stuck
• 41:42
  Speaker 1: his hands in his pockets as I came in, and
• 41:44
  Speaker 1: he sat down lumpily in his chair sniffed. I told
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: him I'd heard he took an interest in scientific things.
• 41:53
  Speaker 1: He said yes, sniffed again, kept on sniffing all the time,
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: evidently recently caught an in fernal cold. No wonder wrapped
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: up like that. I developed the nurse idea, and all
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: the while kept my eyes open. Bottles chemicals everywhere, balance
• 42:13
  Speaker 1: test tubes in stands, and the smell of evening primrose.
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: Would he subscribe? Said he'd consider it. Asked him point blank.
• 42:23
  Speaker 1: Was he researching? Said he was a long research, got
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: quite cross, a damnable long research, said he blowing the
• 42:34
  Speaker 1: cork out so to speak, Oh, said I, and out
• 42:38
  Speaker 1: came the grievance. The man was just on the boil,
• 42:41
  Speaker 1: and my question boiled him over. He had been given
• 42:45
  Speaker 1: a prescription, most valuable prescription. What for? He wouldn't say,
• 42:49
  Speaker 1: was it medical? Damn you? What are you fishing? After
• 42:54
  Speaker 1: I apologized, dignified sniff and cough, he resumed he'd read
• 43:01
  Speaker 1: it five ingredients, put it down, turned his head, draft
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: of air from window, lifted the paper. Swish Russell. He
• 43:12
  Speaker 1: was working in a room with an open fireplace, he said,
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: saw a flicker and there was the prescription burning and
• 43:19
  Speaker 1: lifting chimney. Ward rushed towards it, just as it whisked
• 43:23
  Speaker 1: up the chimney. So just at that point, to illustrate
• 43:28
  Speaker 1: his story, out came his arm. Well, no hand, just
• 43:33
  Speaker 1: an empty sleeve. Lord. I thought, that's a deformity. Got
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: a cork arm, I suppose, and has taken it off.
• 43:43
  Speaker 1: Then I thought, there's something odd in that. What the
• 43:47
  Speaker 1: devil keeps that sleeve up and open if there's nothing
• 43:50
  Speaker 1: in it? There was nothing in it, I tell you,
• 43:54
  Speaker 1: nothing down it, right down to the joint. I could
• 43:57
  Speaker 1: see right down it to the elbow, and there was
• 44:00
  Speaker 1: a glimmer of light shining through a tear of the cloth.
• 44:03
  Speaker 1: Good God, I said. Then he stopped, stared at me
• 44:08
  Speaker 1: with those black goggles of his, and then at his sleeve.
• 44:12
  Speaker 1: Well that's all. He never said a word, just glared
• 44:17
  Speaker 1: and put his sleeve back in his pocket. Quickly, I
• 44:20
  Speaker 1: was saying, said he that there was the prescription burning,
• 44:24
  Speaker 1: wasn't I interrogative? Cough? How the devil said, I can
• 44:28
  Speaker 1: you move an empty sleeve like that? Empty sleeve? Yes,
• 44:33
  Speaker 1: said I, an empty sleeve. It's an empty sleeve, is it?
• 44:39
  Speaker 1: You saw? It was an empty sleeve? He stood up
• 44:41
  Speaker 1: right away. I stood up too. He came towards me
• 44:46
  Speaker 1: in three very slow steps, and stood quite close sniffed venomously.
• 44:52
  Speaker 1: I didn't flinch, though I'm hanged at that bandaged knob
• 44:55
  Speaker 1: of his, and those blinkers aren't enough to unnerve anyone
• 44:58
  Speaker 1: coming quietly up to you. You said it was an
• 45:01
  Speaker 1: empty sleeve, he said, certainly, I said, at staring and
• 45:07
  Speaker 1: saying nothing, A bare faced man, unspectacled start scratch. Then
• 45:12
  Speaker 1: very quietly, he pulled his sleeve out of his pocket
• 45:15
  Speaker 1: again and raised his arm towards me, as though he
• 45:17
  Speaker 1: would show it to me again. He did it very
• 45:21
  Speaker 1: very slowly. I looked at it. Seemed an age, well,
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: said I, clearing my throat. There's nothing in it. Had
• 45:31
  Speaker 1: to say something. I was beginning to feel frightened. I
• 45:35
  Speaker 1: could see right down it. He extended it straight towards me, slowly, slowly,
• 45:41
  Speaker 1: just like that, until the cuff was six inches from
• 45:44
  Speaker 1: my face. Queer thing to see an empty sleeve come
• 45:47
  Speaker 1: at you like that. And then well, something exactly like
• 45:52
  Speaker 1: a finger and thumb. It felt nipped my nose bunting.
• 45:56
  Speaker 1: Began to laugh. There wasn't anything there, said Cuss, his
• 46:01
  Speaker 1: voice running up into a shriek. At there. It's all
• 46:05
  Speaker 1: very well for you to laugh, but I tell you,
• 46:07
  Speaker 1: I was so startled. I hit his cuff hard and
• 46:10
  Speaker 1: turned around and cut out of the room. I left him.
• 46:13
  Speaker 1: Cuss stopped. There was no mistaking the sincerity of his panic.
• 46:18
  Speaker 1: He turned round in a helpless way and took a
• 46:20
  Speaker 1: second glass of the excellent Vicar's very inferior sherry. When
• 46:25
  Speaker 1: I hit his cuff, said Cuss, I tell you, it
• 46:28
  Speaker 1: felt exactly like hitting an arm, and there wasn't an arm.
• 46:32
  Speaker 1: There wasn't the ghost of an arm. Mister Bunting thought
• 46:35
  Speaker 1: it over. He looked suspiciously at Cuss. It's a most
• 46:40
  Speaker 1: remarkable story, he said. He looked very wise and grave. Indeed,
• 46:46
  Speaker 1: it's really, said mister Bunting, with judicial emphasis, a most
• 46:49
  Speaker 1: remarkable story. Chapter five, The burglary at the Vicarage. The
• 46:53
  Speaker 1: facts of the burglary at the Vicarage came to us
• 46:55
  Speaker 1: chiefly through the medium of the vicar and his wife.
• 46:59
  Speaker 1: It occurred in the all hours of whit Monday, the
• 47:01
  Speaker 1: day devoted an ipping to the club festivities. Missus Bunting,
• 47:06
  Speaker 1: it seems, woke up suddenly in the stillness that comes
• 47:09
  Speaker 1: before the dawn, with the strong impression that the door
• 47:12
  Speaker 1: of their bedroom had opened and closed. She did not
• 47:15
  Speaker 1: arouse her husband at first, but sat up in bed listening.
• 47:19
  Speaker 1: She then distinctly heard the pad pad pad of bare
• 47:23
  Speaker 1: feet coming out of the adjoining dressing room and walking
• 47:25
  Speaker 1: along the passage towards the staircase. As soon as she
• 47:29
  Speaker 1: felt assured of this, she aroused the Rev. Mister Bunting
• 47:32
  Speaker 1: as quietly as possible. He did not strike a light, but,
• 47:36
  Speaker 1: putting on his spectacles, her dressing gown and his bath slippers,
• 47:40
  Speaker 1: he went out on the landing to listen. He heard
• 47:43
  Speaker 1: quite distinctly a fumbling going on at his study desk downstairs,
• 47:47
  Speaker 1: and then a violent sneeze. At that he returned to
• 47:50
  Speaker 1: his bedroom, armed himself with the most obvious weapon, the poker,
• 47:54
  Speaker 1: and descended the staircase as noiselessly as possible. Missus Bunting
• 47:59
  Speaker 1: came out on the landing. The hour was about four
• 48:02
  Speaker 1: and the ultimate darkness of the night was past. There
• 48:06
  Speaker 1: was a faint shimmer of light in the hall, but
• 48:08
  Speaker 1: the study doorway yawned impenetrably black. Everything was still except
• 48:13
  Speaker 1: the faint creaking of the stairs under mister Bunting's tread,
• 48:16
  Speaker 1: and the slight movements in the study. Then something snapped,
• 48:20
  Speaker 1: The drawer was opened, and there was a rustle of papers.
• 48:24
  Speaker 1: Then came an imprecation and a match was struck in
• 48:27
  Speaker 1: the study was flooded with yellow light. Mister Bunting was
• 48:31
  Speaker 1: now in the hall, and through the crack of the
• 48:33
  Speaker 1: door he could see the desk in the open drawer
• 48:35
  Speaker 1: and a candle burning on the desk, but the robber
• 48:38
  Speaker 1: he could not see. He stood there in the hall
• 48:41
  Speaker 1: undecided what to do, and Missus Bunting, her face white
• 48:46
  Speaker 1: and intent, crept slowly downstairs after him. One thing kept
• 48:51
  Speaker 1: mister Bunting's courage, the persuasion that this burglar was a
• 48:54
  Speaker 1: resident in the village. They heard the chink of money
• 48:57
  Speaker 1: and realized that the robber had found the housekeeping reserve
• 49:00
  Speaker 1: of gold two pounds ten and half sovereigns altogether. At
• 49:05
  Speaker 1: that sound, mister Bunting was nerved to abrupt action. Gripping
• 49:10
  Speaker 1: the poker firmly, he rushed into the room, closely followed
• 49:13
  Speaker 1: by Missus Bunting. Surrender, cried mister Bunting fiercely, and then
• 49:19
  Speaker 1: stooped amazed. Apparently the room was perfectly empty, Yet their
• 49:24
  Speaker 1: conviction that they had that very moment heard somebody moving
• 49:28
  Speaker 1: in the room had amounted to a certainty. For half
• 49:31
  Speaker 1: a minute, perhaps they stood gaping. Then Missus Bunting went
• 49:35
  Speaker 1: across the room and looked behind the screen, while mister Bunting,
• 49:38
  Speaker 1: by a kindred impulse, peered under the desk. Then Missus
• 49:43
  Speaker 1: Bunting turned back the window curtains and mister Bunting looked
• 49:46
  Speaker 1: up the chimney and probed it with the poker. Then
• 49:50
  Speaker 1: Missus Bunting scrutinized the waste paper basket, and mister Bunting
• 49:54
  Speaker 1: opened the lid of the coal scuttle. Then they came
• 49:57
  Speaker 1: to a stop and stood with eyes in terrrigoras, adating
• 50:00
  Speaker 1: each other. I could have sworn, said mister Bunting. The candle,
• 50:05
  Speaker 1: said mister Bunting, who lit the candle. The drawer, said
• 50:10
  Speaker 1: Missus Bunting, And the money's gone. She went hastily to
• 50:14
  Speaker 1: the doorway. Of all the strange occurrences, there was a
• 50:19
  Speaker 1: violent sneeze in the passage. They rushed out, and as
• 50:22
  Speaker 1: they did so, the kitchen door slammed. Bring the candle,
• 50:26
  Speaker 1: said mister Bunting, and led the way. They both heard
• 50:30
  Speaker 1: a sound of bolts being hastily shot back. As he
• 50:34
  Speaker 1: opened the kitchen door, he saw through the scullery that
• 50:36
  Speaker 1: the back door was just opening, and the faint light
• 50:39
  Speaker 1: of early dawn displayed the dark masses of the garden beyond.
• 50:43
  Speaker 1: He is certain that nothing went out of the door.
• 50:46
  Speaker 1: It opened, stood open for a moment, and then closed
• 50:49
  Speaker 1: with a slam. As it did so, the candle Misses
• 50:54
  Speaker 1: Bunting was carrying from the study flickered and flared. It
• 50:58
  Speaker 1: was a minute or more before they entered the kitchen.
• 51:01
  Speaker 1: The place was empty. They refastened the back door, examined
• 51:05
  Speaker 1: the kitchen, pantry and scullery thoroughly, and at last went
• 51:09
  Speaker 1: down into the cellar. There was not a soul to
• 51:12
  Speaker 1: be found in the house. Search as they would, daylight
• 51:16
  Speaker 1: found the vicar and his wife, a quaintly costumed little couple,
• 51:20
  Speaker 1: still marveling about on their own ground floor by the
• 51:22
  Speaker 1: unnecessary light of a guttering candle. Chapter six, The Furniture
• 51:28
  Speaker 1: that Went Mad. Now it happened that in the early
• 51:30
  Speaker 1: hours of whit Monday, before Milly was hunted out for
• 51:33
  Speaker 1: the day, mister Hall and Missus Hall both rose and
• 51:37
  Speaker 1: went noiselessly down into the cellar. Their business there was
• 51:41
  Speaker 1: of a private nature, and had something to do with
• 51:43
  Speaker 1: the specific gravity of their beer. They had hardly entered
• 51:47
  Speaker 1: the cellar when Missus Hall found she had forgotten to
• 51:50
  Speaker 1: bring down a bottle of sasparilla from their joint room.
• 51:54
  Speaker 1: As she was the expert and principal operator in this affair,
• 51:57
  Speaker 1: Hall very properly went upstairs for it on the landing.
• 52:00
  Speaker 1: He was surprised to see that the stranger's door was ajar.
• 52:04
  Speaker 1: He went on into his own room and found the
• 52:06
  Speaker 1: bottle as he had been directed. But returning with the bottle,
• 52:10
  Speaker 1: he noticed that the bolts of the front door had
• 52:12
  Speaker 1: been shot back, that the door was in fact simply
• 52:15
  Speaker 1: on the latch, And with a flash of inspiration, he
• 52:18
  Speaker 1: connected this with the stranger's room upstairs and the suggestions
• 52:22
  Speaker 1: of mister Teddy Henfry. He distinctly remembered holding the candle
• 52:26
  Speaker 1: while missus Hall shot these bolts over night. At the sight,
• 52:31
  Speaker 1: he stopped gaping, then, with the bottle still in his hand,
• 52:34
  Speaker 1: went upstairs again. He rapped at the stranger's door. There
• 52:39
  Speaker 1: was no answer. He rapped again, then pushed the door
• 52:43
  Speaker 1: wide open and entered. It was as he expected the
• 52:48
  Speaker 1: bed The room also was empty, and what was stranger
• 52:52
  Speaker 1: even to his heavy intelligence. On the bedroom chair and
• 52:55
  Speaker 1: along the rail of the bed were scattered the garments,
• 52:58
  Speaker 1: the only garments so far as he knew, and the
• 53:00
  Speaker 1: bandages of their guest. His big slouch hat even was
• 53:04
  Speaker 1: cocked jauntily over the bedpost. As Hall stood there, he
• 53:08
  Speaker 1: heard his wife's voice coming out of the depth of
• 53:10
  Speaker 1: the cellar, with that rapid telescoping of the syllables and
• 53:13
  Speaker 1: interrogative cocking up of the final words to a high
• 53:16
  Speaker 1: note by which the West Sussex villager is wont to
• 53:19
  Speaker 1: indicate a brisk impatience. George you gart wa a Wand
• 53:24
  Speaker 1: at that he turned and hurried down to her Janny.
• 53:28
  Speaker 1: He said, over the rail of the cellar steps, t
• 53:31
  Speaker 1: A s the truth. What Henfry says, E's not in
• 53:34
  Speaker 1: uz room? E ent and the front doors unbolted. At
• 53:38
  Speaker 1: first Missus Hall did not understand, and as soon as
• 53:42
  Speaker 1: she did she resolved to see the empty room for herself. Hall,
• 53:46
  Speaker 1: still holding the bottle, went first, If E ent there,
• 53:50
  Speaker 1: he said, is close? Are? And what's E doin'? If
• 53:54
  Speaker 1: out is close, then TA s a most curious business.
• 53:58
  Speaker 1: As they came up the cellars stone steps, they both
• 54:01
  Speaker 1: it was afterwards ascertained, fancied. They heard the front door
• 54:04
  Speaker 1: open and shut, but seeing it closed in nothing there,
• 54:07
  Speaker 1: neither said a word to the other about it. At
• 54:08
  Speaker 1: the time, Missus Hall passed her husband in the passage
• 54:13
  Speaker 1: and ran on first upstairs, someone sneezed on the staircase.
• 54:19
  Speaker 1: Hall following six steps behind, thought that he heard her sneeze. She,
• 54:24
  Speaker 1: going on first, was under the impression that Hall was sneezing.
• 54:28
  Speaker 1: She flung open the door and stood regarding the room
• 54:32
  Speaker 1: of all the curious. She said she heard a sniff
• 54:36
  Speaker 1: close behind her head, as it seemed, and turning was
• 54:39
  Speaker 1: surprised to see Hall a dozen feet off on the
• 54:41
  Speaker 1: topmost stair, But in another moment he was beside her.
• 54:46
  Speaker 1: She bent forward and put her hand on the pillow,
• 54:48
  Speaker 1: and then under the clothes cold she said, he's been
• 54:53
  Speaker 1: up this hour or more. As she did so, a
• 54:57
  Speaker 1: most extraordinary thing happened. The bedclothes gathered themselves together, leapt
• 55:02
  Speaker 1: up suddenly into a sort of peak, and then jumped
• 55:05
  Speaker 1: headlong over the bottom rail. It was exactly as if
• 55:08
  Speaker 1: a hand had clutched them in the center and flung
• 55:10
  Speaker 1: them aside. Immediately after the strangers had hopped off, the
• 55:15
  Speaker 1: bed post described a whirling flight in the air through
• 55:17
  Speaker 1: the better part of a circle, and then dashed straight
• 55:20
  Speaker 1: at missus Hall's face. Then as swiftly came the sponge
• 55:24
  Speaker 1: from the washstand, and then the chair, flinging the stranger's
• 55:28
  Speaker 1: coat and trousers carelessly aside, and laughing. Drilly, in a
• 55:31
  Speaker 1: voice singularly like the Stranger's, turned itself up with its
• 55:34
  Speaker 1: four legs at missus Hall, seemed to take aim at
• 55:37
  Speaker 1: her for a moment and charged at her. She screamed
• 55:41
  Speaker 1: and turned, and then the chair legs came gently but
• 55:44
  Speaker 1: firmly against her back and impelled her and haul out
• 55:46
  Speaker 1: of the room. The door slammed violently and was locked.
• 55:51
  Speaker 1: The chair and bed seemed to be executing a dance
• 55:54
  Speaker 1: of triumph for a moment, and then abruptly everything was still.
• 55:58
  Speaker 1: Missus Hall was left almost in a fainting condition in
• 56:01
  Speaker 1: mister Hall's arms on the landing. It was with the
• 56:05
  Speaker 1: greatest difficulty that mister Hall and Milly, who had been
• 56:08
  Speaker 1: roused by her scream of alarm, succeeded in getting her
• 56:11
  Speaker 1: downstairs and applying the restoratives customary in such cases. Ta
• 56:16
  Speaker 1: s sperits, said missus Hall. I know t a s sperits.
• 56:22
  Speaker 1: I've read in papers of n tables and chairs leaping
• 56:26
  Speaker 1: and dancing. Take a drop more, Janny, said Hall. Twill
• 56:31
  Speaker 1: steady ye lock him out, said missus Hall. Don't let
• 56:36
  Speaker 1: him come in again. I half guessed I might have
• 56:40
  Speaker 1: known with them goggling eyes and bandaged head, and never
• 56:44
  Speaker 1: going to church of a Sunday and all day bottles more,
• 56:48
  Speaker 1: and its right for any one to have He's put
• 56:51
  Speaker 1: the spirits into the furniture, my good old furniture. Twas
• 56:56
  Speaker 1: in that very chair my poor dear mother used to
• 56:58
  Speaker 1: sit when I was a little girl. To think it
• 57:01
  Speaker 1: should rise up against me. Now, just to drop more,
• 57:05
  Speaker 1: Janny said, Hall, your nerves is all upset. They sent
• 57:09
  Speaker 1: Milly across the street through the golden five o'clock sunshine
• 57:12
  Speaker 1: to rouse up mister Sandy Rogers, the blacksmith. Mister Hall's compliments,
• 57:18
  Speaker 1: and the furniture upstairs was behaving most extraordinary. Would mister
• 57:23
  Speaker 1: Wrogers come round? He was a knowing man, was mister Rogers,
• 57:27
  Speaker 1: and very resourceful. He took quite a grave view of
• 57:31
  Speaker 1: the case, arm armed. If that ant witchcraft was the
• 57:35
  Speaker 1: view of mister Sandy Wadgers, you warn't horseshoes for such
• 57:39
  Speaker 1: gentry as he. He came round, greatly concerned. They wanted
• 57:44
  Speaker 1: him to lead the way upstairs to the room, but
• 57:46
  Speaker 1: he didn't seem to be in any hurry. He preferred
• 57:50
  Speaker 1: to talk in the passage over the way Huckster's apprentice
• 57:53
  Speaker 1: came out and began taking down the shutters of the
• 57:56
  Speaker 1: tobacco window. He was called over to join the discussion.
• 58:00
  Speaker 1: Mister Huckster naturally followed over. In the course of a
• 58:04
  Speaker 1: few minutes, the Anglo Saxon genius for Parliamentary Government asserted itself.
• 58:10
  Speaker 1: There was a great deal of talk and no decisive action.
• 58:13
  Speaker 1: Let's have the facts first, insisted mister Sandy Wadgers. Let's
• 58:18
  Speaker 1: be sure we'd be acting perfectly right in bustin at
• 58:21
  Speaker 1: their door open. A door onbust is always open to bustin.
• 58:25
  Speaker 1: But ye can't unbust a door once you've busted in.
• 58:28
  Speaker 1: And suddenly, and most wonderfully, the door of the room
• 58:30
  Speaker 1: upstairs opened of its own accord, and as they looked
• 58:33
  Speaker 1: up in amazement, they saw descending the stairs the muffled
• 58:37
  Speaker 1: figure of the stranger, staring more blackly and blankly than
• 58:40
  Speaker 1: ever with those unreasonably large blue glass eyes of his.
• 58:44
  Speaker 1: He came down, stiffly and slowly, staring all the time.
• 58:47
  Speaker 1: He walked across the passage, staring, then stopped. Look there,
• 58:53
  Speaker 1: he said, And their eyes followed the direction of his
• 58:55
  Speaker 1: gloved finger, and saw a bottle of sasparilla hard by
• 58:58
  Speaker 1: the cellar door. Then he entered the parlor and suddenly, swiftly,
• 59:03
  Speaker 1: viciously slammed the door in their faces. Not a word
• 59:08
  Speaker 1: was spoken until the last echoes of the slam had
• 59:10
  Speaker 1: died away. They stared at one another. Well, if that
• 59:15
  Speaker 1: don't lick everything, said mister Rogers, and left the alternative unset.
• 59:20
  Speaker 1: I'd go in and ask then about it, said Rogers
• 59:23
  Speaker 1: to mister Hall. I'd demand an explanation. It took some
• 59:27
  Speaker 1: time to bring the landlady's husband up to that pitch.
• 59:31
  Speaker 1: At last he rapped, opened the door and got as
• 59:34
  Speaker 1: far as excuse me go to the devil, said the stranger,
• 59:38
  Speaker 1: in a tremendous voice, and shut that door after you.
• 59:41
  Speaker 1: So that brief interview terminated. Chapter seven, The Unveiling of
• 59:47
  Speaker 1: the Stranger. The Stranger went into the little parlor of
• 59:49
  Speaker 1: the Coach and Horses about half past five in the morning,
• 59:53
  Speaker 1: and there he remained until near midday. The blinds down,
• 59:56
  Speaker 1: the door shut, and none after Hall's repulse venturing near
• 1:00:00
  Speaker 1: him all that time. He must have fasted thrice. He
• 1:00:04
  Speaker 1: rang his bell, the third time furiously and continuously, but
• 1:00:08
  Speaker 1: no one answered. Him, him and his go to the devil. Indeed,
• 1:00:13
  Speaker 1: said Missus Hull. Presently came an imperfect rumor of the
• 1:00:17
  Speaker 1: burglary at the vicarage, and two and two were put together. Hall,
• 1:00:21
  Speaker 1: assisted by wadgers, went off to find mister shuckle Forth,
• 1:00:26
  Speaker 1: the magistrate, and take his advice. No one ventured upstairs.
• 1:00:32
  Speaker 1: How the stranger occupied himself is unknown now. And then
• 1:00:36
  Speaker 1: he would stride violently up and down, and twice came
• 1:00:39
  Speaker 1: an outburst of curses, a tearing of paper, and a
• 1:00:42
  Speaker 1: violent smashing of bottles. The little group of scared but
• 1:00:46
  Speaker 1: curious people increased. Missus Huckster came over some gay young fellow's,
• 1:00:53
  Speaker 1: resplendent in black ready made jackets and peak paper ties.
• 1:00:56
  Speaker 1: For it was with Monday joined the group. With confused interrogation.
• 1:01:01
  Speaker 1: Young Archie Harker distinguished himself by going up the yard
• 1:01:04
  Speaker 1: and trying to peep under the window blinds. He could
• 1:01:07
  Speaker 1: see nothing, but gave reason for supposing that he did,
• 1:01:10
  Speaker 1: and others of the ipping youth presently joined him. It
• 1:01:14
  Speaker 1: was the finest of all possible. With mondays and down
• 1:01:17
  Speaker 1: the village street stood a row of nearly a dozen booths.
• 1:01:20
  Speaker 1: A shooting gallery, and on the grass by the forge
• 1:01:23
  Speaker 1: were three yellow and chocolate wagons and some picturesque strangers
• 1:01:26
  Speaker 1: of both sexes putting up a cocoanut shy. The gentleman
• 1:01:30
  Speaker 1: wore blue jerseys, the ladies white aprons and quite fashionable
• 1:01:34
  Speaker 1: hats with heavy plumes. Wager of the Purple Fawn, and
• 1:01:38
  Speaker 1: mister Jaggers, the cobbler, who also sold old second hand
• 1:01:42
  Speaker 1: ordinary bicycles, were stretching a string of Union jacks and
• 1:01:45
  Speaker 1: Royal ensigns which had originally celebrated the First Victorian Jubilee.
• 1:01:50
  Speaker 1: Across the road and inside, in the artificial darkness of
• 1:01:54
  Speaker 1: the parlor, into which only one thin jet of sunlight penetrated,
• 1:01:58
  Speaker 1: the stranger, hungry, we must suppose, and fearful, hidden in
• 1:02:02
  Speaker 1: his uncomfortable hot wrappings, poured through his dark glasses upon
• 1:02:05
  Speaker 1: his paper, or chinked his dirty little bottles, and occasionally
• 1:02:09
  Speaker 1: swore savagely at the boys. Audible if invisible outside the windows.
• 1:02:15
  Speaker 1: In the corner by the fireplace lay the fragments of
• 1:02:18
  Speaker 1: half a dozen smashed bottles, and a pungent twang of
• 1:02:21
  Speaker 1: chlorine tainted the air. So much we know from what
• 1:02:24
  Speaker 1: was heard at the time, and from what was subsequently
• 1:02:27
  Speaker 1: seen in the room. About noon, he suddenly opened his
• 1:02:30
  Speaker 1: parlor door and stood glaring fixedly at the three or
• 1:02:33
  Speaker 1: four people in the bar. Missus Hall, he said. Somebody
• 1:02:38
  Speaker 1: went sheepishly and called for Missus Hall. Missus Hall appeared
• 1:02:43
  Speaker 1: after an interval, a little short of breath, but all
• 1:02:46
  Speaker 1: the fiercer for that Hall was still out. She had
• 1:02:50
  Speaker 1: deliberated over this scene, and she came holding a little
• 1:02:53
  Speaker 1: tray with an unsettled bill upon it. Is it your
• 1:02:56
  Speaker 1: bill you're wanting, sir? She said? Why wasn't my breakfast laid?
• 1:03:02
  Speaker 1: Why haven't you prepared my meals? And answered my bell?
• 1:03:06
  Speaker 1: Do you think I live without eating? Why isn't my
• 1:03:09
  Speaker 1: bill paid? Said Missus Hall. That's what I want to know.
• 1:03:14
  Speaker 1: I told you three days ago I was awaiting a remittance.
• 1:03:17
  Speaker 1: I told you two days ago I wasn't going to
• 1:03:19
  Speaker 1: await no remittances. You can't grumble if your breakfast waits
• 1:03:23
  Speaker 1: a bit, If my bill's been waiting these five days,
• 1:03:26
  Speaker 1: can you? The stranger swore briefly but vividly, nar Nar
• 1:03:31
  Speaker 1: from the bar, and I'd thank you kindly, sir, if
• 1:03:35
  Speaker 1: you'd keep your swearing to yourself sir, said missus Hall.
• 1:03:40
  Speaker 1: The stranger stood, looking more like an angry diving helmet
• 1:03:43
  Speaker 1: than ever. It was universally felt in the bar that
• 1:03:46
  Speaker 1: missus Hall had the better of him. His next words
• 1:03:50
  Speaker 1: showed as much. Look here, my good woman, he began.
• 1:03:55
  Speaker 1: Don't good woman me, said missus Hall. I've told you
• 1:03:59
  Speaker 1: my remittance hasn't come. Remittance indeed, said missus Hall. Still,
• 1:04:05
  Speaker 1: I dare say in my pocket you told me three
• 1:04:08
  Speaker 1: days ago that you hadn't anything but a sovereign's worth
• 1:04:11
  Speaker 1: of silver upon you. Well, i've found some more o
• 1:04:14
  Speaker 1: lo from the bar. I wonder where you found it,
• 1:04:18
  Speaker 1: said missus Hall. That seemed to annoy the stranger very much.
• 1:04:23
  Speaker 1: He stamped his foot. What do you mean, he said that,
• 1:04:28
  Speaker 1: I wonder where you found it, said missus Hall. And
• 1:04:32
  Speaker 1: before I take any bills, or get any breakfasts, or
• 1:04:35
  Speaker 1: do any such things whatsoever, you got to tell me
• 1:04:37
  Speaker 1: one or two things I don't understand, and what nobody
• 1:04:40
  Speaker 1: don't understand, and what everybody is very anxious to understand.
• 1:04:45
  Speaker 1: I want to know what you've been doing te my
• 1:04:47
  Speaker 1: chair upstairs. And I want to know how tis your
• 1:04:50
  Speaker 1: room was empty, and how you got in again? Them
• 1:04:53
  Speaker 1: as stops in this house comes in by the doors.
• 1:04:56
  Speaker 1: That's the rule of the house, and that you didn't do.
• 1:04:58
  Speaker 1: And what I want to know is how you did
• 1:05:00
  Speaker 1: come in, and I want to know. Suddenly the stranger
• 1:05:04
  Speaker 1: raised his gloved hands, clenched, stamped his foot, and said stop,
• 1:05:09
  Speaker 1: with such extraordinary violence that he silenced her instantly. You
• 1:05:13
  Speaker 1: don't understand, he said, who I am or what I am?
• 1:05:17
  Speaker 1: I'll show you. By Heaven, I'll show you. Then he
• 1:05:21
  Speaker 1: put his open palm over his face and withdrew it.
• 1:05:25
  Speaker 1: The center of his face became a black cavity. Here,
• 1:05:29
  Speaker 1: he said. He stepped forward and handed missus haul something,
• 1:05:33
  Speaker 1: which she, staring at his metamorphosed face, accepted automatically. Then
• 1:05:39
  Speaker 1: when she saw what it was, she screamed loudly, dropped
• 1:05:42
  Speaker 1: it and staggered back the nose. It was the Stranger's nose,
• 1:05:48
  Speaker 1: pink and shining, rolled on the floor. Then he removed
• 1:05:52
  Speaker 1: his spectacles, and everyone in the bar gasped. He took
• 1:05:56
  Speaker 1: off his hat and with a violent gesture, tore at
• 1:05:58
  Speaker 1: his whiskers and bandage. For a moment, they resisted him.
• 1:06:03
  Speaker 1: A flash of horrible anticipation passed through the bar, oh,
• 1:06:08
  Speaker 1: my guard, said someone. Then off they came. It was
• 1:06:13
  Speaker 1: worse than anything. Missus Paul, standing open mouthed and horror struck,
• 1:06:19
  Speaker 1: shrieked at what she saw and made for the door
• 1:06:22
  Speaker 1: of the house. Everyone began to move. They were prepared
• 1:06:27
  Speaker 1: for scars, disfigurements, tangible horrors, but nothing. The bandages and
• 1:06:32
  Speaker 1: false hair flew across the passage into the bar, making
• 1:06:35
  Speaker 1: a hobbledehoy jump to avoid them. Everyone tumbled on everyone
• 1:06:39
  Speaker 1: else down the steps. For the man who stood there,
• 1:06:43
  Speaker 1: shouting some incoherent explanation, was a solid, gesticulating figure up
• 1:06:47
  Speaker 1: to the coat collar of him, and then nothingness, no
• 1:06:50
  Speaker 1: visible thing at all. People down the village heard shouts
• 1:06:54
  Speaker 1: and shrieks, and looking up the street, saw the coach
• 1:06:57
  Speaker 1: and horses violently firing out its humanity. They saw Missus
• 1:07:01
  Speaker 1: Hall fall down and mister her Teddy Henfry jumped to
• 1:07:05
  Speaker 1: avoid tumbling over her. And then they heard the frightful
• 1:07:08
  Speaker 1: screams of Milly, who, emerging suddenly from the kitchen at
• 1:07:11
  Speaker 1: the noise of the tumult, had come upon the headless
• 1:07:14
  Speaker 1: stranger from behind. These increased suddenly forthwith everyone all down
• 1:07:20
  Speaker 1: the street. The sweet stuff cellar cocoanut shy proprietor and
• 1:07:23
  Speaker 1: his assistant, the swing man, little boys and girls, rustic dandies,
• 1:07:28
  Speaker 1: smart wenches, smocked elders and apron gypsies began running towards
• 1:07:33
  Speaker 1: the inn, and in a miraculously short space of time,
• 1:07:35
  Speaker 1: a crowd of perhaps forty people and rapidly increasing swayed
• 1:07:40
  Speaker 1: and hooted and inquired and exclaimed and suggested in front
• 1:07:43
  Speaker 1: of Missus Hall's establishment. Everyone seemed eager to talk at once,
• 1:07:48
  Speaker 1: and the result was babble. A small group supported Missus Hall,
• 1:07:53
  Speaker 1: who was picked up in a state of collapse. There
• 1:07:56
  Speaker 1: was a conference and the incredible evidence of a vociferous eye. Ways,
• 1:08:01
  Speaker 1: Oh bogie, what's he been doin? Then? Ain't hurt? The
• 1:08:06
  Speaker 1: girl asked, E run at en with a knife. I
• 1:08:09
  Speaker 1: believe no, Ed, I tell ye, I don't mean no
• 1:08:14
  Speaker 1: manner of speaking. I mean marn gethout a d nonsense
• 1:08:20
  Speaker 1: tis some conjuring trick fetched off is rapping e did
• 1:08:24
  Speaker 1: in its struggles to see and through the open door.
• 1:08:27
  Speaker 1: The crowd formed itself into a straggling wedge. With the
• 1:08:30
  Speaker 1: more adventurous Apex nearest the inn. He stood for a
• 1:08:34
  Speaker 1: moment I heard the gal scream and he turned. I
• 1:08:38
  Speaker 1: saw her skirts whisk and he went after her. Didn't
• 1:08:42
  Speaker 1: take ten seconds back. He comes with a knife in
• 1:08:45
  Speaker 1: usy hand and a loaf stood just as if he
• 1:08:48
  Speaker 1: was staring. Not a moment ago went in that there door.
• 1:08:53
  Speaker 1: I tell e, E ain't gart no ed at all.
• 1:08:57
  Speaker 1: You just missed Anne. There was a disturbance, and the
• 1:09:00
  Speaker 1: speaker stopped to step aside for a little procession that
• 1:09:03
  Speaker 1: was marching very resolutely towards the house. First mister Hall,
• 1:09:08
  Speaker 1: very red and determined. Then mister Bobby Jaffers, the village constable,
• 1:09:12
  Speaker 1: and then the wary mister Rogers. They had come, now
• 1:09:16
  Speaker 1: armed with a warrant. People shouted conflicting information of the
• 1:09:20
  Speaker 1: recent circumstances. Ed or no ed, said Jaffers. I got
• 1:09:25
  Speaker 1: to rest in and rest, and I will. Mister Hall
• 1:09:29
  Speaker 1: marched up the steps, marched straight to the door of
• 1:09:32
  Speaker 1: the parlor and flung it open. Constable, he said, do
• 1:09:36
  Speaker 1: your duty. Jaffers marched in hall, next Wadgers. Last they
• 1:09:42
  Speaker 1: saw in the dim light, the headless figure facing them
• 1:09:44
  Speaker 1: with a nod, crust of bread in one gloved hand,
• 1:09:47
  Speaker 1: and a chunk of cheese in the other. That's him,
• 1:09:50
  Speaker 1: said Hall. What the devil's this came in a tone
• 1:09:54
  Speaker 1: of angry expostulation from above the collar of the figure.
• 1:09:58
  Speaker 1: You're a damned rum customer, missus, said mister Jaffers. But
• 1:10:02
  Speaker 1: ed or no head. The warrant says body and duty's duty.
• 1:10:07
  Speaker 1: Keep off, said the figure, starting back abruptly, he whipped
• 1:10:11
  Speaker 1: down the bread and cheese, and mister Hall just grasped
• 1:10:16
  Speaker 1: the knife on the table in time to save it.
• 1:10:18
  Speaker 1: Off came the stranger's left glove and was slapped in
• 1:10:21
  Speaker 1: Jaffers's face. In another moment, Jaffers, cutting short some statement
• 1:10:26
  Speaker 1: concerning a warrant, had gripped him by the handless wrist
• 1:10:29
  Speaker 1: and caught his invisible throat. He got a sounding kick
• 1:10:32
  Speaker 1: on the shin that made him shout, but he kept
• 1:10:35
  Speaker 1: his grip. Hall sent the knife sliding along the table
• 1:10:38
  Speaker 1: to Wadgers, who acted as goalkeeper for the offensive, so
• 1:10:42
  Speaker 1: to speak, and then stepped forward as Jaffers and the
• 1:10:44
  Speaker 1: stranger swayed and staggered towards him, clutching and hitting in
• 1:10:49
  Speaker 1: a chair, stood in the way and went aside with
• 1:10:51
  Speaker 1: a crash. As they came down together get the feet,
• 1:10:55
  Speaker 1: said Jaffers, between his teeth. Mister hall endeavoring to act
• 1:10:59
  Speaker 1: on an instructions, received a sounding kick in the ribs
• 1:11:02
  Speaker 1: that disposed of him for a moment, and mister Rogers,
• 1:11:06
  Speaker 1: seeing the decapitated stranger, had rolled over and got the
• 1:11:09
  Speaker 1: upper side of Jaffers, retreated towards the door, knife in hand,
• 1:11:14
  Speaker 1: and so collided with mister Huckster and the Citterbridge Carter
• 1:11:17
  Speaker 1: coming to the rescue of law and order. At the
• 1:11:20
  Speaker 1: same moment. Down came three or four bottles from the
• 1:11:22
  Speaker 1: chiffonier and shot a web of pungency into the air
• 1:11:25
  Speaker 1: of the room. I'll surrender, cried the stranger, though he
• 1:11:29
  Speaker 1: had Jaffers down, and in another moment he stood up,
• 1:11:32
  Speaker 1: panting a strange figure, headless and handless, for he had
• 1:11:35
  Speaker 1: pulled off his right glove now as well as his left.
• 1:11:39
  Speaker 1: It's no good, he said, as if sobbing for breath.
• 1:11:43
  Speaker 1: It was the strangest thing in the world to hear
• 1:11:45
  Speaker 1: that voice, coming as if out of empty space. But
• 1:11:48
  Speaker 1: the Sussex peasants are perhaps the most matter of fact
• 1:11:50
  Speaker 1: people under the sun. Jaffers got up also and produced
• 1:11:54
  Speaker 1: a pair of handcuffs, then he stared, I say, said Jaffers,
• 1:12:01
  Speaker 1: brought up short by a dim realization of the incongruity
• 1:12:04
  Speaker 1: of the whole business. Darn it can't use em. As
• 1:12:08
  Speaker 1: I can see, the stranger ran his arm down his waistcoat,
• 1:12:11
  Speaker 1: and as if by a miracle, the buttons to which
• 1:12:13
  Speaker 1: his empty sleeve pointed became undone. Then he said something
• 1:12:17
  Speaker 1: about his shin and stooped down. He seemed to be
• 1:12:21
  Speaker 1: fumbling with his shoes and socks. Why, said huckster, Suddenly,
• 1:12:26
  Speaker 1: that's not a man at all. It's just empty clothes.
• 1:12:30
  Speaker 1: Look you can see down his collar and the linings
• 1:12:34
  Speaker 1: of his clothes. I could put my arm. He extended
• 1:12:38
  Speaker 1: his hand. It seemed to meet something in mid air,
• 1:12:40
  Speaker 1: and he drew it back with a sharp exclamation. I
• 1:12:44
  Speaker 1: wish you'd keep your fingers out of my eye, said
• 1:12:46
  Speaker 1: the aerial voice, in a tone of savage expostulation. The
• 1:12:51
  Speaker 1: fact is, I'm all here, head, hands, legs and all
• 1:12:55
  Speaker 1: the rest of it. But it happens I'm invisible. It's
• 1:12:58
  Speaker 1: a confounded nuisance. But I am. That's no reason why
• 1:13:02
  Speaker 1: I should be poked to pieces by every stupid bumpkin
• 1:13:05
  Speaker 1: and ipping. Is it the suit of clothes, now all
• 1:13:09
  Speaker 1: unbuttoned and hanging loosely upon its unseen supports, stood up
• 1:13:13
  Speaker 1: arms Akimbo. Several other of the men folks had now
• 1:13:17
  Speaker 1: entered the room, so that it was closely crowded. Invisible, eh,
• 1:13:21
  Speaker 1: said Huckster, ignoring the stranger's abuse. Who ever heard the
• 1:13:26
  Speaker 1: likes of that? It's strange perhaps, but it's not a crime.
• 1:13:31
  Speaker 1: Why am I assaulted by a policeman in this fashion? Ah,
• 1:13:36
  Speaker 1: that's a different matter, said Jaffers. No doubt, you are
• 1:13:40
  Speaker 1: a bit difficult to see in this light. But I
• 1:13:42
  Speaker 1: got a warrant and it's all correct. What I'm after
• 1:13:45
  Speaker 1: ain't no invisibility. It's burglary. There's a house been broke
• 1:13:50
  Speaker 1: into and money took well, and circumstances certainly point stuff
• 1:13:56
  Speaker 1: and nonsense, said the invisible man. I hope so, oh, sir,
• 1:14:01
  Speaker 1: but I've got my instructions, well, said the stranger. I'll come,
• 1:14:06
  Speaker 1: I'll come, But no handcuffs. It's the regular thing, said Jaffers.
• 1:14:13
  Speaker 1: No handcuffs, stipulated the stranger. Pardon me, said Jaffers. Abruptly.
• 1:14:20
  Speaker 1: The figure sat down, and before anyone could realize what
• 1:14:23
  Speaker 1: was being done, the slippers socks and trousers had been
• 1:14:27
  Speaker 1: kicked off under the table. Then he sprang up again
• 1:14:30
  Speaker 1: and flung off his coat. Here, stop that, said Jaffers.
• 1:14:35
  Speaker 1: Suddenly realizing what was happening. He gripped at the waistcoat.
• 1:14:39
  Speaker 1: It struggled, and the shirt slipped out of it and
• 1:14:41
  Speaker 1: left it limp and empty in his hand. Hold him,
• 1:14:45
  Speaker 1: said Jaffers loudly. Once he gets the things off, hold him,
• 1:14:50
  Speaker 1: cried everyone, and there was a rush at the fluttering
• 1:14:53
  Speaker 1: white shirt, which was now all that was visible of
• 1:14:55
  Speaker 1: the stranger. The shirt sleeve planted a shrewd blow in
• 1:14:59
  Speaker 1: Hall's face. That's stopped his open arm advance and sent
• 1:15:02
  Speaker 1: him backward into old toothsom the sexton. And in another moment,
• 1:15:05
  Speaker 1: the garment was lifted up and became convulsed and vacantly
• 1:15:08
  Speaker 1: flapping about the arms, even as a shirt that is
• 1:15:10
  Speaker 1: being thrust over a man's head. Jaffers clutched at it
• 1:15:14
  Speaker 1: and only helped to pull it off. He was struck
• 1:15:17
  Speaker 1: in the mouth, out of the air and incognately through
• 1:15:19
  Speaker 1: his truncheon, and smote Teddy Henfry savagely upon the crown
• 1:15:22
  Speaker 1: of his head. Look Out, said everybody. Fencing at random
• 1:15:27
  Speaker 1: and hitting at nothing. Hold him shut the door, don't
• 1:15:32
  Speaker 1: let him loose. I got something here. He is a
• 1:15:38
  Speaker 1: perfect babble of noises. They made. Everybody, it seemed, was
• 1:15:42
  Speaker 1: being hit all at once, and Sandy Wadgers, knowing as ever,
• 1:15:46
  Speaker 1: and his wits sharpened by a frightful blow in the nose,
• 1:15:49
  Speaker 1: reopened the door and led the route. The others following
• 1:15:53
  Speaker 1: incognately were jammed for a moment in the corner by
• 1:15:56
  Speaker 1: the doorway. The hitting continued whips. The Unitarian had a
• 1:16:01
  Speaker 1: front tooth broken, and Henfry was injured in the cartilage
• 1:16:05
  Speaker 1: of his ear. Jaffers was struck under the jaw and
• 1:16:08
  Speaker 1: turning caught at something that intervened between him and Huckster
• 1:16:12
  Speaker 1: in the melee and prevented their coming together. He felt
• 1:16:16
  Speaker 1: a muscular chest, and in another moment, the whole mass
• 1:16:19
  Speaker 1: of struggling, excited men shot out into the crowded hall.
• 1:16:23
  Speaker 1: I got him, shouted Jaffers, choking and reeling through them
• 1:16:26
  Speaker 1: all and wrestling with purple face and swelling veins against
• 1:16:29
  Speaker 1: his unseen enemy. Men staggered right and left, as the
• 1:16:33
  Speaker 1: extraordinary conflict swayed swiftly towards the house door, and went
• 1:16:37
  Speaker 1: spinning down the half dozen steps of the inn. Jaffers
• 1:16:41
  Speaker 1: cried in a strangled voice, holding tight nevertheless and making
• 1:16:45
  Speaker 1: play with his knee, spun around and fell heavily undermost,
• 1:16:49
  Speaker 1: with his head on the gravel. Only then did his
• 1:16:52
  Speaker 1: fingers relax. There were excited cries of hold him invisible,
• 1:16:58
  Speaker 1: and so forth, and a young fellow, a stranger in
• 1:17:01
  Speaker 1: the place whose name did not come to light, rushed
• 1:17:03
  Speaker 1: in at once, caught something, missed his hold, and fell
• 1:17:06
  Speaker 1: over the constable's prostrate body. Half Way across the road,
• 1:17:11
  Speaker 1: a woman screamed as something pushed by her. A dog
• 1:17:14
  Speaker 1: kicked apparently yelped, and ran howling into Huckster's yard. And
• 1:17:17
  Speaker 1: with that the transit of the invisible man was accomplished.
• 1:17:21
  Speaker 1: For a space people stood amazed and gesticulating, and then
• 1:17:24
  Speaker 1: came panic and scattered them abroad through the village as
• 1:17:27
  Speaker 1: a gust scatter's dead leaves. But Jaffers lay quite still,
• 1:17:32
  Speaker 1: face upward and knees bent, at the foot of the
• 1:17:34
  Speaker 1: steps of the inn. Chapter eight. In transit. The eighth
• 1:17:39
  Speaker 1: chapter is exceedingly brief and relates that Gibbons, the amateur
• 1:17:43
  Speaker 1: naturalist of the district. While lying out on the spacious
• 1:17:46
  Speaker 1: open downs without a soul within a couple of miles
• 1:17:48
  Speaker 1: of him, as he thought and almost dozing, heard close
• 1:17:51
  Speaker 1: to him the sound as of a man coughing, sneezing,
• 1:17:54
  Speaker 1: and then swearing savagely to himself. And looking beheld nothing,
• 1:18:00
  Speaker 1: Yet the voice was indisputable. It continued to swear with
• 1:18:04
  Speaker 1: that breadth and variety that distinguishes the swearing of a
• 1:18:07
  Speaker 1: cultivated man. It grew to a climax, diminished again, and
• 1:18:12
  Speaker 1: died away in the distance, going, as it seemed to him,
• 1:18:14
  Speaker 1: in the direction of Adardean. It lifted to a spasmodic
• 1:18:18
  Speaker 1: sneeze and ended. Gibbons had heard nothing of the morning's occurrences,
• 1:18:23
  Speaker 1: but the phenomenon was so striking and disturbing that his
• 1:18:26
  Speaker 1: philosophical tranquility vanished. He got up hastily and hurried down
• 1:18:30
  Speaker 1: the steepness of the hill towards the village as fast
• 1:18:33
  Speaker 1: as he could go. Chapter nine. Mister Thomas Marvel. You
• 1:18:38
  Speaker 1: must picture mister Thomas Marvel as a person of copious
• 1:18:42
  Speaker 1: flexible visage, a nose of cylindrical protrusion, a licorice ample
• 1:18:47
  Speaker 1: fluctuating mouth, and a beard of bristling eccentricity. His figure
• 1:18:51
  Speaker 1: inclined to en bompois. His short limbs accentuated this inclination.
• 1:18:56
  Speaker 1: He wore a furry silk hat, and the frequent substitution
• 1:19:00
  Speaker 1: of twine and shoelaces for buttons apparent at critical points
• 1:19:03
  Speaker 1: of his costume marked a man essentially bachelor. Mister Thomas
• 1:19:08
  Speaker 1: Marvel was sitting with his feet in a ditch by
• 1:19:10
  Speaker 1: the roadside over the down towards Adardean, about a mile
• 1:19:13
  Speaker 1: and a half out of ipping. His feet, save for
• 1:19:16
  Speaker 1: socks of irregular open work, were bare. His big toes
• 1:19:20
  Speaker 1: were broad and pricked, like the ears of a watchful dog.
• 1:19:24
  Speaker 1: In a leisurely manner. He did everything in a leisurely manner.
• 1:19:27
  Speaker 1: He was contemplating trying on a pair of boots. They
• 1:19:31
  Speaker 1: were the soundest boots he had come across for a
• 1:19:33
  Speaker 1: long time, but too large for him, whereas the ones
• 1:19:36
  Speaker 1: he had were in dry weather, a very comfortable fit,
• 1:19:39
  Speaker 1: but too thin soled for damp. Mister Thomas Marvel hated
• 1:19:43
  Speaker 1: roomy shoes, but then he hated damp. He had never
• 1:19:47
  Speaker 1: properly thought out which he hated most. And it was
• 1:19:50
  Speaker 1: a pleasant day and there was nothing better to do,
• 1:19:54
  Speaker 1: so he put the four shoes in a graceful group
• 1:19:56
  Speaker 1: on the turf and looked at them, and seeing them
• 1:19:59
  Speaker 1: there among the gros grass and springing agrimony, it suddenly
• 1:20:02
  Speaker 1: occurred to him that both pairs were exceedingly ugly. To see,
• 1:20:06
  Speaker 1: he was not at all startled by a voice behind him.
• 1:20:10
  Speaker 1: They're boots, anyhow, said the voice. They are charity boots,
• 1:20:15
  Speaker 1: said mister Thomas Marvel, with his head on one side,
• 1:20:18
  Speaker 1: regarding them distastefully. And which is the ugliest pair in
• 1:20:21
  Speaker 1: the whole blest universe. I'm darned if I know, hum,
• 1:20:25
  Speaker 1: said the voice. I've worn worse. In fact, I've worn none,
• 1:20:30
  Speaker 1: but none so audacious ugly, if you'll allow the expression.
• 1:20:35
  Speaker 1: I've been cadging boots in particular for days because I
• 1:20:40
  Speaker 1: was sick of them. They're sound enough, of course, but
• 1:20:44
  Speaker 1: a gentleman on tramp sees such a thundering lot of
• 1:20:47
  Speaker 1: his boots. And if you'll believe me, I've raised nothing
• 1:20:51
  Speaker 1: in the whole blessed country, try as I would, but
• 1:20:53
  Speaker 1: them look at them, and the good country for boots too,
• 1:20:59
  Speaker 1: in a general way. But it's just my promiscuous luck
• 1:21:03
  Speaker 1: I've got my boots in this country ten years or more,
• 1:21:07
  Speaker 1: and then they treat you like this. It's a beast
• 1:21:10
  Speaker 1: of a country, said the voice. And pigs for people,
• 1:21:15
  Speaker 1: ain't it, said mister Thomas Marvel. Lord, but them boots,
• 1:21:21
  Speaker 1: it beats it. He turned his head over his shoulder
• 1:21:25
  Speaker 1: to the right to look at the boots of his
• 1:21:27
  Speaker 1: interlocutor with a view to comparisons, and lo where the
• 1:21:31
  Speaker 1: boots of his interlocutor should have been were neither legs
• 1:21:33
  Speaker 1: nor boots. He was irradiated by the dawn of a
• 1:21:37
  Speaker 1: great amazement. Where are yer, said mister Thomas Marvel, over
• 1:21:41
  Speaker 1: his shoulder, and coming on all fours, he saw a
• 1:21:45
  Speaker 1: stretch of empty downs, with the wind swaying the remote
• 1:21:47
  Speaker 1: green pointed furze bushes. Am I drunk, said mister Marvel.
• 1:21:53
  Speaker 1: Have I had visions? Was I talking to myself? What
• 1:21:57
  Speaker 1: the don't be alarmed, said a voice. None of your
• 1:22:01
  Speaker 1: ventriloquizing me, said mister Thomas Marvel, rising sharply to his feet.
• 1:22:06
  Speaker 1: Where are yer alarmed? Indeed, don't be alarmed, repeated the voice.
• 1:22:13
  Speaker 1: You'll be alarmed in a minute, you silly fool, said
• 1:22:16
  Speaker 1: mister Thomas Marvel. Where are yer. Let me get my
• 1:22:20
  Speaker 1: mark on yer. Are yer buried, said mister Thomas Marvel.
• 1:22:24
  Speaker 1: After an interval, there was no answer. Mister Thomas Marvel
• 1:22:29
  Speaker 1: stood bootless and amazed, his jacket nearly thrown off. Pe Wit,
• 1:22:35
  Speaker 1: said a pe wit, very remote pe wit. Indeed, said
• 1:22:39
  Speaker 1: mister Thomas Marvel. This ain't no time for foolery. The
• 1:22:43
  Speaker 1: down was desolate, east and west, north and south. The road,
• 1:22:47
  Speaker 1: with its shallow ditches and white bordering stakes, ran smooth
• 1:22:51
  Speaker 1: and empty north and south. And save for that pe wit,
• 1:22:54
  Speaker 1: the blue sky was empty too. So help me, said
• 1:22:58
  Speaker 1: mister tom miss Marvel, shuffling his coat on to his shoulders. Again.
• 1:23:03
  Speaker 1: It's the drink. I might hat known. It's not the drink,
• 1:23:08
  Speaker 1: said the voice. You keep your nerves steady, Oh, said
• 1:23:13
  Speaker 1: mister Marvel, and his face grew white amidst its patches.
• 1:23:17
  Speaker 1: It's the drink, his lips repeated noiselessly. He remained staring
• 1:23:22
  Speaker 1: about him, rotating slowly backwards. I could have swore I
• 1:23:26
  Speaker 1: heard a voice, he whispered. Of course you did. It's
• 1:23:31
  Speaker 1: there again, said mister Marvel, closing his eyes and clasping
• 1:23:35
  Speaker 1: his hand on his brow with a tragic gesture. He
• 1:23:38
  Speaker 1: was suddenly taken by the collar and shaken violently, and
• 1:23:41
  Speaker 1: left more dazed than ever. Don't be a fool, said
• 1:23:45
  Speaker 1: the voice. I'm off my blooming chump, said mister Marvel.
• 1:23:53
  Speaker 1: It's no good. It's fretting about them. Blarsted boots. I'm
• 1:23:58
  Speaker 1: off my blest blooming chump or its spirits. Neither one
• 1:24:03
  Speaker 1: thing nor the other, said the voice. Listen, chump, said
• 1:24:08
  Speaker 1: mister Marvel. One minute, said the voice. Penetratingly tremulous with
• 1:24:13
  Speaker 1: self control. Well, said mister Thomas Marvel, with a strange
• 1:24:19
  Speaker 1: feeling of having been dug in the chest by a finger.
• 1:24:22
  Speaker 1: You think I'm just imagination, Just imagination, What else can
• 1:24:28
  Speaker 1: you be, said mister Thomas Marvel, rubbing the back of
• 1:24:31
  Speaker 1: his neck. Very well, said the voice, in a tone
• 1:24:35
  Speaker 1: of relief. Then I'm going to throw flints at you
• 1:24:38
  Speaker 1: till you think differently. But where are Yer? The voice
• 1:24:41
  Speaker 1: made no answer. Whiz came a flint, apparently out of
• 1:24:45
  Speaker 1: the air, and missed mister Marvell's shoulder by a hair's breadth.
• 1:24:49
  Speaker 1: Mister Marvel, turning, saw a flint jerk up into the air,
• 1:24:53
  Speaker 1: trace a complicated path, hang for a moment and then
• 1:24:56
  Speaker 1: fling at his feet with almost invisible rapidity. He was
• 1:25:00
  Speaker 1: too amazed to dodge. Whiz It came and ricocheted from
• 1:25:04
  Speaker 1: a bare toe into the ditch. Mister Thomas Marvell jumped
• 1:25:08
  Speaker 1: a foot and howled aloud. Then he started to run,
• 1:25:12
  Speaker 1: tripped over an unseen obstacle, and came head over heels
• 1:25:15
  Speaker 1: into a sitting position. Now said the voice, as a
• 1:25:19
  Speaker 1: third stone curved upward and hung in the air above
• 1:25:22
  Speaker 1: the tramp am I imagination. Mister Marvel, by way of reply,
• 1:25:27
  Speaker 1: struggled to his feet and was immediately rolled over again.
• 1:25:32
  Speaker 1: He lay quiet for a moment. If you struggle any more,
• 1:25:35
  Speaker 1: said the voice, I shall throw the flint at your head.
• 1:25:39
  Speaker 1: It's a fair do, said mister Thomas Marvel, sitting up,
• 1:25:43
  Speaker 1: taking his wounded toe in hand and fixing his eye
• 1:25:45
  Speaker 1: on the third missile. I don't understand it. Stones flinging themselves,
• 1:25:52
  Speaker 1: stones talking, Put yourself down, rod away. I'm done. The
• 1:25:58
  Speaker 1: third flint fell. It's very simple, said the voice. I'm
• 1:26:03
  Speaker 1: an invisible man. Tell us something I don't know, said
• 1:26:07
  Speaker 1: mister Marvell, gasping with pain. Where you've hid? How you
• 1:26:11
  Speaker 1: do it? I don't know. I'm beat, that's all, said
• 1:26:16
  Speaker 1: the voice. I'm invisible. That's what I want you to understand.
• 1:26:22
  Speaker 1: Any one could see that. There is no need for
• 1:26:25
  Speaker 1: you to be so confounded impatient mister. Now then give
• 1:26:30
  Speaker 1: us a notion. How are you hid? I'm invisible. That's
• 1:26:36
  Speaker 1: the great point. And what I want you to understand
• 1:26:39
  Speaker 1: is this. But whereabouts interrupted, mister Marvell? Here six yards
• 1:26:45
  Speaker 1: in front of you? Oh come, I ain't blind. You'll
• 1:26:51
  Speaker 1: be telling me next you're just thin air. I'm not
• 1:26:54
  Speaker 1: one of your ignorant tramps. Yes, I am thin air.
• 1:26:58
  Speaker 1: You're looking through me? What Ain't there any stuff to you?
• 1:27:04
  Speaker 1: Box eating? What is it? Jabber? Is it that? I
• 1:27:09
  Speaker 1: am just a human being, solid, needing food and drink,
• 1:27:12
  Speaker 1: needing covering too. But I'm invisible? You see invisible? Simple idea? Invisible?
• 1:27:22
  Speaker 1: What reel like? Yes? Real? Let's have a hand of you,
• 1:27:28
  Speaker 1: said Marvel. If you are real, it won't be so
• 1:27:31
  Speaker 1: darn out of the way like then, Lord, he said,
• 1:27:35
  Speaker 1: how you made me jump? Gripping me like that? He
• 1:27:39
  Speaker 1: felt the hand that had closed round his wrist with
• 1:27:41
  Speaker 1: his disengaged fingers, and his fingers went timorously up the arm,
• 1:27:45
  Speaker 1: patted a muscular chest, and explored a bearded face. Marvel's
• 1:27:50
  Speaker 1: face was astonishment. I'm dashed, he said. If this don't
• 1:27:55
  Speaker 1: beat cock fighting, most remarkable. And there I can see
• 1:27:59
  Speaker 1: a rabbit clean through you are for a mile away,
• 1:28:02
  Speaker 1: not a bit of you visible, except he scrutinized the
• 1:28:06
  Speaker 1: apparently empty space. Keenly, you've aven't been eaten bread and cheese,
• 1:28:11
  Speaker 1: he asked, holding the invisible arm. You're quite right, and
• 1:28:15
  Speaker 1: it's not quite assimilated into the system, ah, said mister Marvel,
• 1:28:21
  Speaker 1: sort of ghostly. Though, of course, all this isn't half
• 1:28:25
  Speaker 1: so wonderful as you think. It's quite wonderful enough for
• 1:28:29
  Speaker 1: my modest wants, said mister Thomas Marvel. How'dyer manage it?
• 1:28:34
  Speaker 1: How the doce is it done? It's too long a story.
• 1:28:39
  Speaker 1: And besides, I tell you, the whole business fairly beats me,
• 1:28:42
  Speaker 1: said mister Marvel. What I want to say at present
• 1:28:46
  Speaker 1: is this, I need help. I have come to that.
• 1:28:49
  Speaker 1: I came upon you suddenly. I was wandering, mad with rage, naked, impotent,
• 1:28:56
  Speaker 1: I could have murdered, and I saw you, lord, said
• 1:29:00
  Speaker 1: mister Marvel. I came up behind you, hesitated, went on.
• 1:29:05
  Speaker 1: Mister Marvell's expression was eloquent then stopped here, I said,
• 1:29:11
  Speaker 1: is an outcast like myself? This is the man for me.
• 1:29:15
  Speaker 1: So I turned back and came to you. You and Lord,
• 1:29:19
  Speaker 1: said mister Marvel. But I'm all in a tizzy. May
• 1:29:23
  Speaker 1: I ask how is it? And what you may be
• 1:29:27
  Speaker 1: requiring in the way of help? Invisible I want you
• 1:29:30
  Speaker 1: to help me get clothes and shelter, and then with
• 1:29:34
  Speaker 1: other things. I've left them long enough. If you won't, well,
• 1:29:40
  Speaker 1: but you will. Must look here, said mister Marvel. I'm
• 1:29:45
  Speaker 1: too flabbergasted. Don't knock me about any more and leave
• 1:29:50
  Speaker 1: me go. I must get steady a bit, and you've
• 1:29:54
  Speaker 1: pretty near broken my toe. It's all so unreasonable. Emptied
• 1:29:59
  Speaker 1: down empty sky, nothing visible for miles except the bosom
• 1:30:04
  Speaker 1: of nature. And then comes a voice, a voice out
• 1:30:09
  Speaker 1: of heaven and stones and a fist. Lord, pull yourself together,
• 1:30:16
  Speaker 1: said the voice, for you have to do the job
• 1:30:18
  Speaker 1: I've chosen for you. Mister Marvel blew out his cheeks
• 1:30:21
  Speaker 1: and his eyes were round. I've chosen you, said the voice.
• 1:30:26
  Speaker 1: You are the only man except some of those fools
• 1:30:28
  Speaker 1: down there, who knows there is such a thing as
• 1:30:31
  Speaker 1: an invisible man. You have to be my helper, help me,
• 1:30:36
  Speaker 1: and I will do great things for you. An invisible
• 1:30:39
  Speaker 1: man is a man of power. He stopped for a
• 1:30:41
  Speaker 1: moment to sneeze violently. But if you betray me, he said,
• 1:30:45
  Speaker 1: if you fail to do as I direct you, he
• 1:30:48
  Speaker 1: paused and tapped mister Marvell's shoulder smartly. Mister Marvel gave
• 1:30:52
  Speaker 1: a yelp of terror at the touch. I don't want
• 1:30:55
  Speaker 1: to betray you, said mister Marvel edging away from the
• 1:31:00
  Speaker 1: direction of the fingers. Don't you go a thinking that
• 1:31:03
  Speaker 1: whatever you do, all I want to do is to
• 1:31:06
  Speaker 1: help you. Just tell me what I got to do. Lord,
• 1:31:10
  Speaker 1: whatever you want done, that I'm most willing to do.
• 1:31:13
  Speaker 1: Chapter ten, mister Marvell's visit to Ipping. After the first
• 1:31:16
  Speaker 1: gusty panic had spent itself, Ipping became argumentative. Skepticism suddenly
• 1:31:21
  Speaker 1: reared its head, rather nervous, skepticism not at all assured
• 1:31:25
  Speaker 1: of its back, but skepticism nevertheless. It is so much
• 1:31:29
  Speaker 1: easier not to believe in an invisible man. And those
• 1:31:32
  Speaker 1: who had actually seen him dissolve into air, or felt
• 1:31:35
  Speaker 1: the strength of his arm could be counted on the
• 1:31:37
  Speaker 1: fingers of two hands, And of these witnesses mister Rogers
• 1:31:42
  Speaker 1: was presently missing, having retired impregnably behind the bolts and
• 1:31:46
  Speaker 1: bars of his own house, and Jaffers was lying stunned
• 1:31:49
  Speaker 1: in the parlor of the coach and horses. Great and
• 1:31:51
  Speaker 1: strange ideas transcending experience often have less effect upon men
• 1:31:55
  Speaker 1: and women than smaller, more tangible considerations. Ipping was gay
• 1:32:00
  Speaker 1: with Bunting, and everybody was in gala dress, with Monday
• 1:32:04
  Speaker 1: had been looked forward to for a month or more.
• 1:32:07
  Speaker 1: By the afternoon, even those who believed in the unseen
• 1:32:10
  Speaker 1: were beginning to resume their little amusements in a tentative fashion,
• 1:32:13
  Speaker 1: on the supposition that he had quite gone away, and
• 1:32:16
  Speaker 1: with the skeptics he was already a jest. But people,
• 1:32:20
  Speaker 1: skeptics and believers alike, were remarkably sociable all that day.
• 1:32:25
  Speaker 1: Hayesman's meadow was gay, with a tent in which Missus
• 1:32:28
  Speaker 1: Bunting and other ladies were preparing tea while without the
• 1:32:32
  Speaker 1: Sunday school children ran races and played games under the
• 1:32:35
  Speaker 1: noisy guidance of the Curate and the Missus Cuss and
• 1:32:37
  Speaker 1: Sackbut no doubt there was a slight uneasiness in the air,
• 1:32:42
  Speaker 1: but people for the most part had the sense to
• 1:32:44
  Speaker 1: conceal whatever imaginative qualms they experienced on the village. Green
• 1:32:48
  Speaker 1: and inclined strong rope down, which, clinging the while to
• 1:32:53
  Speaker 1: a pulley swung handle one could be hurled violently against
• 1:32:56
  Speaker 1: a sack at the other end, came in for considerable
• 1:32:59
  Speaker 1: favor among the acts less, as also did the swings
• 1:33:02
  Speaker 1: and the cocoanut shys. There was also promenading, and the
• 1:33:06
  Speaker 1: steam organ attached to a small roundabout, filled the air
• 1:33:09
  Speaker 1: with a pungent flavor of oil and with equally pungent music.
• 1:33:13
  Speaker 1: Members of the club who had attended church in the
• 1:33:15
  Speaker 1: morning were splendid in badges of pink and green, and
• 1:33:19
  Speaker 1: some of the gayer minded had also adorned their bowler
• 1:33:21
  Speaker 1: hats with brilliant colored favors of ribbon. Old Fletcher, whose
• 1:33:25
  Speaker 1: conceptions of holiday making were severe, was visible through the
• 1:33:29
  Speaker 1: jasmine about his window or through the open door, whichever
• 1:33:32
  Speaker 1: way you chose to look, poised delicately on a plank,
• 1:33:35
  Speaker 1: supported on two chairs, and whitewashing the ceiling of his
• 1:33:38
  Speaker 1: front room. About four o'clock a stranger entered the village
• 1:33:42
  Speaker 1: from the direction of the downs. He was a short
• 1:33:45
  Speaker 1: stout person in an extraordinarily shabby top hat, and he
• 1:33:49
  Speaker 1: appeared to be very much out of breath. His cheeks
• 1:33:52
  Speaker 1: were alternately limp and tightly puffed. His mottled face was apprehensive,
• 1:33:57
  Speaker 1: and he moved with a sort of reluctant alacrity. He
• 1:34:01
  Speaker 1: turned the corner of the church and directed his way
• 1:34:03
  Speaker 1: to the Coach and Horses, among others. Old Fletcher remembers
• 1:34:06
  Speaker 1: seeing him, and indeed the old gentleman was so struck
• 1:34:09
  Speaker 1: by his peculiar agitation that he inadvertently allowed a quantity
• 1:34:13
  Speaker 1: of whitewash to run down the brush into the sleeve
• 1:34:15
  Speaker 1: of his coat. While regarding him this stranger to the
• 1:34:19
  Speaker 1: perceptions of the proprietor of the Cocoanut Shy appeared to
• 1:34:22
  Speaker 1: be talking to himself, and mister Huxter remarked the same thing.
• 1:34:26
  Speaker 1: He stopped at the foot of the Coach and Horses steps, and,
• 1:34:30
  Speaker 1: according to mister Huckster, appeared to undergo a severe internal
• 1:34:33
  Speaker 1: struggle before he could induce himself to enter the house. Finally,
• 1:34:38
  Speaker 1: he marched up the steps and was seen by mister
• 1:34:40
  Speaker 1: Huckster to turn to the left and open the door
• 1:34:42
  Speaker 1: of the parlor. Mister Huxter heard voices from within the
• 1:34:46
  Speaker 1: room and from the bar, apprising the man of his error.
• 1:34:50
  Speaker 1: That room's private said hall, and the stranger shut the
• 1:34:53
  Speaker 1: door clumsily and went into the bar. In the course
• 1:34:56
  Speaker 1: of a few minutes, he reappeared, wiping his lips with
• 1:34:59
  Speaker 1: the back of his hand, with an air of quiet
• 1:35:01
  Speaker 1: satisfaction that somehow impressed mister Huckster, as assumed, he stood
• 1:35:06
  Speaker 1: looking about him for some moments, and then mister Huxter
• 1:35:09
  Speaker 1: saw him walk in an oddly furtive manner towards the
• 1:35:11
  Speaker 1: gates of the yard upon which the parlor window opened.
• 1:35:15
  Speaker 1: The stranger, after some hesitation, leant against one of the
• 1:35:19
  Speaker 1: gate posts, produced a short clay pipe, and prepared to
• 1:35:22
  Speaker 1: fill it. His fingers trembled while doing so. He lit
• 1:35:27
  Speaker 1: it clumsily, and, folding his arms, began to smoke in
• 1:35:29
  Speaker 1: a languid attitude, an attitude which his occasional glances up
• 1:35:33
  Speaker 1: the yard altogether belied. All this mister Huxter saw over
• 1:35:38
  Speaker 1: the canisters of the tobacco window, and the singularity of
• 1:35:41
  Speaker 1: the man's behavior prompted him to maintain his observation. Presently,
• 1:35:46
  Speaker 1: the stranger stood up abruptly and put his pipe in
• 1:35:48
  Speaker 1: his pocket. Then he vanished into the yard forthwith mister
• 1:35:54
  Speaker 1: Huckster conceding he was witness of some petty larceny. Leapt
• 1:35:58
  Speaker 1: round his counter and ran out into the road to
• 1:36:00
  Speaker 1: intercept the thief. As he did so, mister Marvel reappeared
• 1:36:05
  Speaker 1: his hat. Ask you a big bundle in a blue
• 1:36:07
  Speaker 1: tablecloth in one hand, and three books tied together as
• 1:36:11
  Speaker 1: it proved afterwards, with the vicar's braces in the other.
• 1:36:15
  Speaker 1: Directly he saw Huckster. He gave a sort of gasp, and,
• 1:36:18
  Speaker 1: turning sharply to the left, began to run. Stop thief,
• 1:36:23
  Speaker 1: cried Huckster, and set off after him. Mister Huckster's sensations
• 1:36:28
  Speaker 1: were vivid but brief. He saw the man just before him,
• 1:36:31
  Speaker 1: and spurting briskly for the church corner and the hill road,
• 1:36:35
  Speaker 1: he saw the village flags and festivities beyond, and a
• 1:36:39
  Speaker 1: face or so turned towards him. He bawled stop again.
• 1:36:44
  Speaker 1: He had hardly gone ten strides before his shin was
• 1:36:47
  Speaker 1: caught in some mysterious fashion, and he was no longer running,
• 1:36:50
  Speaker 1: but flying with inconceivable rapidity through the air. He saw
• 1:36:54
  Speaker 1: the ground suddenly close to his face, the world seemed
• 1:36:58
  Speaker 1: to splash into a million whirling specks of light, and
• 1:37:01
  Speaker 1: subsequent proceedings interested him no more. Chapter eleven in the
• 1:37:07
  Speaker 1: Coach and Horses. Now, in order clearly to understand what
• 1:37:10
  Speaker 1: had happened in the Inn, it is necessary to go
• 1:37:12
  Speaker 1: back to the moment when mister Marble first came into
• 1:37:15
  Speaker 1: view of mister Huckster's window. At that precise moment, mister
• 1:37:19
  Speaker 1: Cuss and mister Bunting were in the parlor. They were
• 1:37:22
  Speaker 1: seriously investigating the strange occurrences of the morning, and were,
• 1:37:26
  Speaker 1: with mister Hall's permission, making a thorough examination of the
• 1:37:29
  Speaker 1: invisible man's belongings. Jaffers had partially recovered from his fall
• 1:37:34
  Speaker 1: and had gone home in the charge of his sympathetic friends.
• 1:37:38
  Speaker 1: The stranger's scattered garments had been removed by Missus Hall,
• 1:37:41
  Speaker 1: and the room tidied up, and on the table under
• 1:37:45
  Speaker 1: the window where the stranger had been wont to work,
• 1:37:47
  Speaker 1: Cuss had hit almost at once on three big books
• 1:37:49
  Speaker 1: in manuscript labeled diary. Diary, said Cuss, putting the three
• 1:37:55
  Speaker 1: books on the table. Now, at any rate we shall
• 1:37:58
  Speaker 1: learn something. The Vicar's stood with his hands on the
• 1:38:01
  Speaker 1: table diary, repeated Cuss, sitting down, putting two volumes to
• 1:38:06
  Speaker 1: support the third, and opening it hum no name on
• 1:38:10
  Speaker 1: the fly leaf, bother cipher and figures. The vicar came
• 1:38:16
  Speaker 1: round to look over his shoulder. Cuss turned the pages
• 1:38:20
  Speaker 1: over with a face, suddenly disappointed. I'm dear me, it's
• 1:38:25
  Speaker 1: all cipher Bunting. There are no diagrams, asked mister Bunting,
• 1:38:31
  Speaker 1: no illustrations throwing light. See for yourself, said mister Cuss.
• 1:38:36
  Speaker 1: Some of its mathematical, and some of its Russian or
• 1:38:39
  Speaker 1: some such language, to judge by the letters, and some
• 1:38:42
  Speaker 1: of its Greek. Now the Greek, I thought you, of course,
• 1:38:46
  Speaker 1: said mister Bunting, taking out and wiping his spectacles, and
• 1:38:50
  Speaker 1: feeling suddenly very uncomfortable, for he had no Greek left
• 1:38:54
  Speaker 1: in his mind worth talking about. Yes, the Greek, of course,
• 1:38:58
  Speaker 1: may furnish a clue. I'll find you a place. I'd
• 1:39:02
  Speaker 1: rather glance through the volumes first, said mister Bunting, still wiping.
• 1:39:07
  Speaker 1: A general impression first, Cuss, and then you know we
• 1:39:11
  Speaker 1: can go looking for clues. He coughed, put on his glasses,
• 1:39:15
  Speaker 1: arranged them fastidiously, coughed again, and wished something would happen
• 1:39:19
  Speaker 1: to avert the seemingly inevitable exposure. Then he took the
• 1:39:23
  Speaker 1: volume Cuss handed him in a leisurely manner, and then
• 1:39:26
  Speaker 1: something did happen. The door opened suddenly. Both gentlemen started violently,
• 1:39:33
  Speaker 1: looked round and were relieved to see a sporadically rosy
• 1:39:36
  Speaker 1: face beneath a furry silk hat. Tap asked the face
• 1:39:40
  Speaker 1: and stood staring. No, said both gentlemen at once. Over
• 1:39:46
  Speaker 1: the other side, my man, said mister Bunting, and please
• 1:39:50
  Speaker 1: shut that door, said mister Cuss, irritably. All right, said
• 1:39:55
  Speaker 1: the intruder, as it seemed, in a low voice, curiously
• 1:39:58
  Speaker 1: different from the huskiness of its first. Right, you are,
• 1:40:02
  Speaker 1: said the intruder in the former voice, stand clear, And
• 1:40:06
  Speaker 1: he vanished and closed the door. A sailor, I should judge,
• 1:40:10
  Speaker 1: said mister Bunting, amusing fellows, They are stand clear. Indeed
• 1:40:19
  Speaker 1: a nautical term referring to his getting back out of
• 1:40:21
  Speaker 1: the room. I suppose I dare say so, said Cuss.
• 1:40:27
  Speaker 1: My nerves are all loose to day. It quite made
• 1:40:30
  Speaker 1: me jump the door opening like that. Mister Bunting smiled
• 1:40:33
  Speaker 1: as if he had not jumped. And now he said
• 1:40:36
  Speaker 1: with a sigh. These books. Someone sniffed as he did. So.
• 1:40:41
  Speaker 1: One thing is indisputable, said Bunting, drawing up a chair
• 1:40:44
  Speaker 1: next to that of Cuss. There certainly have been very
• 1:40:48
  Speaker 1: strange things happen in Ipping during the last few days,
• 1:40:51
  Speaker 1: very strange. I cannot, of course, believe in this absurd
• 1:40:55
  Speaker 1: invisibility story. It's incredible, said Cuss. Incredible, But the fact
• 1:41:01
  Speaker 1: remains that I saw. I certainly saw write down his sleeve.
• 1:41:04
  Speaker 1: But did you Are you sure suppose a mirror? For instance?
• 1:41:09
  Speaker 1: Hallucinations are so easily produced. I don't know if you
• 1:41:13
  Speaker 1: have ever seen a really good conjurer. I won't argue again,
• 1:41:16
  Speaker 1: said Cuss. We've thrashed that out, Bunting. And just now
• 1:41:21
  Speaker 1: there's these books. Ah, here's some of what I take
• 1:41:25
  Speaker 1: to be Greek Greek letters. Certainly, he pointed to the
• 1:41:29
  Speaker 1: middle of the page. Mister Bunting flushed slightly and brought
• 1:41:33
  Speaker 1: his face nearer, apparently finding some difficulty with his glasses. Suddenly,
• 1:41:38
  Speaker 1: he became aware of a strange feeling at the nape
• 1:41:40
  Speaker 1: of his neck. He tried to raise his head and
• 1:41:44
  Speaker 1: encountered an immovable resistance. The feeling was a curious pressure
• 1:41:48
  Speaker 1: the grip of a heavy, firm hand, and it bore
• 1:41:51
  Speaker 1: his chin irresistibly to the table. Don't move, little men,
• 1:41:55
  Speaker 1: whispered a voice, or I'll brain you both. He looked
• 1:41:59
  Speaker 1: into the face of cuss close to his own, and
• 1:42:02
  Speaker 1: each saw a horrified reflection of his own, sickly astonishment.
• 1:42:06
  Speaker 1: I'm sorry to handle you so roughly, said the voice,
• 1:42:09
  Speaker 1: but it's unavoidable. Since when did you learn to pry
• 1:42:13
  Speaker 1: into an investigator's private memoranda? Said the voice, and two
• 1:42:17
  Speaker 1: chins struck the table simultaneously, and two sets of teeth rattled.
• 1:42:22
  Speaker 1: Since when did you learn to invade the private rooms
• 1:42:24
  Speaker 1: of a man in misfortune? And the concussion was repeated.
• 1:42:28
  Speaker 1: Where have they put my clothes? Listen? Said the voice.
• 1:42:33
  Speaker 1: The windows are fastened, and I've taken the key out
• 1:42:35
  Speaker 1: of the door. I am a fairly strong man, and
• 1:42:39
  Speaker 1: I have the poker handy. Besides being invisible, there's not
• 1:42:43
  Speaker 1: the slightest doubt that I could kill you both and
• 1:42:45
  Speaker 1: get away quite easily if I wanted to. Do you
• 1:42:48
  Speaker 1: understand very well? If I let you go, will you
• 1:42:52
  Speaker 1: promise not to try any nonsense and do what I
• 1:42:54
  Speaker 1: tell you? The vicar and the doctor looked at one another,
• 1:42:57
  Speaker 1: and the doctor pulled a face. Yes, said mister Bunting,
• 1:43:01
  Speaker 1: and the doctor repeated it. Then the pressure on the
• 1:43:05
  Speaker 1: necks relaxed, and the doctor and the vicar sat up,
• 1:43:07
  Speaker 1: both very red in the face and wriggling their heads.
• 1:43:11
  Speaker 1: Please keep sitting where you are, said the invisible man.
• 1:43:15
  Speaker 1: Here's the poker, you see when I came into this room,
• 1:43:19
  Speaker 1: continued the invisible man, after presenting the poker to the
• 1:43:22
  Speaker 1: tip of the nose of each of his visitors. I
• 1:43:24
  Speaker 1: did not expect to find it occupied, and I expected
• 1:43:27
  Speaker 1: to find, in addition to my books of memoranda, an
• 1:43:30
  Speaker 1: outfit of clothing. Where is it, No, don't rise, I
• 1:43:36
  Speaker 1: can see it's gone now, just at present. Though the
• 1:43:40
  Speaker 1: days are quite warm enough for an invisible man to
• 1:43:43
  Speaker 1: run about stark, the evenings are quite chilly. I want
• 1:43:47
  Speaker 1: clothing and other accommodation, and I must also have those
• 1:43:50
  Speaker 1: three books. Chapter twelve, The Invisible Man loses his temper.
• 1:43:55
  Speaker 1: It is unavoidable that at this point the narrative should
• 1:43:57
  Speaker 1: break off again for a certain, very painful reason that
• 1:44:00
  Speaker 1: will presently be apparent. While these things were going on
• 1:44:03
  Speaker 1: in the parlor, and while mister Huckster was watching mister
• 1:44:06
  Speaker 1: Marvell smoking his pipe against the gate. Not a dozen
• 1:44:09
  Speaker 1: yards away were mister Hall and Teddy Henfry discussing in
• 1:44:13
  Speaker 1: a state of cloudy puzzlement the one ipping topic. Suddenly
• 1:44:17
  Speaker 1: there came a violent thud against the door of the parlor,
• 1:44:20
  Speaker 1: a sharp cry, and then silence. Ho Loo, said Teddy
• 1:44:25
  Speaker 1: Henfry hollo from the tap. Mister Hall took things in slowly,
• 1:44:31
  Speaker 1: but surely that ain't right, he said, and came round
• 1:44:35
  Speaker 1: from behind the bar towards the parlor door. He and
• 1:44:39
  Speaker 1: Teddy approached the door together with intent faces. Their eyes
• 1:44:43
  Speaker 1: considered somemmat wrong, said Hall, and Henfry nodded agreement. Whiffs
• 1:44:50
  Speaker 1: of an unpleasant chemical odor met them, and there was
• 1:44:52
  Speaker 1: a muffled sound of conversation, very rapid and subdued. You
• 1:44:57
  Speaker 1: all write, Thursday, asked Hall, rapping. The muttered conversation ceased
• 1:45:02
  Speaker 1: abruptly for a moment's silence. Then the conversation was resumed
• 1:45:06
  Speaker 1: in hissing whispers, then a sharp cry of no, no,
• 1:45:10
  Speaker 1: you don't. There came a sudden motion in the oversetting
• 1:45:14
  Speaker 1: of a chair, a brief struggle, silence again, What the deuce,
• 1:45:20
  Speaker 1: exclaimed Henfry. Sado, vochee you all rite Thursday, asked mister Hall,
• 1:45:26
  Speaker 1: sharply Again, the vicar's voice answered with a curious, jerking intonation.
• 1:45:32
  Speaker 1: Quite read write. Please don't interrupt, odd, said mister Henfry,
• 1:45:39
  Speaker 1: Odd said mister Hall says, don't interrupt, said Henfry. I
• 1:45:45
  Speaker 1: hear then, said Hall, and the sniff said Henfry. They
• 1:45:50
  Speaker 1: remained listening. The conversation was rapid and subdued. I can't,
• 1:45:56
  Speaker 1: said mister Bunting, his voice rising, I tell you, sir,
• 1:46:00
  Speaker 1: I will not. What was that, asked ten Fry. Says
• 1:46:05
  Speaker 1: he why Gnart said Hall warn't speaking to us? Was
• 1:46:09
  Speaker 1: he disgraceful, said mister Bunting. Within disgraceful, said mister Henphry.
• 1:46:18
  Speaker 1: I heard it distinct. Who's that speaking now, asked ten Fry.
• 1:46:24
  Speaker 1: Mister cuss I suppose, said Hall. Can you hear anything? Silence?
• 1:46:30
  Speaker 1: The sounds within indistinct and perplexing, sounds like throwing the
• 1:46:35
  Speaker 1: tablecloth about, said Hall. Missus Hall appeared behind the bar.
• 1:46:41
  Speaker 1: Hall made gestures of silence and invitation. This aroused Missus
• 1:46:46
  Speaker 1: Hall's wifely opposition, what you're listenin? Therefore, Hall she asked,
• 1:46:52
  Speaker 1: ain't you nothing better to do? Busy day like this?
• 1:46:55
  Speaker 1: Hall tried to convey everything by Grimace's and dumb show,
• 1:46:59
  Speaker 1: but Missus Hall was obdurate. She raised her voice, so
• 1:47:04
  Speaker 1: Hall and hen Fry, rather crestfallen, tiptoed back to the bar,
• 1:47:08
  Speaker 1: gesticulating to explain to her. At first, she refused to
• 1:47:12
  Speaker 1: see anything in what they had heard at all. Then
• 1:47:15
  Speaker 1: she insisted on Hall keeping silence while Henfry told her
• 1:47:19
  Speaker 1: his story. She was inclined to think the whole business nonsense.
• 1:47:23
  Speaker 1: Perhaps they were just moving the furniture about. I heard
• 1:47:27
  Speaker 1: n say disgraceful that I did, said Hall. I heard that,
• 1:47:32
  Speaker 1: Missus Hall, said hen Fry. Like as not began Missus
• 1:47:37
  Speaker 1: Hall h s H said mister Teddy Henfry. Didn't I
• 1:47:42
  Speaker 1: hear the window? What window? Asked Missus Hall. Parlor window,
• 1:47:48
  Speaker 1: said hen Fry. Everyone stood listening intently. Missus Hall's eyes
• 1:47:55
  Speaker 1: directed straight before her saw, without seeing the brilliant oblong
• 1:47:58
  Speaker 1: of the indoor, the rode white and vivid, and Huckster's
• 1:48:01
  Speaker 1: shop front blistering in the June sun. Abruptly, Huckster's door
• 1:48:06
  Speaker 1: opened and Huckster appeared. Eyes staring with excitement, arms gesticulating yap,
• 1:48:12
  Speaker 1: cried Huxter, stop thief, and he ran obliquely across the
• 1:48:17
  Speaker 1: oblong towards the yard gates and vanished. Simultaneously came a
• 1:48:22
  Speaker 1: tumult from the parlor and a sound of windows being closed. Hall, Henfry,
• 1:48:27
  Speaker 1: and the human contents of the Tap rushed out at once,
• 1:48:30
  Speaker 1: pell mell into the street. They saw someone whisk round
• 1:48:34
  Speaker 1: the corner towards the road, and mister Huckster executing a
• 1:48:38
  Speaker 1: complicated leap in the air that ended on his face
• 1:48:41
  Speaker 1: and shoulder. Down the street. People were standing, astonished or
• 1:48:45
  Speaker 1: running towards them. Mister Huckster was stunned. Hen Fry stopped
• 1:48:50
  Speaker 1: to discover this, but Hall and the two laborers from
• 1:48:52
  Speaker 1: the Tap rushed at once to the corner, shouting incoherent things,
• 1:48:56
  Speaker 1: and saw mister Marvel vanishing by the corner of the
• 1:49:00
  Speaker 1: church wall. They appeared to have jumped to the impossible
• 1:49:04
  Speaker 1: conclusion that this was the invisible man suddenly become visible,
• 1:49:07
  Speaker 1: and set off at once along the lane in pursuit.
• 1:49:10
  Speaker 1: But Hall had hardly run a dozen yards before he
• 1:49:13
  Speaker 1: gave a loud shout of astonishment and went flying headlong sideways,
• 1:49:17
  Speaker 1: clutching one of the laborers and bringing him to the ground.
• 1:49:20
  Speaker 1: He had been charged just as one charges a man
• 1:49:23
  Speaker 1: at football. The second laborer came round in a circle,
• 1:49:27
  Speaker 1: stared and conceiving that Hall had tumbled over of his
• 1:49:30
  Speaker 1: own accord, turned to resume the pursuit, only to be
• 1:49:33
  Speaker 1: tripped by the ankle, just as Huckster had been. Then,
• 1:49:37
  Speaker 1: as the first laborer struggled to his feet, he was
• 1:49:39
  Speaker 1: kicked sideways by a blow that might have felled an ox.
• 1:49:43
  Speaker 1: As he went down the rush from the direction of
• 1:49:46
  Speaker 1: the village Green came round the corner. The first to
• 1:49:49
  Speaker 1: appear was the proprietor of the Cocoanut Shy, a burly
• 1:49:52
  Speaker 1: man in a blue jersey. He was astonished to see
• 1:49:56
  Speaker 1: the lane empty save for three men sprawling absurdly on
• 1:49:59
  Speaker 1: the ground. And then something happened to his rearmost foot,
• 1:50:03
  Speaker 1: and he went headlong and rolled sideways, just in time
• 1:50:06
  Speaker 1: to graze the feet of his brother and partner following headlong.
• 1:50:10
  Speaker 1: The two were then kicked, knelt on, fallen over, and
• 1:50:13
  Speaker 1: cursed by quite a number of over hasty people. Now,
• 1:50:17
  Speaker 1: when Hall and Henfry and the laborers ran out of
• 1:50:19
  Speaker 1: the house. Missus Hall, who had been disciplined by years
• 1:50:24
  Speaker 1: of experience, remained in the bar next the till. And
• 1:50:28
  Speaker 1: suddenly the parlor door was opened, and mister Cuss appeared,
• 1:50:31
  Speaker 1: and without glancing at her, rushed at once down the
• 1:50:33
  Speaker 1: steps toward the corner. Hold him, he cried, don't let
• 1:50:38
  Speaker 1: him drop that parcel. He knew nothing of the existence
• 1:50:41
  Speaker 1: of marvel, for the invisible man had handed over the
• 1:50:45
  Speaker 1: books and bundle in the yard. The face of mister
• 1:50:48
  Speaker 1: Cuss was angry and resolute, but his costume was defective,
• 1:50:52
  Speaker 1: a sort of limp white kilt that could only have
• 1:50:54
  Speaker 1: passed muster in grease. Hold him, he bawled, He's got
• 1:50:59
  Speaker 1: my trousers, and every stitch of the vicar's clothes ten
• 1:51:04
  Speaker 1: to him in a minute, he cried to Henfry. As
• 1:51:07
  Speaker 1: he passed the prostrate huckster, and, coming round the corner
• 1:51:10
  Speaker 1: to join the tumult, was promptly knocked off his feet
• 1:51:13
  Speaker 1: into an indecorous sprawl. Somebody in full fight trod heavily
• 1:51:17
  Speaker 1: on his finger. He yelled, struggled to regain his feet,
• 1:51:21
  Speaker 1: was knocked against and thrown on all fours again, and
• 1:51:24
  Speaker 1: became aware that he was involved, not in a capture,
• 1:51:27
  Speaker 1: but a rout. Everyone was running back to the village.
• 1:51:31
  Speaker 1: He rose again and was hit severely behind the ear.
• 1:51:35
  Speaker 1: He staggered and set off back to the coach and
• 1:51:38
  Speaker 1: horses forthwith leaping over the deserted huckster, who was now
• 1:51:42
  Speaker 1: sitting up on his way behind him. As he was
• 1:51:45
  Speaker 1: half way up the in steps, he heard a sudden
• 1:51:47
  Speaker 1: yell of rage, rising sharply out of the confusion of cries,
• 1:51:51
  Speaker 1: and a sounding smack in someone's face. He recognized the
• 1:51:55
  Speaker 1: voice as that of the Invisible Man, and the note
• 1:51:57
  Speaker 1: was that of a man suddenly infuriated by a painful blow.
• 1:52:01
  Speaker 1: In another moment, mister Cuss was back in the parlor.
• 1:52:05
  Speaker 1: He's coming back, Bunting, he said, rushing in. Save yourself.
• 1:52:10
  Speaker 1: Mister Bunting was standing in the window, engaged in an
• 1:52:14
  Speaker 1: attempt to clothe himself in the hearth rug in a
• 1:52:16
  Speaker 1: West Surrey gazette. Who's coming, he said, so startled that
• 1:52:21
  Speaker 1: his costume narrowly escaped disintegration. Invisible Man, said Cuss, and
• 1:52:26
  Speaker 1: rushed on to the window. We'd better clear out from here.
• 1:52:31
  Speaker 1: He's fighting mad mad. In another moment, he was out
• 1:52:36
  Speaker 1: in the yard good, Heavens, said mister Bunting, hesitating between
• 1:52:40
  Speaker 1: two horrible alternatives, he heard a frightful struggle in the
• 1:52:44
  Speaker 1: passage of the inn, and his decision was made. He
• 1:52:48
  Speaker 1: clambered out of the window, adjusted his costume hastily, and
• 1:52:52
  Speaker 1: fled up the village as fast as his fat little
• 1:52:54
  Speaker 1: legs would carry him. From the moment when the Invisible
• 1:52:57
  Speaker 1: Man screamed with rage and mister Bunting made his memorable
• 1:53:00
  Speaker 1: flight up the village, it became impossible to give a
• 1:53:03
  Speaker 1: consecutive account of affairs in Ipping. Possibly the Invisible Man's
• 1:53:07
  Speaker 1: original intention was simply to cover Marvel's retreat with the
• 1:53:10
  Speaker 1: clothes and books, but his temper at no time very
• 1:53:14
  Speaker 1: good seems to have gone completely. At some chance blow
• 1:53:18
  Speaker 1: and forthwith he set to smiting and overthrowing. For the
• 1:53:21
  Speaker 1: mere satisfaction of hurting. You must figure the street full
• 1:53:25
  Speaker 1: of running, figures of doors slamming in fights for hiding places.
• 1:53:30
  Speaker 1: You must figure the tumult suddenly striking on the unstable
• 1:53:33
  Speaker 1: equilibrium of Old Fletcher's planks and two chairs with cataclysmic results.
• 1:53:38
  Speaker 1: You must figure an appalled couple caught dismally in a swing,
• 1:53:42
  Speaker 1: and then the whole tumultuous rush has passed, and the
• 1:53:45
  Speaker 1: Iping Street, with its gods and flags, is deserted, save
• 1:53:48
  Speaker 1: for the still raging, unseen and littered with cocoanuts, overthrown canvas, screens,
• 1:53:53
  Speaker 1: and the scattered stock in trade of a sweet stuff stall.
• 1:53:56
  Speaker 1: Everywhere there is a sound of closing shutters and shoving bolts,
• 1:54:00
  Speaker 1: and the only visible humanity is an occasional flitting eye
• 1:54:03
  Speaker 1: under a raised eyebrow in the corner of a window pane.
• 1:54:06
  Speaker 1: The invisible man amused himself for a little while by
• 1:54:09
  Speaker 1: breaking all the windows in the coach and horses, and
• 1:54:12
  Speaker 1: then he thrust a street lamp through the parlor window
• 1:54:15
  Speaker 1: of Missus Gribble. He it must have been who cut
• 1:54:18
  Speaker 1: the telegraph wire to Aderdean, just beyond Higgins Cottage on
• 1:54:21
  Speaker 1: the Aderdean Road. And after that, as his peculiar qualities allowed,
• 1:54:26
  Speaker 1: he passed out of human perceptions altogether, and he was
• 1:54:29
  Speaker 1: neither heard, seen, nor felt inn ipping any more. He
• 1:54:33
  Speaker 1: vanished absolutely, But it was the best part of two
• 1:54:37
  Speaker 1: hours before any human being ventured out again into the
• 1:54:40
  Speaker 1: desolation of Ipping Street. Chapter thirteen, mister Marvel discusses his
• 1:54:47
  Speaker 1: resignation when the dusk was gathering, and ipping was just
• 1:54:50
  Speaker 1: beginning to peep timorously forth again upon the shattered wreckage
• 1:54:53
  Speaker 1: of its bank holiday. A short, thick set man in
• 1:54:56
  Speaker 1: a shabby silk hat was marching painfully through the twilight
• 1:54:59
  Speaker 1: behind the beach woods on the road to Bramblehurst. He
• 1:55:02
  Speaker 1: carried three books, bound together by some sort of ornamental
• 1:55:05
  Speaker 1: elastic ligature, and a bundle wrapped in a blue tablecloth.
• 1:55:10
  Speaker 1: His rubicund face expressed consternation and fatigue. He appeared to
• 1:55:14
  Speaker 1: be in a spasmodic sort of hurry. He was accompanied
• 1:55:17
  Speaker 1: by a voice other than his own, and ever and
• 1:55:19
  Speaker 1: again he winced under the touch of unseen hands. If
• 1:55:23
  Speaker 1: you give me the slip again, said the voice. If
• 1:55:26
  Speaker 1: you attempt to give me the slip again, Lord, said
• 1:55:29
  Speaker 1: mister Marvel. That shoulder's a mass of bruises, as it is.
• 1:55:34
  Speaker 1: On my honor, said the voice, I will kill you.
• 1:55:37
  Speaker 1: I didn't try to give you the slip, said Marvel,
• 1:55:40
  Speaker 1: in a voice that was not far remote from tears.
• 1:55:44
  Speaker 1: I swear I didn't. I didn't know the blessed turning.
• 1:55:48
  Speaker 1: That was all. How the devil was I to know
• 1:55:50
  Speaker 1: the blest turning? As it is. I've been knocked about.
• 1:55:54
  Speaker 1: You'll get knocked about a great deal more if you
• 1:55:56
  Speaker 1: don't mind, said the voice, and mister Marvel abruptly became silent.
• 1:56:01
  Speaker 1: He blew out his cheeks, and his eyes were eloquent
• 1:56:04
  Speaker 1: of despair. It's bad enough to let these floundering yokels
• 1:56:08
  Speaker 1: explode my little secret without your cutting off with my books.
• 1:56:13
  Speaker 1: It's lucky for some of them they cut and ran
• 1:56:15
  Speaker 1: when they did. Here am I. No one knew I
• 1:56:18
  Speaker 1: was invisible? And now what am I to do? What
• 1:56:22
  Speaker 1: am I to do? Asked Marvel sado VOCHI, it's all about.
• 1:56:28
  Speaker 1: It will be in the papers. Everybody will be looking
• 1:56:31
  Speaker 1: for me, everyone on their guard. The voice broke off
• 1:56:34
  Speaker 1: into vivid curses and ceased. The despair of mister Marvel's
• 1:56:38
  Speaker 1: face deepened and his pace slackened. Go on, said the voice.
• 1:56:44
  Speaker 1: Mister Marvel's face assumed a grayish tint between the ruddier patches.
• 1:56:48
  Speaker 1: Don't drop those books, stupid, said the voice, sharply, overtaking him.
• 1:56:54
  Speaker 1: The fact is, said the voice. I shall have to
• 1:56:57
  Speaker 1: make use of you. You're a poor tree, but I must.
• 1:57:02
  Speaker 1: I'm a miserable tool, said Marvel. You are said the voice.
• 1:57:07
  Speaker 1: I'm the worst possible tool you could have, said Marvel.
• 1:57:11
  Speaker 1: I'm not strong, he said, after a discouraging silence. I'm
• 1:57:16
  Speaker 1: not over strong, he repeated. No, and my heart's weak.
• 1:57:22
  Speaker 1: That little business I pulled it through, of course, but
• 1:57:25
  Speaker 1: bless you, I could have dropped. Well. I haven't the
• 1:57:31
  Speaker 1: nerve and strength for the sort of thing you want.
• 1:57:34
  Speaker 1: I'll stimulate you. I wish you wouldn't. I wouldn't like
• 1:57:38
  Speaker 1: to mess up your plans, you know, but I might
• 1:57:42
  Speaker 1: out of sheer funk and misery. You'd better not, said
• 1:57:46
  Speaker 1: the voice, with quiet emphasis. I wish I was dead,
• 1:57:50
  Speaker 1: said Marvel. It ain't justice, he said. You must admit
• 1:57:55
  Speaker 1: it seems to me I've a perfect right get on,
• 1:57:58
  Speaker 1: said the voice. Mister Marvel mended his pace, and for
• 1:58:02
  Speaker 1: a time they went in silence again. It's devilish hard,
• 1:58:06
  Speaker 1: said mister Marvel. This was quite ineffectual. He tried another tack.
• 1:58:13
  Speaker 1: What do I make by it? He began again, in
• 1:58:15
  Speaker 1: a tone of unendurable wrong. Oh, shut up, said the voice,
• 1:58:21
  Speaker 1: with sudden amazing vigor. I'll see to you all right.
• 1:58:25
  Speaker 1: You do what you're told, You'll do it all right.
• 1:58:29
  Speaker 1: You're a fool and all that. But you'll do I
• 1:58:32
  Speaker 1: tell you, sir, I'm not the man for it, respectfully,
• 1:58:36
  Speaker 1: but it is so. If you don't shut up, I
• 1:58:38
  Speaker 1: shall twist your wrist again, said the invisible man. I
• 1:58:42
  Speaker 1: want to think presently. Two oblongs of yellow light appeared
• 1:58:45
  Speaker 1: through the trees, and the square tower of a church
• 1:58:48
  Speaker 1: loomed through the gloaming. I shall keep my hand on
• 1:58:51
  Speaker 1: your shoulder, said the voice, all through the village. Go
• 1:58:55
  Speaker 1: straight through and try no foolery. It will be the
• 1:58:59
  Speaker 1: worse for you if you do. I know that side,
• 1:59:02
  Speaker 1: mister Marvel. I know all that. The unhappy looking figure
• 1:59:05
  Speaker 1: in the obsolete silk hat passed up the street of
• 1:59:08
  Speaker 1: the little village with his burdens and vanished into the
• 1:59:10
  Speaker 1: gathering darkness beyond the lights of the windows. Chapter fourteen.
• 1:59:16
  Speaker 1: At port Stow, ten o'clock the next morning found mister Marvel, unshaven,
• 1:59:20
  Speaker 1: dirty and travel stained, sitting with the books beside him
• 1:59:23
  Speaker 1: and his hands deep in his pockets, looking very weary,
• 1:59:26
  Speaker 1: nervous and uncomfortable, and inflating his cheeks at infrequent intervals,
• 1:59:31
  Speaker 1: on the bench outside a little in on the outskirts
• 1:59:33
  Speaker 1: of port Stow, Beside him were the books, but now
• 1:59:37
  Speaker 1: they were tied with string. The bundle had been abandoned
• 1:59:40
  Speaker 1: in the pine woods beyond Bramblehurst, in accordance with a
• 1:59:43
  Speaker 1: change in the plans of the Invisible Man. Mister Marvel
• 1:59:47
  Speaker 1: sat on the bench, and although no one took the
• 1:59:49
  Speaker 1: slightest notice of him, his agitation remained at fever heat.
• 1:59:54
  Speaker 1: His hands would go ever and again to his various
• 1:59:56
  Speaker 1: pockets with a curious, nervous fumbling. When he had been
• 2:00:00
  Speaker 1: sitting for the best part of an hour, however, an
• 2:00:03
  Speaker 1: elderly mariner, carrying a newspaper came out of the inn
• 2:00:06
  Speaker 1: and sat down beside him. Pleasant day, said the mariner.
• 2:00:11
  Speaker 1: Mister Marvell glanced about him with something very like terror. Very,
• 2:00:16
  Speaker 1: he said, just seasonable weather for the time of year,
• 2:00:19
  Speaker 1: said the mariner, taking no denial, quite, said mister Marvel.
• 2:00:25
  Speaker 1: The mariner produced a toothpick, and, saving his regard, was
• 2:00:29
  Speaker 1: engrossed thereby for some minutes. His eyes, meanwhile, were at
• 2:00:33
  Speaker 1: liberty to examine mister Marvel's dusty figure and the books
• 2:00:36
  Speaker 1: beside him. As he had approached mister Marvel, he had
• 2:00:41
  Speaker 1: heard a sound like the dropping of coins into a pocket.
• 2:00:45
  Speaker 1: He was struck by the contrast of mister Marvel's appearance
• 2:00:47
  Speaker 1: with this suggestion of opulence. Thence, his mind wandered back
• 2:00:51
  Speaker 1: again to a topic that had taken a curiously firm
• 2:00:54
  Speaker 1: hold of his imagination. Books, he said, suddenly, noisily finishing
• 2:00:59
  Speaker 1: with the tooth. Mister Marvel started and looked at them. Oh, yes,
• 2:01:06
  Speaker 1: he said, Yes, they're books. There's some extraordinary things in books,
• 2:01:12
  Speaker 1: said the mariner. I believe you, said mister Marvel. And
• 2:01:17
  Speaker 1: some extraordinary things out of m said the mariner. True. Likewise,
• 2:01:22
  Speaker 1: said mister Marvel. He eyed his interlocutor, and then glanced
• 2:01:27
  Speaker 1: about him. There's some extraordinary things in newspapers, for example,
• 2:01:32
  Speaker 1: said the mariner. There are in this newspaper, said the mariner. Ah,
• 2:01:39
  Speaker 1: said mister Marvel. There's a story, said the mariner, fixing
• 2:01:43
  Speaker 1: mister Marvel with an eye that was firm and deliberate.
• 2:01:46
  Speaker 1: There's a story about an invisible man, for instance. Mister
• 2:01:50
  Speaker 1: Marvel pulled his mouth, ask you, and scratched his cheek,
• 2:01:53
  Speaker 1: and felt his ears glowing. What will they be writing next,
• 2:01:57
  Speaker 1: he asked, faintly. Austria or America. Neither, said the mariner. Here,
• 2:02:05
  Speaker 1: Lord said mister Marvel. Starting when I say here, said
• 2:02:10
  Speaker 1: the mariner, to mister Marvel's intense relief, I don't, of
• 2:02:15
  Speaker 1: course mean here in this place. I mean hereabouts an
• 2:02:18
  Speaker 1: invisible man, said mister Marvel. And what's he been up to? Everything,
• 2:02:24
  Speaker 1: said the mariner, controlling Marvel with his eye, and then
• 2:02:28
  Speaker 1: amplifying every blessed thing. I ain't seen a paper these
• 2:02:32
  Speaker 1: four days, said Marvel. Ipping's the place he started at,
• 2:02:37
  Speaker 1: said the mariner. Indeed, said mister Marvel, he started there,
• 2:02:43
  Speaker 1: and where he came from. Nobody don't seem to know here.
• 2:02:47
  Speaker 1: It is peculiar story from Ipping. And it says in
• 2:02:50
  Speaker 1: this paper that the evidence is extraordinary, strong, extraordinary, Lord,
• 2:02:55
  Speaker 1: said mister Marvel. But then it's an extraordinary story. There
• 2:03:01
  Speaker 1: is a clergyman and a medical gent. Witnesses saw him
• 2:03:04
  Speaker 1: all right, and proper or leastways didn't see him. He
• 2:03:08
  Speaker 1: was staying, it says, at the coach and horses, and
• 2:03:12
  Speaker 1: no one don't seem to have been aware of his misfortune.
• 2:03:14
  Speaker 1: It says, aware of his misfortune until in an altercation
• 2:03:18
  Speaker 1: in the inn. It says his bandages on his head
• 2:03:21
  Speaker 1: was torn off. It was then ob served that his
• 2:03:24
  Speaker 1: head was invisible. Attempts were at once made to secure him,
• 2:03:28
  Speaker 1: but casting off his garments. It says he succeeded in escaping,
• 2:03:32
  Speaker 1: but not until after a desperate struggle in which he
• 2:03:35
  Speaker 1: had inflicted serious injuries. It says on our worthy and
• 2:03:39
  Speaker 1: able Constable mister J. Jaffers, pretty straight story, eg Names
• 2:03:45
  Speaker 1: and everything, Lord, said mister Marvell, looking nervously about him,
• 2:03:51
  Speaker 1: trying to count the money in his pockets, by his
• 2:03:53
  Speaker 1: unaided sense of touch, and full of a strange and
• 2:03:56
  Speaker 1: novel idea, it sounds most astonishing, don't it extraordinary? I
• 2:04:02
  Speaker 1: call it? Never heard tell of invisible men before? I haven't,
• 2:04:07
  Speaker 1: But nowadays one hears such a lot of extraordinary things.
• 2:04:11
  Speaker 1: That that all he did, asked Marvel, trying to seem
• 2:04:14
  Speaker 1: at his ease. It's enough, ain't it? Said the Mariner.
• 2:04:19
  Speaker 1: Didn't go back by any chance, asked Marvel. Just escaped
• 2:04:23
  Speaker 1: and that's all, eh all, said the Mariner. Why ain't
• 2:04:30
  Speaker 1: it enough? Quite enough? Said Marvel? I should think it
• 2:04:34
  Speaker 1: was enough, said the Mariner. I should think it was enough.
• 2:04:39
  Speaker 1: He didn't have any pals. It don't say he had
• 2:04:42
  Speaker 1: any pals, does it, asked mister Marvel, anxious ain't one
• 2:04:46
  Speaker 1: of a sort enough for you, asked the mariner. No,
• 2:04:50
  Speaker 1: thank heaven, as one might say, he didn't. He nodded
• 2:04:53
  Speaker 1: his head slowly. It makes me regular uncomfortable the bare
• 2:04:58
  Speaker 1: thought of that chap running about the cun He is
• 2:05:01
  Speaker 1: at present, at large, and from certain evidence, it is
• 2:05:04
  Speaker 1: supposed that he has taken took I suppose they mean
• 2:05:08
  Speaker 1: the road to Portstow. You see, we're right in it.
• 2:05:12
  Speaker 1: None of your American wonders this time. And just think
• 2:05:16
  Speaker 1: of the things he might do. Where'd you be if
• 2:05:19
  Speaker 1: he took a drop over and above and had a
• 2:05:22
  Speaker 1: fancy to go for you suppose he wants to rob?
• 2:05:25
  Speaker 1: Who can prevent him? He can trespass, he can burgle,
• 2:05:29
  Speaker 1: He could walk through a cordon of policemen as easy
• 2:05:32
  Speaker 1: as me. Or you could give the slip to a
• 2:05:33
  Speaker 1: blind man easier for these here blind chaps here uncommon sharp,
• 2:05:39
  Speaker 1: I'm told, and wherever there was liquor, he fancied, he's
• 2:05:43
  Speaker 1: got a tremendous advantage, certainly, said mister Marvel. Anne. Well
• 2:05:49
  Speaker 1: you're right, said the mariner. He has. All this time,
• 2:05:53
  Speaker 1: mister Marvel had been glancing about him intently, listening for
• 2:05:56
  Speaker 1: faint footfalls, trying to detect imperceptible movements. He seemed on
• 2:06:00
  Speaker 1: the point of some great resolution. He coughed behind his hand.
• 2:06:06
  Speaker 1: He looked about him again, listened, bent towards the mariner,
• 2:06:09
  Speaker 1: and lowered his voice. The fact of it is, I
• 2:06:12
  Speaker 1: happen to know just a thing or two about this
• 2:06:15
  Speaker 1: invisible man from private sources, Oh, said the mariner. Interested you, Yes,
• 2:06:24
  Speaker 1: said mister Marvell. Me indeed, said the mariner. And may
• 2:06:30
  Speaker 1: I ask You'll be astonished, said mister Marvel behind his hand.
• 2:06:35
  Speaker 1: It's tremendous, indeed, said the mariner. The fact is, began
• 2:06:41
  Speaker 1: mister Marvel eagerly, in a confidential undertone. Suddenly his expression
• 2:06:46
  Speaker 1: changed marvelously. Ow, he said. He rose stiffly in his seat.
• 2:06:52
  Speaker 1: His face was eloquent of physical suffering. Wow, he said,
• 2:06:58
  Speaker 1: what's up, said the mariner. Concerned toothache, said mister Marvel,
• 2:07:03
  Speaker 1: and put his hand to his ear. He caught hold
• 2:07:06
  Speaker 1: of his books. I must be getting on, I think,
• 2:07:10
  Speaker 1: he said. He edged in a curious way along the seat,
• 2:07:13
  Speaker 1: away from his interlocutor. But you was just a going
• 2:07:17
  Speaker 1: to tell me about this here, invisible man, protested the mariner.
• 2:07:21
  Speaker 1: Mister Marvel seemed to consult with himself. Hoax, said a voice.
• 2:07:28
  Speaker 1: It's a hoax, said mister Marvel. But it's in the paper,
• 2:07:32
  Speaker 1: said the mariner. Hoax all the same, said Marvel. I
• 2:07:37
  Speaker 1: know the chap that started the lie. There ain't no
• 2:07:40
  Speaker 1: invisible man whatsoever. BlimE me, But how about this paper?
• 2:07:46
  Speaker 1: You mean to say not a word of it, said Marvel, stoutly.
• 2:07:51
  Speaker 1: The Mariner stared paper in hand. Mister Marvel jerkily faced
• 2:07:56
  Speaker 1: about Wait a bit, said the Mariner, rising and speaking slowly.
• 2:08:01
  Speaker 1: JU mean to say, I do, said mister Marvel. Then
• 2:08:06
  Speaker 1: why did you let me go on and tell you
• 2:08:07
  Speaker 1: all this blasted stuff? Then what do yer mean by
• 2:08:11
  Speaker 1: letting a man make a fool of himself like that?
• 2:08:13
  Speaker 1: For eh, mister Marvel blew out his cheeks. The Mariner
• 2:08:20
  Speaker 1: was suddenly very red. Indeed, he clenched his hands. I've
• 2:08:24
  Speaker 1: been talking here this ten minutes, he said. And you,
• 2:08:27
  Speaker 1: you little pot bellied, leathery faced son of an old boot,
• 2:08:30
  Speaker 1: couldn't have the elementary manners. Don't you come bandying words
• 2:08:34
  Speaker 1: with me? Said mister Marvel, bandying words. I'm a jolly
• 2:08:39
  Speaker 1: good mind. Come up, said a voice, and mister Marvel
• 2:08:42
  Speaker 1: was suddenly whirled about and started marching off in a curious,
• 2:08:45
  Speaker 1: spasmodic manner. You'd better move on, said the mariner. Who's
• 2:08:51
  Speaker 1: moving on, said mister Marvel. He was receding obliquely with
• 2:08:55
  Speaker 1: a curious hurrying gait, with occasional violent jerks forward. Some
• 2:09:00
  Speaker 1: way along the road. He began a muttered monologue protests
• 2:09:03
  Speaker 1: and recriminations. Silly devil, said the mariner, legs wide apart,
• 2:09:09
  Speaker 1: elbows akimbo, watching the receding figure. I'll show you, you
• 2:09:13
  Speaker 1: silly ass, hoaxing me. It's here on the paper, mister
• 2:09:19
  Speaker 1: Marvel retorted incoherently, and receding was hidden by a bend
• 2:09:23
  Speaker 1: in the road, but the mariner still stood magnificent in
• 2:09:26
  Speaker 1: the midst of the way until the approach of a
• 2:09:28
  Speaker 1: butcher's cart dislodged him. Then he turned himself towards port Stow.
• 2:09:34
  Speaker 1: Full of extraordinary asses, he said softly to himself, Just
• 2:09:39
  Speaker 1: to take me down a bit. That was his silly game.
• 2:09:42
  Speaker 1: It's on the paper. And there was another extraordinary thing
• 2:09:44
  Speaker 1: he was presently to hear that had happened quite close
• 2:09:47
  Speaker 1: to him, And that was a vision of a fistful
• 2:09:50
  Speaker 1: of money no less, traveling without visible agency along by
• 2:09:55
  Speaker 1: the wall at the corner of a St. Michael's Lane.
• 2:09:58
  Speaker 1: A brother Mariner had seen this wonderful sight that very morning.
• 2:10:02
  Speaker 1: He had snatched at the money forthwith and had been
• 2:10:04
  Speaker 1: knocked headlong, And when he had got to his feet,
• 2:10:07
  Speaker 1: the butterfly money had vanished. Our mariner was in the
• 2:10:10
  Speaker 1: mood to believe anything, he declared, but that was a
• 2:10:13
  Speaker 1: bit too stiff. Afterwards, however, he began to think things over.
• 2:10:19
  Speaker 1: The story of the flying money was true, and all
• 2:10:23
  Speaker 1: about that neighborhood, even from the August London and Country
• 2:10:26
  Speaker 1: Banking Company, from the tills of shops and inns doors
• 2:10:29
  Speaker 1: standing that sunny weather entirely open, money had been quietly
• 2:10:33
  Speaker 1: and dexterously making off that day in handfuls and rouleaus,
• 2:10:36
  Speaker 1: floating quietly along by walls and shady places, dodging quickly
• 2:10:41
  Speaker 1: from the approaching eyes of men. And it had, though
• 2:10:45
  Speaker 1: no man had traced it, invariably ended its mysterious flight
• 2:10:48
  Speaker 1: in the pocket of that agitated gentleman in the obsolete
• 2:10:51
  Speaker 1: silk hat, sitting outside the little inn on the outskirts
• 2:10:54
  Speaker 1: of Portstow. It was ten days after and indeed only
• 2:10:58
  Speaker 1: when the Burdock's story was off already old, that the
• 2:11:01
  Speaker 1: mariner collated these facts and began to understand how near
• 2:11:04
  Speaker 1: he had been to the wonderful in visible Man Chapter fifteen,
• 2:11:09
  Speaker 1: The Man who was Running. In the early evening time,
• 2:11:11
  Speaker 1: Doctor Kemp was sitting in his study in the belvedere
• 2:11:13
  Speaker 1: on the hill overlooking Burdock. It was a pleasant little
• 2:11:17
  Speaker 1: room with three windows north west and south, and book
• 2:11:22
  Speaker 1: shelves covered with books and scientific publications, and a broad
• 2:11:25
  Speaker 1: writing table, and under the north window a microscope, glass slips,
• 2:11:30
  Speaker 1: minute instruments, some cultures, and scattered bottles of reagents. Dar
• 2:11:36
  Speaker 1: Kemp's solar lamp was lit, albeit the sky was still
• 2:11:39
  Speaker 1: bright with the sunset light, and his blinds were up
• 2:11:42
  Speaker 1: because there was no offense of peering outsiders to require
• 2:11:45
  Speaker 1: them pulled down. Dar Kemp was a tall and slender
• 2:11:49
  Speaker 1: young man, with flaxen hair and a mustache almost white,
• 2:11:53
  Speaker 1: and the work he was upon would earn him he
• 2:11:55
  Speaker 1: hoped the fellowship of the Royal Society, so highly did
• 2:11:59
  Speaker 1: he think of it, And his eye, presently wandering from
• 2:12:02
  Speaker 1: his work, caught the sunset blazing at the back of
• 2:12:05
  Speaker 1: the hill that is over against his own. For a minute,
• 2:12:08
  Speaker 1: perhaps he sat pen in mouth, admiring the rich golden
• 2:12:12
  Speaker 1: color above the crest. And then his attention was attracted
• 2:12:15
  Speaker 1: by the little figure of a man, inky black, running
• 2:12:18
  Speaker 1: over the hill brow towards him. He was a shortish
• 2:12:21
  Speaker 1: little man, and he wore a high hat, and he
• 2:12:23
  Speaker 1: was running so fast that his legs verily twinkled. Another
• 2:12:28
  Speaker 1: of those fools, said doctor Kemp, like that ass who
• 2:12:31
  Speaker 1: ran into me this morning round a corner with the
• 2:12:34
  Speaker 1: visible man a coming, Sir, I can't imagine what possesses
• 2:12:38
  Speaker 1: people one might think we were in the thirteenth century.
• 2:12:41
  Speaker 1: He got up, went to the window and stared at
• 2:12:44
  Speaker 1: the dusky hillside and the dark little figure tearing down it.
• 2:12:48
  Speaker 1: He seems in a confounded hurry, said doctor Kemp. But
• 2:12:51
  Speaker 1: he doesn't seem to be getting on. If his pockets
• 2:12:54
  Speaker 1: were full of lead, he couldn't run. Heavier spurted, sir,
• 2:12:59
  Speaker 1: said doctor Kemp. In another moment, the hire of the
• 2:13:03
  Speaker 1: villas that had clambered up the hill from Burdock had
• 2:13:05
  Speaker 1: occulted the running figure. He was visible again for a moment,
• 2:13:09
  Speaker 1: and again, and then again, three times between the three
• 2:13:12
  Speaker 1: detached houses that came next, and then the terrace hid
• 2:13:15
  Speaker 1: him asses, said doctor Kemp, swinging round on his heel
• 2:13:20
  Speaker 1: and walking back to his writing table. But those who
• 2:13:23
  Speaker 1: saw the fugitive nearer and perceived the abject terror on
• 2:13:26
  Speaker 1: his perspiring face, being themselves in the open roadway, did
• 2:13:30
  Speaker 1: not share in the doctor's contempt. By the man pounded,
• 2:13:34
  Speaker 1: and as he ran, he chinked, like a well filled
• 2:13:36
  Speaker 1: purse that is tossed to and fro. He looked neither
• 2:13:40
  Speaker 1: to the right nor the left, but his dilated eyes
• 2:13:42
  Speaker 1: stared straight downhill, to where the lamps were being lit,
• 2:13:45
  Speaker 1: and the people were crowded in the street, and his
• 2:13:48
  Speaker 1: ill shaped mouth fell apart, and a glary foam lay
• 2:13:51
  Speaker 1: on his lips, and his breath came hoarse and noisy.
• 2:13:55
  Speaker 1: All he passed stopped and began staring up the road
• 2:13:57
  Speaker 1: and down and interrogating one another with an inkling of
• 2:14:00
  Speaker 1: discomfort for the reason of his haste. And then, presently
• 2:14:04
  Speaker 1: far up the hill, a dog playing in the road
• 2:14:07
  Speaker 1: yelped and ran under a gate, And as they still
• 2:14:09
  Speaker 1: wondered something, a wind a pad pad pad, a sound
• 2:14:14
  Speaker 1: like a panting breathing rushed by people screamed people sprang
• 2:14:19
  Speaker 1: off the pavement. It passed in shouts. It passed by
• 2:14:22
  Speaker 1: instinct down the hill. They were shouting in the street
• 2:14:26
  Speaker 1: before Marvel was half way there. They were bolting into
• 2:14:29
  Speaker 1: houses and slamming the doors behind them with the news.
• 2:14:33
  Speaker 1: He heard it and made one last desperate spurt. Fear
• 2:14:37
  Speaker 1: came striding by, rushed ahead of him, and in a
• 2:14:40
  Speaker 1: moment had seized the town. The Invisible Man is coming,
• 2:14:45
  Speaker 1: The Invisible Man, Chapter sixteen in The Jolly Cricketers. The
• 2:14:50
  Speaker 1: Jolly Cricketers is just at the bottom of the hill
• 2:14:53
  Speaker 1: where the tramp lines begin. The barman lent his fat
• 2:14:57
  Speaker 1: red arms on the counter and talked of horses with
• 2:14:59
  Speaker 1: an anemic cabman, while a black bearded man in gray
• 2:15:02
  Speaker 1: snapped up biscuit and cheese, drank burton, and conversed an
• 2:15:05
  Speaker 1: American with a policeman off duty. What's the shouting about,
• 2:15:10
  Speaker 1: said the anemic cabman, going off at a tangent, trying
• 2:15:14
  Speaker 1: to see up the hill over the dirty yellow blind
• 2:15:16
  Speaker 1: in the low window of the inn. Somebody ran by
• 2:15:19
  Speaker 1: outside fire perhaps, said the barman. Footsteps approached, running heavily.
• 2:15:26
  Speaker 1: The door was pushed open violently, and Marvel, weeping and disheveled,
• 2:15:30
  Speaker 1: his hat gone, the neck of his coat torn open,
• 2:15:33
  Speaker 1: rushed in, made a convulsive turn and attempted to shut
• 2:15:36
  Speaker 1: the door. It was held half open by a strap. Coming.
• 2:15:41
  Speaker 1: He bawled, his voice, shrieking with terror. He's coming, the
• 2:15:47
  Speaker 1: visible man after me. For God's sake, elp elp elp
• 2:15:56
  Speaker 1: shut the doors, said the policeman. Who's coming. What's the row?
• 2:16:01
  Speaker 1: He went to the door, released the strap and it slammed.
• 2:16:06
  Speaker 1: The American closed the other door. Let me go inside,
• 2:16:10
  Speaker 1: said Marvel, staggering and weeping, but still clutching the books.
• 2:16:15
  Speaker 1: Let me go inside. Lock me in somewhere. I tell you,
• 2:16:20
  Speaker 1: he's after me. I give him the slip. He said
• 2:16:24
  Speaker 1: he'd kill me, and he will. You're safe, said the
• 2:16:28
  Speaker 1: man with the black beard. The door's shut. What's it
• 2:16:32
  Speaker 1: all about? Let me go inside, said Marvel, and shrieked
• 2:16:36
  Speaker 1: aloud as a blow suddenly made the fastened door shiver,
• 2:16:39
  Speaker 1: and was followed by a hurried rapping and a shouting outside. Hullo,
• 2:16:44
  Speaker 1: cried the policeman, who's there. Mister Marvel began to make
• 2:16:47
  Speaker 1: frantic dives at panels that looked like doors. He'll kill me.
• 2:16:51
  Speaker 1: He's got a knife or something. For God's sake, here
• 2:16:56
  Speaker 1: you are, said the barman. Come in here, and he
• 2:16:59
  Speaker 1: held up the flap of the bar. Mister Marvel rushed
• 2:17:03
  Speaker 1: behind the bar as the summons outside was repeated. Don't
• 2:17:06
  Speaker 1: open the door, he screamed, Please, don't open the door.
• 2:17:11
  Speaker 1: Where shall I hide this? This invisible man then asked
• 2:17:16
  Speaker 1: the man with the black beard, with one hand behind him,
• 2:17:20
  Speaker 1: I guess it's about time we saw him. The window
• 2:17:22
  Speaker 1: of the inn was suddenly smashed in, and there was
• 2:17:24
  Speaker 1: a screaming and running to and fro in the street.
• 2:17:28
  Speaker 1: The policeman had been standing on the settee staring out,
• 2:17:31
  Speaker 1: craning to see who was at the door. He got
• 2:17:34
  Speaker 1: down with raised eyebrows. It's that, he said. The barman
• 2:17:39
  Speaker 1: stood in front of the bar parlor door, which was
• 2:17:41
  Speaker 1: now locked on. Mister Marvel stared at the smashed window
• 2:17:44
  Speaker 1: and came round to the two other men. Everything was
• 2:17:48
  Speaker 1: suddenly quiet. I wish I had my truncheon, said the policeman,
• 2:17:53
  Speaker 1: going irresolutely to the door. Once we open in he comes,
• 2:17:58
  Speaker 1: there's no stopping him. Don't you be in too much
• 2:18:01
  Speaker 1: hurry about that door, said the anemic cabman. Anxiously, draw
• 2:18:06
  Speaker 1: the bolts, said the man with the black beard, and
• 2:18:09
  Speaker 1: if he comes, he showed a revolver in his hand.
• 2:18:12
  Speaker 1: That won't do, said the policeman. That's murder. I know
• 2:18:17
  Speaker 1: what country I'm in, said the man with the beard.
• 2:18:20
  Speaker 1: I'm going to let off at his legs draw the bolts.
• 2:18:25
  Speaker 1: Not with that blinking thing going off behind me, said
• 2:18:27
  Speaker 1: the barman, craning over the blind Very well, said the
• 2:18:32
  Speaker 1: man with the black beard, and stooping down revolver. Ready
• 2:18:35
  Speaker 1: drew them himself. Barman, cabman and policeman faced about. Come in,
• 2:18:42
  Speaker 1: said the bearded man in an undertone, standing back and
• 2:18:45
  Speaker 1: facing the unbolted doors with his pistol behind him. No
• 2:18:49
  Speaker 1: one came in. The door remained closed five minutes afterwards,
• 2:18:53
  Speaker 1: when a second cabman pushed his head in cautiously. They
• 2:18:56
  Speaker 1: were still waiting, and an anxious face peered out of
• 2:18:59
  Speaker 1: the bar park and supplied information. Are all the doors
• 2:19:03
  Speaker 1: of the house shut? Asked Marvel. He's going round, prowling round.
• 2:19:09
  Speaker 1: He's as artful as the devil. Good lord, said the
• 2:19:12
  Speaker 1: burly barman. There's the back. Just watch them doors, I say,
• 2:19:19
  Speaker 1: he looked about him helplessly. The bar parlor door slammed,
• 2:19:23
  Speaker 1: and they heard the key turn. There's the yard door
• 2:19:26
  Speaker 1: and the private door. The yard door. He rushed out
• 2:19:30
  Speaker 1: of the bar. In a minute, he reappeared with a
• 2:19:33
  Speaker 1: carving knife in his hand. The yard door was open,
• 2:19:37
  Speaker 1: he said, and his fat underlip dropped. He may be
• 2:19:41
  Speaker 1: in the house now, said the first cabman. He's not
• 2:19:45
  Speaker 1: in the kitchen, said the barman. There's two women there,
• 2:19:49
  Speaker 1: and I've stabbed every inch of it with this little
• 2:19:51
  Speaker 1: beef slicer, and they don't think he's come in. They
• 2:19:55
  Speaker 1: haven't noticed. Have you fastened it, asked the first cabman.
• 2:19:59
  Speaker 1: I'm out of frocks, said the barman. The man with
• 2:20:03
  Speaker 1: the beard replaced his revolver, and even as he did so,
• 2:20:07
  Speaker 1: the flap of the bar was shut down and the
• 2:20:09
  Speaker 1: bolt clicked, and then with a tremendous thud, the catch
• 2:20:12
  Speaker 1: of the door snapped and the bar parlor door burst open.
• 2:20:15
  Speaker 1: They heard Marvel squeal like a caught leveret, and forthwith
• 2:20:18
  Speaker 1: they were clambering over the bar to his rescue. The
• 2:20:22
  Speaker 1: bearded man's revolver cracked, and the looking glass at the
• 2:20:25
  Speaker 1: back of the parlor start and came smashing and tinkling down.
• 2:20:29
  Speaker 1: As the barman entered the room, he saw Marvel curiously
• 2:20:32
  Speaker 1: crumpled up and struggling against the door that led to
• 2:20:34
  Speaker 1: the yard and kitchen. The door flew open while the
• 2:20:38
  Speaker 1: barman hesitated, and Marvel was dragged into the kitchen. There
• 2:20:42
  Speaker 1: was a scream and a clatter of pans. Marvel, head
• 2:20:46
  Speaker 1: down and lugging back obstinately, was forced to the kitchen door,
• 2:20:50
  Speaker 1: and the bolts were drawn. Then the policeman, who had
• 2:20:54
  Speaker 1: been trying to pass the barman, rushed in, followed by
• 2:20:57
  Speaker 1: one of the cabmen. Gripped the wrist of the invisible
• 2:20:59
  Speaker 1: hand that collared Marvel, was hit in the face and
• 2:21:02
  Speaker 1: went reeling back. The door opened and Marvel made a
• 2:21:06
  Speaker 1: frantic effort to obtain a lodgment behind it. Then the
• 2:21:09
  Speaker 1: cabman collared something. I got him, said the cabman. The
• 2:21:14
  Speaker 1: barman's red hands came clawing at the unseen here he is,
• 2:21:19
  Speaker 1: said the barman. Mister Marvel released suddenly dropped to the
• 2:21:24
  Speaker 1: ground and made an attempt to crawl behind the legs
• 2:21:26
  Speaker 1: of the fighting men. The struggle blundered round the edge
• 2:21:29
  Speaker 1: of the door. The voice of the invisible man was
• 2:21:33
  Speaker 1: heard for the first time, yelling out sharply as the
• 2:21:36
  Speaker 1: policeman trod on his foot. Then he cried out passionately,
• 2:21:40
  Speaker 1: and his fists flew round like flails. The cabman suddenly
• 2:21:44
  Speaker 1: hooped and doubled up, kicked under the diaphragm. The door
• 2:21:48
  Speaker 1: into the bar parlor from the kitchen slammed and covered
• 2:21:50
  Speaker 1: mister Marvel's retreat. The men in the kitchen found themselves
• 2:21:54
  Speaker 1: clutching at and struggling with empty air. Where's he gone,
• 2:21:58
  Speaker 1: cried the man with the beer. Out this way, said
• 2:22:03
  Speaker 1: the policeman, stepping into the yard and stopping. A piece
• 2:22:07
  Speaker 1: of tile whizzed by his head and smashed among the
• 2:22:10
  Speaker 1: crockery on the kitchen table. I'll show him, shouted the
• 2:22:14
  Speaker 1: man with the black beard. And suddenly a steel barrel
• 2:22:17
  Speaker 1: shone over the policeman's shoulder, and five bullets had followed
• 2:22:20
  Speaker 1: one another into the twilight. Whence the missile had come.
• 2:22:23
  Speaker 1: As he fired, the man with the beard moved his
• 2:22:26
  Speaker 1: hand in a horizontal curve, so that his shots radiated
• 2:22:29
  Speaker 1: out into the narrow yard like spokes from a wheel.
• 2:22:32
  Speaker 1: A silence followed five Cartridges said the man with the
• 2:22:37
  Speaker 1: black beard, that's the best of all four aces and
• 2:22:41
  Speaker 1: a joker. Get a lantern someone, and come and feel
• 2:22:45
  Speaker 1: about for his body. Chapter seventeen, Doctor Kemp's visitor. Doctor
• 2:22:51
  Speaker 1: Kemp had continued writing in his study until the shots
• 2:22:54
  Speaker 1: aroused him. Crack, crack, crack. They came, one after the other. Hullo,
• 2:23:01
  Speaker 1: said doctor Kemp, putting his pen into his mouth again
• 2:23:04
  Speaker 1: and listening. Who's letting off revolvers in Burdock? What are
• 2:23:08
  Speaker 1: the asses at now? He went to the south window,
• 2:23:12
  Speaker 1: threw it up, and leaning out, stared down on the
• 2:23:14
  Speaker 1: network of windows, beaded gas lamps, and shops with its
• 2:23:18
  Speaker 1: black interstices of roof and yard that made up the
• 2:23:20
  Speaker 1: town at night. Looks like a crowd down the hill,
• 2:23:24
  Speaker 1: he said, Bite the cricketers, and remained watching. Thence his
• 2:23:28
  Speaker 1: eyes wandered over the town to far away, where the
• 2:23:31
  Speaker 1: ship's lights shone, and the pure glowed a little illuminated
• 2:23:35
  Speaker 1: faceted pavilion like a gem of yellow light. The moon
• 2:23:38
  Speaker 1: in its first quarter hung over the westward hill, and
• 2:23:41
  Speaker 1: the stars were clear and almost tropically bright. After five minutes,
• 2:23:46
  Speaker 1: during which his mind had traveled into a remote speculation
• 2:23:49
  Speaker 1: of social conditions of the future, and lost itself at
• 2:23:52
  Speaker 1: last over the time dimension. Doctor Kemp roused himself with
• 2:23:55
  Speaker 1: a sigh, pulled down the window again, and returned to
• 2:23:58
  Speaker 1: his writing desk. It must have been about an hour
• 2:24:01
  Speaker 1: after this that the front door bell rang. He had
• 2:24:04
  Speaker 1: been writing slackly and with intervals of abstraction since the shots.
• 2:24:09
  Speaker 1: He sat listening. He heard the servant answer the door,
• 2:24:13
  Speaker 1: and waited for her feet on the staircase, but she
• 2:24:16
  Speaker 1: did not come. Wonder what that was, said doctor Kemp.
• 2:24:21
  Speaker 1: He tried to resume his work, failed, got up, went
• 2:24:24
  Speaker 1: downstairs from his study to the landing rang, and called
• 2:24:27
  Speaker 1: over the balustrade to the housemaid as she appeared in
• 2:24:30
  Speaker 1: the hall below. Was that a letter, he asked, Only
• 2:24:34
  Speaker 1: a runaway ring, sir, she answered, I'm restless tonight, he
• 2:24:39
  Speaker 1: said to himself. He went back to his study and
• 2:24:43
  Speaker 1: this time attacked his work resolutely. In a little while
• 2:24:46
  Speaker 1: he was hard at work again, and the only sounds
• 2:24:49
  Speaker 1: in the room were the ticking of the clock and
• 2:24:51
  Speaker 1: the subdued shrillness of his quill. Hurrying in the very
• 2:24:53
  Speaker 1: center of the circle of light. His lamp shade threw
• 2:24:56
  Speaker 1: on his table. It was two o'clock before diar Kemp
• 2:25:00
  Speaker 1: had finished his work for the night. He rose, yawned,
• 2:25:04
  Speaker 1: and went downstairs to bed. He had already removed his
• 2:25:08
  Speaker 1: coat and vest when he noticed that he was thirsty.
• 2:25:12
  Speaker 1: He took a candle and went down to the dining
• 2:25:14
  Speaker 1: room in search of a siphon and whiskey. Dar Kemp's
• 2:25:19
  Speaker 1: scientific pursuits have made him a very observant man, and
• 2:25:22
  Speaker 1: as he recrossed the hall he noticed a dark spot
• 2:25:25
  Speaker 1: on the linoleum near the mat at the foot of
• 2:25:27
  Speaker 1: the stairs. He went on upstairs, and then it suddenly
• 2:25:30
  Speaker 1: occurred to him to ask himself what the spot on
• 2:25:33
  Speaker 1: the linoleum might be. Apparently some sub conscious element was
• 2:25:37
  Speaker 1: at work. At any rate, he turned with his burden,
• 2:25:41
  Speaker 1: went back to the hall, put down the siphon and whiskey,
• 2:25:44
  Speaker 1: and bending down, touched the spot. Without any great surprise,
• 2:25:48
  Speaker 1: he found it had the stickiness and color of drying blood.
• 2:25:52
  Speaker 1: He took up his burden again and returned upstairs. Looking
• 2:25:55
  Speaker 1: about him and trying to account for the blood spot
• 2:25:59
  Speaker 1: on the landing, he saw something and stopped, astonished. The
• 2:26:02
  Speaker 1: door handle of his own room was blood stained. He
• 2:26:06
  Speaker 1: looked at his own hand. It was quite clean. And
• 2:26:10
  Speaker 1: then he remembered that the door of his room had
• 2:26:12
  Speaker 1: been opened when he came down from his study, and
• 2:26:14
  Speaker 1: that consequently he had not touched the handle at all.
• 2:26:18
  Speaker 1: He went straight into his room, his face quite calm,
• 2:26:21
  Speaker 1: perhaps a trifle more resolute than usual. His glance wandering
• 2:26:26
  Speaker 1: inquisitively fell on the bed. On the counterpane was a
• 2:26:29
  Speaker 1: mess of blood, and the sheet had been torn. He
• 2:26:33
  Speaker 1: had not noticed this before because he had walked straight
• 2:26:35
  Speaker 1: to the dressing table on the further side. The bedclothes
• 2:26:39
  Speaker 1: were depressed, as if some one had been recently sitting there.
• 2:26:43
  Speaker 1: Then he had an odd impression that he had heard
• 2:26:45
  Speaker 1: a low voice say, good heavens Kemp. But doctor Kemp
• 2:26:49
  Speaker 1: was no believer in voices. He stood staring at the
• 2:26:52
  Speaker 1: tumbled sheets. Was that really a voice? He looked about again,
• 2:26:58
  Speaker 1: but noticed nothing further than the disordered and blood stained bed.
• 2:27:02
  Speaker 1: Then he distinctly heard a movement across the room near
• 2:27:05
  Speaker 1: the wash hand stand. All men, however highly educated, retained
• 2:27:10
  Speaker 1: some superstitious inklings. The feeling that is called geary came
• 2:27:14
  Speaker 1: upon him. He closed the door of the room, came
• 2:27:18
  Speaker 1: forward to the dressing table and put down his burdens. Suddenly,
• 2:27:22
  Speaker 1: with a start, he perceived a coiled and blood stained
• 2:27:25
  Speaker 1: bandage of linen rag hanging in mid air between him
• 2:27:28
  Speaker 1: and the wash hand stand. He stared at this in amazement.
• 2:27:33
  Speaker 1: It was an empty bandage, a bandage properly tied, but
• 2:27:36
  Speaker 1: quite empty. He would have advanced to grasp it, but
• 2:27:40
  Speaker 1: a touch arrested him, and a voice speaking quite close
• 2:27:43
  Speaker 1: to him. Kemp said the voice, Eh, said Kemp, with
• 2:27:48
  Speaker 1: his mouth open. Keep your nerve, said the voice. I'm
• 2:27:53
  Speaker 1: an invisible man. Kemp made no answer for a space,
• 2:27:56
  Speaker 1: simply stared at the bandage. Invisible man, he said, I
• 2:28:01
  Speaker 1: am an invisible man, repeated the voice. The story he
• 2:28:05
  Speaker 1: had been active to ridicule only that morning rushed through
• 2:28:08
  Speaker 1: Kemp's brain. He does not appear to have been either
• 2:28:11
  Speaker 1: very much frightened or very greatly surprised at the moment
• 2:28:15
  Speaker 1: realization came later. I thought it was all a lie,
• 2:28:19
  Speaker 1: he said. The thought uppermost in his mind was the
• 2:28:22
  Speaker 1: reiterated arguments of the morning. Have you a bandage on?
• 2:28:26
  Speaker 1: He asked, Yes, said the invisible man. Oh, said Kemp,
• 2:28:32
  Speaker 1: and then roused himself. I say, he said, But this
• 2:28:37
  Speaker 1: is nonsense. It's some trick. He stepped forward suddenly, and
• 2:28:42
  Speaker 1: his hand extended towards the bandage, met invisible fingers. He
• 2:28:47
  Speaker 1: recoiled at the touch and his color changed. Keep steady, Kemp,
• 2:28:52
  Speaker 1: for God's sake, I want help badly. Stop. The hand
• 2:28:57
  Speaker 1: gripped his arm. He struck at it. Kemp cried the voice, Kemp,
• 2:29:04
  Speaker 1: keep steady, and the grip tightened. A frantic desire to
• 2:29:09
  Speaker 1: free himself took possession of Kemp. The hand of the
• 2:29:12
  Speaker 1: bandaged arm gripped his shoulder, and he was suddenly tripped
• 2:29:15
  Speaker 1: and flung backwards upon the bed. He opened his mouth
• 2:29:19
  Speaker 1: to shout, and the corner of the sheet was thrust
• 2:29:21
  Speaker 1: between his teeth. The invisible man had him down grimly,
• 2:29:25
  Speaker 1: but his arms were free, and he struck and tried
• 2:29:28
  Speaker 1: to kick savagely. Listen to reason, will you, said the
• 2:29:33
  Speaker 1: invisible man, sticking to him, in spite of a pounding
• 2:29:36
  Speaker 1: in the ribs. By Heaven, you'll madden me in a minute.
• 2:29:41
  Speaker 1: Lie still, you fool, bawled the invisible man in Kemp's ear.
• 2:29:46
  Speaker 1: Kemp struggled for another moment, and then lay still. If
• 2:29:49
  Speaker 1: you shout, I'll smash your face, said the invisible man,
• 2:29:53
  Speaker 1: relieving his mouth. I'm an invisible man. It's no foolishness
• 2:29:59
  Speaker 1: and no magic. I really am an invisible man, and
• 2:30:03
  Speaker 1: I want your help. I don't want to hurt you,
• 2:30:06
  Speaker 1: but if you behave like a frantic rustic I must.
• 2:30:10
  Speaker 1: Don't you remember me? Kemp Gryffin of University College. Let
• 2:30:16
  Speaker 1: me get up, said Kemp. I'll stop where I am
• 2:30:20
  Speaker 1: and let me sit quiet for a minute. He sat
• 2:30:22
  Speaker 1: up and felt his neck. I am Gryffin of University College,
• 2:30:27
  Speaker 1: and I have made myself invisible. I am just an
• 2:30:30
  Speaker 1: ordinary man, a man you have known, made invisible, Gryffin,
• 2:30:35
  Speaker 1: said Kemp. Gryffin answered the voice, A younger student than
• 2:30:40
  Speaker 1: you were, almost an albino, six feet high and broad,
• 2:30:44
  Speaker 1: with a pink and white face and red eyes, who
• 2:30:47
  Speaker 1: won the medal for chemistry. I am confused, said Kemp.
• 2:30:52
  Speaker 1: My brain is rioting. What has this to do with Griffin?
• 2:30:57
  Speaker 1: I am Gryffin. Kemp thought. It's horrible, he said, but
• 2:31:02
  Speaker 1: what devilry must happen to make a man invisible? It's
• 2:31:06
  Speaker 1: no devilry. It's a process, sane and intelligible enough. It's
• 2:31:11
  Speaker 1: horrible said Kemp. How on earth it's horrible enough, but
• 2:31:17
  Speaker 1: I'm wounded and in pain and tired. Great God, Kemp,
• 2:31:22
  Speaker 1: you are a man. Take it steady, Give me some
• 2:31:26
  Speaker 1: food and drink, and let me sit down here. Kemp
• 2:31:29
  Speaker 1: stared at the bandage as it moved across the room,
• 2:31:31
  Speaker 1: then saw a basket chair dragged across the floor and
• 2:31:34
  Speaker 1: come to rest near the bed. It creaked, and the
• 2:31:37
  Speaker 1: seat was depressed the quarter of an inch or so.
• 2:31:40
  Speaker 1: He rubbed his eyes and felt his neck again. This
• 2:31:44
  Speaker 1: beats ghosts, he said, and laughed stupidly. That's better. Thank Heaven.
• 2:31:50
  Speaker 1: You're getting sensible or silly, said Kemp, and knuckled his eyes.
• 2:31:56
  Speaker 1: Give me some whisky. I'm near dead, it didn't feel
• 2:32:00
  Speaker 1: so where are you? If I get up? Shall I
• 2:32:04
  Speaker 1: run into you? There? All right? Whiskey? Here? Where shall
• 2:32:12
  Speaker 1: I give it to you? The chair creaked and Kemp
• 2:32:14
  Speaker 1: felt the glass drawn away from him. He let go
• 2:32:17
  Speaker 1: by an effort, his instinct was all against it. It
• 2:32:21
  Speaker 1: came to rest poise twenty inches above the front edge
• 2:32:24
  Speaker 1: of the seat of the chair. He stared at it
• 2:32:26
  Speaker 1: in infinite perplexity. This is this must be hypnotism. You
• 2:32:32
  Speaker 1: have suggested, you are invisible. Nonsense, said the voice. It's frantic.
• 2:32:39
  Speaker 1: Listen to me, I demonstrated conclusively this morning, began Kemp
• 2:32:45
  Speaker 1: that invisibility. Never mind what you've demonstrated. I'm starving, said
• 2:32:49
  Speaker 1: the voice, and the night is chilly to a man
• 2:32:51
  Speaker 1: without clothes. Food, said Kemp. The tumbler of whiskey tilted itself, Yes,
• 2:32:59
  Speaker 1: said the visible man, wrapping it down. Have you a
• 2:33:02
  Speaker 1: dressing gown? Kemp made some exclamation in an undertone. He
• 2:33:07
  Speaker 1: walked to a wardrobe and produced a robe of dingy scarlet.
• 2:33:11
  Speaker 1: This dew, he asked, It was taken from him. It
• 2:33:16
  Speaker 1: hung limp for a moment in mid air, fluttered weirdly,
• 2:33:19
  Speaker 1: stood full and decorous, buttoning itself, and sat down in
• 2:33:22
  Speaker 1: his chair. Drawers, socks, slippers would be a comfort, said
• 2:33:27
  Speaker 1: the unseen curtly, and food, anything, but this is the
• 2:33:33
  Speaker 1: insanest thing I ever was in in my life. He
• 2:33:37
  Speaker 1: turned out his drawers for the articles, and then went
• 2:33:40
  Speaker 1: downstairs to ransack his larder. He came back with some
• 2:33:44
  Speaker 1: cold cutlets and bread, pulled up a light table and
• 2:33:47
  Speaker 1: placed them before his guest. Never mind knives, set his
• 2:33:51
  Speaker 1: visitor and a cutlet hung in mid air with a
• 2:33:53
  Speaker 1: sound of gnawing. Invisible, said Kemp, and sat down on
• 2:33:58
  Speaker 1: a bedroom chair. I always like to get something about
• 2:34:01
  Speaker 1: me before I eat, said the invisible man, with a
• 2:34:04
  Speaker 1: full mouth, eating greedily. Queer fancy. I suppose that wrist
• 2:34:10
  Speaker 1: is all right, said Kemp. Trust me, said the invisible man,
• 2:34:15
  Speaker 1: of all the strange and wonderful. Exactly, But it's odd
• 2:34:19
  Speaker 1: I should blunder into your house to get my bandaging,
• 2:34:23
  Speaker 1: my first stroke of luck. Anyhow, I meant to sleep
• 2:34:26
  Speaker 1: in this house to night. You must stand that it's
• 2:34:31
  Speaker 1: a filthy nuisance. My blood showing, Isn't it quite a clot?
• 2:34:35
  Speaker 1: Over there? Gets visible as it coagulates. I see, it's
• 2:34:40
  Speaker 1: only the living tissue I've changed, and only for as
• 2:34:43
  Speaker 1: long as I'm alive. I've been in the house three hours.
• 2:34:48
  Speaker 1: But how's it done? Began Kemp in a tone of exasperation.
• 2:34:53
  Speaker 1: Confound it the whole business. It's unreasonable from beginning to end.
• 2:34:59
  Speaker 1: Quite reasonable, said the invisible man, perfectly reasonable. He reached
• 2:35:04
  Speaker 1: over and secured the whiskey bottle. Kemp stared at the
• 2:35:07
  Speaker 1: devouring dressing gown. A ray of candlelight penetrating a torn
• 2:35:12
  Speaker 1: patch in the right shoulder made a triangle of light
• 2:35:14
  Speaker 1: under the left ribs. What were the shots? He asked?
• 2:35:19
  Speaker 1: How did the shooting begin? There was a real fool
• 2:35:22
  Speaker 1: of a man, a sort of confederate of mine. Curse
• 2:35:25
  Speaker 1: him who tried to steal my money has done so?
• 2:35:30
  Speaker 1: Is he invisible too? No? Well, can't I have some
• 2:35:35
  Speaker 1: more to eat before I tell you all that I'm
• 2:35:38
  Speaker 1: hungry in pain, and you want me to tell stories?
• 2:35:42
  Speaker 1: Kemp got up. You didn't do any shooting, he asked,
• 2:35:47
  Speaker 1: Not me, said his visitor. Some fool I'd never seen
• 2:35:51
  Speaker 1: fired at random. A lot of them got scared. They
• 2:35:55
  Speaker 1: all got scared at me. Curse them. I say, I
• 2:35:59
  Speaker 1: want more to eat than this, Kemp. I'll see what
• 2:36:02
  Speaker 1: there is to eat downstairs, said Kemp, not much, I'm afraid.
• 2:36:07
  Speaker 1: After he had done eating, and he made a heavy meal,
• 2:36:10
  Speaker 1: the invisible man demanded a cigar. He bit the end
• 2:36:14
  Speaker 1: savagely before Kemp could find a knife, and cursed. When
• 2:36:17
  Speaker 1: the outer leaf loosened, it was strange to see him smoking.
• 2:36:21
  Speaker 1: His mouth and throat, pharynx and Nery's became visible as
• 2:36:25
  Speaker 1: a sort of whirling smoke cast This blessed gift of smoking,
• 2:36:30
  Speaker 1: he said, and puffed vigorously. I'm lucky to have fallen
• 2:36:34
  Speaker 1: upon you, Kemp. You must help me. Fancy tumbling on
• 2:36:39
  Speaker 1: you just now. I'm in a devilish scrape. I've been mad.
• 2:36:43
  Speaker 1: I think the things I have been through. But we
• 2:36:47
  Speaker 1: will do things yet, let me tell you. He helped
• 2:36:51
  Speaker 1: himself to more whiskey and soda. Kemp got up, looked
• 2:36:55
  Speaker 1: about him, and fetched a glass from his spare room.
• 2:36:58
  Speaker 1: It's wild, but I suppose I may drink. You haven't
• 2:37:02
  Speaker 1: changed much, Kemp, these dozen years. You fair men don't
• 2:37:08
  Speaker 1: cool and methodical. After the first collapse, I must tell you.
• 2:37:13
  Speaker 1: We will work together. But how was it all done?
• 2:37:17
  Speaker 1: Said Kemp? And how did you get like this? For
• 2:37:20
  Speaker 1: God's sake, let me smoke in peace for a little while,
• 2:37:24
  Speaker 1: and then I will begin to tell you. But the
• 2:37:26
  Speaker 1: story was not told. That night. The Invisible Man's wrist
• 2:37:31
  Speaker 1: was growing painful. He was feverish, exhausted, and his mind
• 2:37:34
  Speaker 1: came round to brood upon his chase down the hill
• 2:37:37
  Speaker 1: and the struggle about the inn. He spoke in fragments
• 2:37:40
  Speaker 1: of marvel. He smoked faster, his voice grew angry, Kemp
• 2:37:45
  Speaker 1: tried to gather what he could. He was afraid of me.
• 2:37:48
  Speaker 1: I could see that he was afraid of me, said
• 2:37:50
  Speaker 1: the invisible man. Many times over he meant to give
• 2:37:54
  Speaker 1: me the slip. He was always casting about. What a
• 2:37:58
  Speaker 1: fool I was the cur I should have killed him.
• 2:38:03
  Speaker 1: Where did you get the money? Asked Kemp abruptly. The
• 2:38:07
  Speaker 1: invisible man was silent for a space. I can't tell
• 2:38:11
  Speaker 1: you tonight, he said. He groaned suddenly and leant forward,
• 2:38:15
  Speaker 1: supporting his invisible head on invisible hands. Kemp he said,
• 2:38:20
  Speaker 1: I've had no sleep for near three days, except a
• 2:38:23
  Speaker 1: couple of dozes of an hour or so. I must
• 2:38:26
  Speaker 1: sleep soon. Well, have my room, have this room? But
• 2:38:31
  Speaker 1: how can I sleep? If I sleep, he will get away? Ahugh,
• 2:38:37
  Speaker 1: what does it matter? What's the shot wound? Asked Kemp abruptly. Nothing,
• 2:38:44
  Speaker 1: scratch and blood? Oh God, how I want sleep? Why not?
• 2:38:51
  Speaker 1: The invisible man appeared to be regarding Kemp. Because I've
• 2:38:55
  Speaker 1: a particular objection to being caught by my fellow men,
• 2:38:58
  Speaker 1: he said slowly. Kemp started fool that I am, said
• 2:39:03
  Speaker 1: the invisible man, striking the table smartly. I've put the
• 2:39:07
  Speaker 1: idea into your head. Chapter eighteen, The Invisible Man sleeps.
• 2:39:13
  Speaker 1: Exhausted and wounded. As the Invisible Man was, he refused
• 2:39:16
  Speaker 1: to accept Kemp's word that his freedom should be respected.
• 2:39:20
  Speaker 1: He examined the two windows of the bedroom, drew up
• 2:39:23
  Speaker 1: the blinds, and opened the sashes to confirm Kemp's statement
• 2:39:26
  Speaker 1: that a retreat by them would be possible. Outside, the
• 2:39:29
  Speaker 1: night was very quiet and still, and the new moon
• 2:39:32
  Speaker 1: was setting over the down Then he examined the keys
• 2:39:35
  Speaker 1: of the bedroom and the two dressing room doors to
• 2:39:38
  Speaker 1: satisfy himself that these also could be made an assurance
• 2:39:41
  Speaker 1: of freedom. Finally, he expressed himself satisfied. He stood on
• 2:39:46
  Speaker 1: the hearth rug and Kemp heard the sound of a yawn.
• 2:39:50
  Speaker 1: I'm sorry, said the Invisible Man, if I cannot tell
• 2:39:53
  Speaker 1: you all that I have done tonight, but I am
• 2:39:56
  Speaker 1: worn out. It's grotesque, no doubt, it's horrible. But believe me, Kemp,
• 2:40:03
  Speaker 1: in spite of your arguments of this morning, it is
• 2:40:05
  Speaker 1: quite a possible thing. I have made a discovery. I
• 2:40:10
  Speaker 1: meant to keep it to myself. I can't. I must
• 2:40:14
  Speaker 1: have a partner and you we can do such things.
• 2:40:19
  Speaker 1: But tomorrow now, Kemp, I feel as though I must
• 2:40:23
  Speaker 1: sleep or perish. Kemp stood in the middle of the room,
• 2:40:25
  Speaker 1: staring at the headless garment. I suppose I must leave you,
• 2:40:29
  Speaker 1: he said. It's incredible, three things happening like this, overturning
• 2:40:35
  Speaker 1: all my preconceptions would make me insane, but it's real.
• 2:40:41
  Speaker 1: Is there anything more that I can get you? Only
• 2:40:44
  Speaker 1: bid me good night, said Griffin. Good night, said Kemp,
• 2:40:48
  Speaker 1: and shook an invisible hand. He walked sideways to the door.
• 2:40:53
  Speaker 1: Suddenly the dressing gown walked quickly towards him. Understand me,
• 2:40:58
  Speaker 1: said the dressing gown. No attempts to hamper me or
• 2:41:02
  Speaker 1: capture me or Kemp's face changed a little. I thought
• 2:41:07
  Speaker 1: I gave you my word, he said. Kemp closed the
• 2:41:11
  Speaker 1: door softly behind him, and the key was turned upon
• 2:41:14
  Speaker 1: him forthwith. Then, as he stood with an expression of
• 2:41:17
  Speaker 1: passive amazement on his face, the rapid feet came to
• 2:41:20
  Speaker 1: the door of the dressing room, and that too was locked.
• 2:41:24
  Speaker 1: Kemp slapped his brow with his hand. Am I dreaming?
• 2:41:29
  Speaker 1: Has the world gone mad? Or have I? He laughed,
• 2:41:32
  Speaker 1: and put his hand to the locked door. Barred out
• 2:41:35
  Speaker 1: of my own bedroom by a flagrant absurdity, he said.
• 2:41:39
  Speaker 1: He walked to the head of the staircase, turned and
• 2:41:42
  Speaker 1: stared at the locked doors. It's fact, he said. He
• 2:41:47
  Speaker 1: put his fingers to his slightly bruised neck. Undeniable fact.
• 2:41:52
  Speaker 1: But he shook his head hopelessly, turned and went downstairs.
• 2:41:58
  Speaker 1: He lit the dining room lamp, got out a cigar,
• 2:42:00
  Speaker 1: and began pacing the room, ejaculating. Now and then he
• 2:42:04
  Speaker 1: would argue with himself. Invisible, he said, is there such
• 2:42:10
  Speaker 1: a thing as an invisible animal? In the sea? Yes, thousands, millions,
• 2:42:17
  Speaker 1: all the larvae, all the little knopoli and tornarius, all
• 2:42:20
  Speaker 1: the microscopic things, the jellyfish in the sea. There are
• 2:42:24
  Speaker 1: more things invisible than visible. I never thought of that before.
• 2:42:29
  Speaker 1: And in the ponds too, all those little pond life things,
• 2:42:34
  Speaker 1: specks of colorless translucent jelly. But in air, no, it
• 2:42:40
  Speaker 1: can't be. But after all, why not if a man
• 2:42:45
  Speaker 1: was made of glass, he would still be visible. His
• 2:42:47
  Speaker 1: meditation became profound. The bulk of three cigars had passed
• 2:42:51
  Speaker 1: into the invisible or diffused as a white ash over
• 2:42:54
  Speaker 1: the carpet before he spoke again. Then it was merely
• 2:42:57
  Speaker 1: an exclamation. He turned the side, walked out of the room,
• 2:43:01
  Speaker 1: and went into his little consulting room and lit the gas. There.
• 2:43:05
  Speaker 1: It was a little room because doctor Kemp did not
• 2:43:08
  Speaker 1: live by practice, and in it were the day's newspapers.
• 2:43:12
  Speaker 1: The morning's paper lay carelessly, opened and thrown aside. He
• 2:43:16
  Speaker 1: caught it up, turned it over and read the account
• 2:43:19
  Speaker 1: of a strange story from Ipping that the mariner at
• 2:43:22
  Speaker 1: Port Stow had spelt over so painfully to mister Marvel.
• 2:43:26
  Speaker 1: Kemp read it swiftly, wrapped up, said Kemp, disguised hiding it.
• 2:43:34
  Speaker 1: No one seems to have been aware of his misfortune.
• 2:43:36
  Speaker 1: What the devil is his game? He dropped the paper
• 2:43:39
  Speaker 1: and his eye went seeking, Ah, he said, and caught
• 2:43:43
  Speaker 1: up the St. James Gazette, lying folded up as it arrived.
• 2:43:47
  Speaker 1: Now we shall get at the truth, said doctor Kemp.
• 2:43:50
  Speaker 1: He rent the paper open. A couple of columns confronted him.
• 2:43:55
  Speaker 1: An entire village in Sussex goes mad? Was the heading,
• 2:43:59
  Speaker 1: Good Heavens, said Kemp, reading eagerly an incredulous account of
• 2:44:03
  Speaker 1: the events and nipping of the previous afternoon that have
• 2:44:06
  Speaker 1: already been described. Over the leaf, the report in the
• 2:44:09
  Speaker 1: morning paper had been reprinted. He reread it. Ran through
• 2:44:14
  Speaker 1: the street, striking right and left Jaffer's insensible. Mister Huckster
• 2:44:20
  Speaker 1: in great pain, still unable to describe what he saw, painful, humiliation,
• 2:44:25
  Speaker 1: vicar woman ill with terror. Windows smashed this extraordinary story,
• 2:44:32
  Speaker 1: probably a fabrication, too good not to print, Come Grano.
• 2:44:37
  Speaker 1: He dropped the paper and stared blankly in front of him.
• 2:44:41
  Speaker 1: Probably a fabrication. He caught up the paper again and
• 2:44:44
  Speaker 1: re read the whole business. But when does the tramp
• 2:44:48
  Speaker 1: come in? Why the deuce was he chasing a tramp?
• 2:44:51
  Speaker 1: He sat down abruptly on the surgical bench. He's not
• 2:44:55
  Speaker 1: only invisible, he said, but he's mad, homicidal. When dawn
• 2:45:01
  Speaker 1: came to mingle its pallor with the lamp light and
• 2:45:03
  Speaker 1: cigar smoke of the dining room, Kemp was still pacing
• 2:45:06
  Speaker 1: up and down, trying to grasp the incredible. He was
• 2:45:10
  Speaker 1: altogether too excited to sleep. His servants, descending sleepily, discovered
• 2:45:15
  Speaker 1: him and were inclined to think that overstudy had worked
• 2:45:18
  Speaker 1: this ill on him. He gave them extraordinary but quite
• 2:45:22
  Speaker 1: explicit instructions to lay breakfast for two in the belvedere study,
• 2:45:25
  Speaker 1: and then to confine themselves to the basement and ground floor.
• 2:45:29
  Speaker 1: Then he continued to pace the dining room until the
• 2:45:32
  Speaker 1: morning's paper came that had much to say and little
• 2:45:36
  Speaker 1: to tell beyond the confirmation of the evening before, and
• 2:45:39
  Speaker 1: a very badly written account of another remarkable tale from
• 2:45:42
  Speaker 1: Port Burdock. This gave Kempt the essence of the happenings
• 2:45:46
  Speaker 1: at the Jolly Cricketers, and the name of Marvel. He
• 2:45:49
  Speaker 1: has made me keep with him twenty four hours. Marvel testified.
• 2:45:54
  Speaker 1: Certain minor facts were added to the ipping story, notably
• 2:45:57
  Speaker 1: the cutting of the village telegraph wire, but there was
• 2:46:00
  Speaker 1: nothing to throw light on the connection between the invisible
• 2:46:03
  Speaker 1: man and the tramp, For mister Marvell had supplied no
• 2:46:06
  Speaker 1: information about the three books or the money with which
• 2:46:09
  Speaker 1: he was lying. The incredulous tone had vanished, and a
• 2:46:13
  Speaker 1: shoal of reporters and inquirers were already at work elaborating
• 2:46:16
  Speaker 1: the matter. Kemp read every scrap of the report and
• 2:46:19
  Speaker 1: sent his housemaid out to get every one of the
• 2:46:21
  Speaker 1: morning papers she could. These also he devoured. He is invisible,
• 2:46:27
  Speaker 1: he said, and it reads like rage growing to mania.
• 2:46:31
  Speaker 1: The things he may do, the things he may do,
• 2:46:36
  Speaker 1: and he's upstairs, free as the air. What on earth
• 2:46:39
  Speaker 1: ought I to do, for instance, would it be a
• 2:46:42
  Speaker 1: breach of faith? If no, He went to a little
• 2:46:46
  Speaker 1: untidy desk in the corner and began a note. He
• 2:46:49
  Speaker 1: tore this up, half written, and wrote another. He read
• 2:46:53
  Speaker 1: it over and considered it. Then he took an envelope
• 2:46:56
  Speaker 1: and addressed it to Colonel Addy Port Burdock. The Invisible
• 2:47:00
  Speaker 1: Man awoke even as Kemp was doing this. He awoke
• 2:47:03
  Speaker 1: in an evil temper, and Kemp, alert for every sound,
• 2:47:07
  Speaker 1: heard his pattering feet rush suddenly across the bedroom overhead.
• 2:47:11
  Speaker 1: Then a chair was flung over and the wash hand
• 2:47:13
  Speaker 1: stand tumbler smashed. Kemp hurried upstairs and rapped eagerly Chapter nineteen.
• 2:47:21
  Speaker 1: Certain first Principles. What's the matter, asked Kemp, when the
• 2:47:24
  Speaker 1: Invisible Man admitted him nothing was the answer, But confound
• 2:47:30
  Speaker 1: it the smash fit of temper, said the invisible Man
• 2:47:36
  Speaker 1: forgot this arm, and it's soar. You're rather liable to
• 2:47:40
  Speaker 1: that sort of thing, I am. Kemp walked across the
• 2:47:45
  Speaker 1: room and picked up the fragments of broken glass. All
• 2:47:48
  Speaker 1: the facts are out about you, said Kemp, standing up
• 2:47:51
  Speaker 1: with the glass in his hand. All that happened in
• 2:47:54
  Speaker 1: Nipping and down the hill the world has become aware
• 2:47:57
  Speaker 1: of its invisible citizen, but no one knows you are here.
• 2:48:01
  Speaker 1: The invisible man swore the secret's out. I gather it
• 2:48:06
  Speaker 1: was a secret. I don't know what your plans are,
• 2:48:09
  Speaker 1: but of course I'm anxious to help you. The invisible
• 2:48:12
  Speaker 1: man sat down on the bed. There's breakfast upstairs, said Kemp,
• 2:48:17
  Speaker 1: speaking as easily as possible, and he was delighted to
• 2:48:20
  Speaker 1: find his strange guest rose willingly. Kemp led the way
• 2:48:23
  Speaker 1: up the narrow staircase to the belvidere. Before we can
• 2:48:27
  Speaker 1: do anything else, said Kemp, I must understand a little
• 2:48:30
  Speaker 1: more about this invisibility of yours. He had sat down
• 2:48:34
  Speaker 1: after one nervous glance out of the window with the
• 2:48:36
  Speaker 1: air of a man who has talking to do. His
• 2:48:39
  Speaker 1: doubts of the sanity of the entire business flashed and
• 2:48:42
  Speaker 1: vanished again as he looked across to where Griffin sat
• 2:48:44
  Speaker 1: at the breakfast table, a headless, handless dressing gown, wiping
• 2:48:49
  Speaker 1: unseen lips on a miraculously held serviette. It's simple enough
• 2:48:53
  Speaker 1: and credible enough, said Griffin, putting the serviette aside and
• 2:48:57
  Speaker 1: leaning the invisible head on an invisible hand. No doubt
• 2:49:01
  Speaker 1: to you, But Kemp laughed, well, yes to me, it
• 2:49:06
  Speaker 1: seemed wonderful at first, no doubt. But now great God,
• 2:49:11
  Speaker 1: but we will do great things. Yet I came on
• 2:49:14
  Speaker 1: the stuff first at Chesilstowe, Chesilstowe. I went there after
• 2:49:19
  Speaker 1: I left London. You know I dropped medicine and took
• 2:49:22
  Speaker 1: up physics. No, well I did. Light fascinated me, Ah,
• 2:49:30
  Speaker 1: optical density. The whole subject is a network of riddles,
• 2:49:35
  Speaker 1: a network with solutions, glimmering elusively through and being but
• 2:49:39
  Speaker 1: two and twenty and full of enthusiasm, I said, I
• 2:49:42
  Speaker 1: will devote my life to this. This is worth while.
• 2:49:46
  Speaker 1: You know what fools we are at two and twenty fools?
• 2:49:49
  Speaker 1: Then are fools now, said Kemp, as though knowing could
• 2:49:53
  Speaker 1: be any satisfaction to a man. But I went to
• 2:49:57
  Speaker 1: work like a slave, and I had heart worked and
• 2:50:00
  Speaker 1: thought about the matter six months before light came through
• 2:50:03
  Speaker 1: one of the meshes. Suddenly, blindingly, I found a general
• 2:50:07
  Speaker 1: principle of pigments and refraction, a formula, a geometrical expression
• 2:50:12
  Speaker 1: involving four dimensions. Fools, common men, even common mathematicians, do
• 2:50:18
  Speaker 1: not know anything of what some general expression may mean
• 2:50:20
  Speaker 1: to the student of molecular physics. In the books, the
• 2:50:24
  Speaker 1: books that Tramp has hidden, there are marvels miracles. But
• 2:50:29
  Speaker 1: this was not a method. It was an idea that
• 2:50:31
  Speaker 1: might lead to a method by which it would be
• 2:50:33
  Speaker 1: possible without changing any other property of matter, except in
• 2:50:37
  Speaker 1: some instances colors to lower the refractive index of a
• 2:50:41
  Speaker 1: substance solid or liquid to that of air. So far
• 2:50:44
  Speaker 1: as all practical purposes are concerned, few said Kemp. That's odd,
• 2:50:51
  Speaker 1: but still I don't see quite. I can understand that
• 2:50:54
  Speaker 1: thereby you could spoil a valuable stone, But personal invisibility
• 2:50:58
  Speaker 1: is a far cry. Precisely, said Griffin, But consider visibility
• 2:51:04
  Speaker 1: depends on the action of the visible bodies on light.
• 2:51:07
  Speaker 1: Either a body absorbs light, or it reflects or refracts it,
• 2:51:11
  Speaker 1: or does all these things. If it neither reflects, nor refracts,
• 2:51:15
  Speaker 1: nor absorbs light, it cannot of itself be visible. You
• 2:51:19
  Speaker 1: see an opaque red box, for instance, because the color
• 2:51:23
  Speaker 1: absorbs some of the light and reflects the rest all
• 2:51:26
  Speaker 1: the red part of the light to you. If it
• 2:51:29
  Speaker 1: did not absorb any particular part of the light, but
• 2:51:31
  Speaker 1: reflect it at all, then it would be a shining
• 2:51:34
  Speaker 1: white box. Silver, a diamond box would neither absorb much
• 2:51:39
  Speaker 1: of the light nor reflect much from the general surface,
• 2:51:42
  Speaker 1: but just here and there, where the surfaces where favorable,
• 2:51:44
  Speaker 1: the light would be reflected and refracted, so that you
• 2:51:47
  Speaker 1: would get a brilliant appearance of flashing reflections and translucencies,
• 2:51:51
  Speaker 1: a sort of skeleton of light. A glass box would
• 2:51:54
  Speaker 1: not be so brilliant nor so clearly visible as a
• 2:51:57
  Speaker 1: diamond box, because there would be less refraction and reflection.
• 2:52:02
  Speaker 1: See that from certain points of view you would see
• 2:52:05
  Speaker 1: quite clearly through it. Some kinds of glass would be
• 2:52:09
  Speaker 1: more visible than others. A box of flint glass would
• 2:52:12
  Speaker 1: be brighter than a box of ordinary window glass. A
• 2:52:16
  Speaker 1: box of very thin common glass would be hard to
• 2:52:18
  Speaker 1: see in a bad light because it would absorb hardly
• 2:52:21
  Speaker 1: any light and refract and reflect very little. And if
• 2:52:24
  Speaker 1: you put a sheet of common white glass in water,
• 2:52:27
  Speaker 1: still more, if you put it in some denser liquid
• 2:52:29
  Speaker 1: than water, it would vanish almost altogether. Because light passing
• 2:52:33
  Speaker 1: from water to glass is only slightly refracted or reflected,
• 2:52:36
  Speaker 1: or indeed affected in any way, it is almost as
• 2:52:40
  Speaker 1: invisible as a jet of coal, gas or hydrogen is
• 2:52:42
  Speaker 1: in air. And for precisely the same reason, Yes, said Kemp,
• 2:52:48
  Speaker 1: that is pretty plain sailing. And here is another fact
• 2:52:52
  Speaker 1: you will know to be true. If a sheet of
• 2:52:55
  Speaker 1: glass is smashed Kemp and beaten into a powder, it
• 2:52:58
  Speaker 1: becomes much more visible. While it is in the air.
• 2:53:01
  Speaker 1: It becomes at last an opaque white powder. This is
• 2:53:04
  Speaker 1: because the powdering multiplies the surfaces of the glass at
• 2:53:07
  Speaker 1: which refraction and reflection occur. In the sheet of glass,
• 2:53:11
  Speaker 1: there are only two surfaces. In the powder. The light
• 2:53:14
  Speaker 1: is reflected or refracted by each grain it passes through,
• 2:53:17
  Speaker 1: and very little gets right through the powder. But if
• 2:53:21
  Speaker 1: the white powdered glass is put into water, it forthwith vanishes.
• 2:53:25
  Speaker 1: The powdered glass and water have much the same refractive index.
• 2:53:29
  Speaker 1: That is, the light undergoes very little refraction or reflection
• 2:53:32
  Speaker 1: in passing from one to the other. You make the
• 2:53:35
  Speaker 1: glass invisible by putting it into a liquid of nearly
• 2:53:38
  Speaker 1: the same refractive index. A transparent thing becomes invisible if
• 2:53:42
  Speaker 1: it is put in any medium of almost the same
• 2:53:44
  Speaker 1: refractive index. And if you will consider only a second,
• 2:53:48
  Speaker 1: you will see also that the powder of glass might
• 2:53:51
  Speaker 1: be made to vanish in air if its refractive index
• 2:53:54
  Speaker 1: could be made the same as that of air, for
• 2:53:56
  Speaker 1: then there would be no refraction or reflection as the
• 2:53:58
  Speaker 1: light passed from glass to air. Yes, yes, said Kemp.
• 2:54:03
  Speaker 1: But a man's not powdered glass. No, said Griffin, He's
• 2:54:09
  Speaker 1: more transparent. Nonsense that from a doctor. How one forgets?
• 2:54:16
  Speaker 1: Have you already forgotten your physics in ten years? Just
• 2:54:20
  Speaker 1: think of all the things that are transparent and seem
• 2:54:23
  Speaker 1: not to be so. Paper, for instance, is made up
• 2:54:27
  Speaker 1: of transparent fibers, and it is white and opaque only
• 2:54:30
  Speaker 1: for the same reason that a powder of glass is
• 2:54:32
  Speaker 1: white and opaque. Oil. White paper fill up the interstices
• 2:54:36
  Speaker 1: between the particles with oil, so that there is no
• 2:54:39
  Speaker 1: longer refraction or reflection except at the surfaces, and it
• 2:54:42
  Speaker 1: becomes as transparent as glass. And not only paper, but cotton, fiber,
• 2:54:48
  Speaker 1: linen fiber, wolf fiber, woody fiber, and bone Kemp, flesh, Kemp, hair, Kemp,
• 2:54:54
  Speaker 1: nails and nerves Kemp. In fact, the whole fabric of
• 2:54:57
  Speaker 1: a man, except the red of his blood and the
• 2:54:59
  Speaker 1: black pigment of hair, are all made up of transparent,
• 2:55:03
  Speaker 1: colorless tissue. So little suffices to make us visible one
• 2:55:07
  Speaker 1: to the other. For the most part, the fibers of
• 2:55:10
  Speaker 1: a living creature are no more opaque than water. Great heavens,
• 2:55:15
  Speaker 1: cried Kemp. Of course, of course I was thinking only
• 2:55:20
  Speaker 1: last night of the sea larvae and all jelly fish.
• 2:55:23
  Speaker 1: Now you have me and all that I knew and
• 2:55:26
  Speaker 1: had in mind a year after I left London six
• 2:55:29
  Speaker 1: years ago. But I kept it to myself. I had
• 2:55:33
  Speaker 1: to do my work under frightful disadvantages. Oliver, my professor
• 2:55:38
  Speaker 1: was a scientific bounder, a journalist by instinct, a thief
• 2:55:42
  Speaker 1: of ideas. He was always prying, and you know the
• 2:55:46
  Speaker 1: knavish system of the scientific world. I simply would not
• 2:55:50
  Speaker 1: publish and let him share my credit. I went on working.
• 2:55:54
  Speaker 1: I got nearer and nearer, making my formula into an
• 2:55:57
  Speaker 1: experiment or reality. I told no living soul, because I
• 2:56:01
  Speaker 1: meant to flash my work upon the world with crushing
• 2:56:04
  Speaker 1: effect and become famous. At a blow, I took up
• 2:56:07
  Speaker 1: the question of pigments to fill up certain gaps, and suddenly,
• 2:56:11
  Speaker 1: not by design, but by accident, I made a discovery
• 2:56:14
  Speaker 1: in physiology. Yes, you know, the red coloring matter of blood.
• 2:56:20
  Speaker 1: It can be made white, colorless and remain with all
• 2:56:23
  Speaker 1: the functions it has. Now Kemp gave a cry of
• 2:56:26
  Speaker 1: incredulous amazement. The invisible man rose and began pacing the
• 2:56:30
  Speaker 1: little study. You may well exclaim, I remember that night.
• 2:56:36
  Speaker 1: It was late at night in the daytime one was
• 2:56:39
  Speaker 1: bothered with the gaping silly students. And I worked then,
• 2:56:42
  Speaker 1: sometimes till dawn. It came suddenly, splendid and complete in
• 2:56:47
  Speaker 1: my mind. I was alone. The laboratory was still, with
• 2:56:51
  Speaker 1: the tall lights burning brightly and silently. In all my
• 2:56:55
  Speaker 1: great moments, I have been alone. One could make an animal,
• 2:56:59
  Speaker 1: a tissue transparent. One could make it invisible, all except
• 2:57:04
  Speaker 1: the pigments. I could be invisible, I said, suddenly realizing
• 2:57:08
  Speaker 1: what it meant to be in albino. With such knowledge
• 2:57:11
  Speaker 1: it was overwhelming. I left the filtering I was doing
• 2:57:15
  Speaker 1: and went and stared out of the great window at
• 2:57:18
  Speaker 1: the stars. I could be invisible, I repeated. To do
• 2:57:23
  Speaker 1: such a thing would be to transcend magic. And I beheld,
• 2:57:28
  Speaker 1: unclouded by doubt, a magnificent vision of all that invisibility
• 2:57:32
  Speaker 1: might mean to a man, The mystery, the power, the freedom, drawbacks.
• 2:57:37
  Speaker 1: I saw none. You have only to think, and I
• 2:57:41
  Speaker 1: a shabby, poverty struck hemmedon demonstrator teaching fools in a
• 2:57:46
  Speaker 1: provincial college might suddenly become this. I ask you, Kemp,
• 2:57:51
  Speaker 1: if you anyone, I tell you would have flung himself
• 2:57:54
  Speaker 1: upon that research. And I worked three years, and every
• 2:57:58
  Speaker 1: mountain of difficulty I toiled over showed another from its summit,
• 2:58:02
  Speaker 1: the infinite details, and the exasperation a professor, a provincial professor,
• 2:58:09
  Speaker 1: always prying, when are you going to publish this work
• 2:58:12
  Speaker 1: of yours? Was his everlasting question, and the students the
• 2:58:17
  Speaker 1: cramped means. Three years I had of it, and after
• 2:58:21
  Speaker 1: three years of secrecy and exasperation, I found that to
• 2:58:24
  Speaker 1: complete it was impossible. Impossible, how asked Kemp? Money, said
• 2:58:31
  Speaker 1: the invisible man, and went again to stare out of
• 2:58:33
  Speaker 1: the window. He turned around abruptly. I robbed the old man,
• 2:58:39
  Speaker 1: robbed my father. The money was not his, and he
• 2:58:42
  Speaker 1: shot himself Chapter twenty. At the house in Great Portland Street.
• 2:58:47
  Speaker 1: For a moment, Kemp sat in silence, staring at the
• 2:58:49
  Speaker 1: back of the headless figure at the window. Then he started,
• 2:58:53
  Speaker 1: struck by a thought. Rose took the invisible man's arm
• 2:58:57
  Speaker 1: and turned him away from the outlook. You are tired,
• 2:59:01
  Speaker 1: he said, and while I sit you walk about. Have
• 2:59:04
  Speaker 1: my chair. He placed himself between Griffin and the nearest
• 2:59:07
  Speaker 1: window for a space. Griffin sat silent, and then he
• 2:59:12
  Speaker 1: resumed abruptly. I had left the Chesilstow cottage already, he said.
• 2:59:16
  Speaker 1: When that happened, it was last December. I had taken
• 2:59:20
  Speaker 1: a room in London, a large, unfurnished room in a big,
• 2:59:23
  Speaker 1: ill managed lodging house in a slum near Great Portland Street.
• 2:59:28
  Speaker 1: The room was soon full of the appliances I had
• 2:59:30
  Speaker 1: bought with his money. The work was going unsteadily, successfully,
• 2:59:34
  Speaker 1: drawing near an end. I was like a man emerging
• 2:59:37
  Speaker 1: from a thicket and suddenly coming on some unmeaning tragedy.
• 2:59:41
  Speaker 1: I went to bury him. My mind was still on
• 2:59:44
  Speaker 1: this research, and I did not lift a finger to
• 2:59:47
  Speaker 1: save his character. I remember the funeral, the cheap hearse,
• 2:59:51
  Speaker 1: the scant ceremony, the windy, frost bitten hillside, and the
• 2:59:55
  Speaker 1: old college friend of his who read the service over him,
• 2:59:57
  Speaker 1: a shabby, black, bent old man with a sniveling cold.
• 3:00:02
  Speaker 1: I remember walking back to the empty house, through the
• 3:00:05
  Speaker 1: place that had once been a village and was now
• 3:00:07
  Speaker 1: patched and tinkered by the jerry builders into the ugly
• 3:00:10
  Speaker 1: likeness of a town. Every way the roads ran out
• 3:00:13
  Speaker 1: at last into the desecrated fields and ended in rubble
• 3:00:16
  Speaker 1: heaps and rank at weeds. I remember myself as a
• 3:00:20
  Speaker 1: gaunt black figure going along the slippery, shiny pavement, and
• 3:00:24
  Speaker 1: the strange sense of detachment I felt from the squalid respectability,
• 3:00:27
  Speaker 1: the sordid commercialism of the place. I did not feel
• 3:00:31
  Speaker 1: a bit sorry for my father. He seemed to me
• 3:00:34
  Speaker 1: to be the victim of his own foolish sentimentality. The
• 3:00:38
  Speaker 1: current cat required my attendance at his funeral, but it
• 3:00:41
  Speaker 1: was really not my affair. But going along the high Street,
• 3:00:45
  Speaker 1: my old life came back to me for a space
• 3:00:47
  Speaker 1: for I met the girl I had known ten years
• 3:00:49
  Speaker 1: since our eyes met. Something moved me to turn back
• 3:00:54
  Speaker 1: and talk to her. She was a very ordinary person.
• 3:00:59
  Speaker 1: It was all like a dream that visit to the
• 3:01:01
  Speaker 1: old places. I did not feel then that I was lonely,
• 3:01:05
  Speaker 1: that I had come out from the world into a
• 3:01:07
  Speaker 1: desolate place. I appreciated my loss of sympathy, but I
• 3:01:11
  Speaker 1: put it down to the general inanity of things. Re
• 3:01:15
  Speaker 1: Entering my room seemed like the recovery of reality. There
• 3:01:18
  Speaker 1: were the things I knew and loved. There stood the apparatus,
• 3:01:22
  Speaker 1: the experiments, arranged and waiting, And now there was scarcely
• 3:01:27
  Speaker 1: a difficulty left beyond the planning of details. I will
• 3:01:31
  Speaker 1: tell you Kemp sooner or later. All the complicated processes.
• 3:01:36
  Speaker 1: We need not go into that now. For the most part,
• 3:01:40
  Speaker 1: saving certain gaps, I chose to remember they are written
• 3:01:43
  Speaker 1: in cipher in those books that Tramp has hidden. We
• 3:01:46
  Speaker 1: must hunt him down. We must get those books again.
• 3:01:51
  Speaker 1: But the essential phase was to place the transparent object,
• 3:01:54
  Speaker 1: whose refractive index was to be lowered between two radiating
• 3:01:57
  Speaker 1: centers of a sort of ethereal vibration of which I
• 3:02:00
  Speaker 1: will tell you more fully later. No, not those runken vibrations.
• 3:02:05
  Speaker 1: I don't know that these others of mine have been
• 3:02:07
  Speaker 1: described yet. They are obvious enough. I needed two little dynamos,
• 3:02:13
  Speaker 1: and these I worked with a cheap gas engine. My
• 3:02:16
  Speaker 1: first experiment was with a bit of white wolf fabric.
• 3:02:19
  Speaker 1: It was the strangest thing in the world to see
• 3:02:21
  Speaker 1: it in the flicker of the flashes, soft and white,
• 3:02:24
  Speaker 1: and then to watch it fade like a wreath of
• 3:02:26
  Speaker 1: smoke and vanish. I could scarcely believe I had done it.
• 3:02:31
  Speaker 1: I put my hand into the emptiness, and there was
• 3:02:33
  Speaker 1: the thing as solid as ever, I felt it awkwardly
• 3:02:37
  Speaker 1: and threw it on the floor. I had a little
• 3:02:40
  Speaker 1: trouble finding it again, and then came a curious experience.
• 3:02:45
  Speaker 1: I heard a miaw behind me, and turning saw a
• 3:02:48
  Speaker 1: lean white cat, very dirty on the cistern cover outside
• 3:02:52
  Speaker 1: the window. A thought came into my head. Everything ready
• 3:02:57
  Speaker 1: for you, I said, and went to the window, opened
• 3:02:59
  Speaker 1: it and called softly. She came in purring. The poor
• 3:03:04
  Speaker 1: beast was starving, and I gave her some milk. All
• 3:03:08
  Speaker 1: my food was in a cupboard in the corner of
• 3:03:10
  Speaker 1: the room. After that she went smelling round the room,
• 3:03:13
  Speaker 1: evidently with the idea of making herself at home. The
• 3:03:17
  Speaker 1: invisible rag upset her a bit. You should have seen
• 3:03:20
  Speaker 1: her spit at it. But I made her comfortable on
• 3:03:23
  Speaker 1: the pillow of my truckle bed, and I gave her
• 3:03:26
  Speaker 1: butter to get her to wash. And you processed her.
• 3:03:30
  Speaker 1: I processed her. But giving drugs to a cat is
• 3:03:34
  Speaker 1: no joke, kemp, and the process failed failed in two particulars.
• 3:03:42
  Speaker 1: These were the claws and the pigment stuff. What is
• 3:03:44
  Speaker 1: it at the back of the eye in a cat?
• 3:03:47
  Speaker 1: You know? To pay them? Yes, the topay them. It
• 3:03:53
  Speaker 1: didn't go. After I'd given the stuff to bleach the
• 3:03:56
  Speaker 1: blood and done certain other things to her. I gave
• 3:03:59
  Speaker 1: the beast opium and put her and the pillow she
• 3:04:01
  Speaker 1: was sleeping on on the apparatus, And after all the
• 3:04:05
  Speaker 1: rest had faded and vanished, there remained two little ghosts
• 3:04:08
  Speaker 1: of her eyes. Odd. I can't explain it. She was
• 3:04:14
  Speaker 1: bandaged and clamped, of course, so I had her safe.
• 3:04:17
  Speaker 1: But she woke while she was still misty, and meowed dismally,
• 3:04:21
  Speaker 1: and some one came knocking. It was an old woman
• 3:04:24
  Speaker 1: from downstairs who suspected me of vivisecting a drink soen
• 3:04:28
  Speaker 1: old creature with only a white cat to care for
• 3:04:31
  Speaker 1: in all the world. I whipped out some chloroform, applied it,
• 3:04:35
  Speaker 1: and answered the door. Did I hear a cat? She asked,
• 3:04:39
  Speaker 1: My cat? Not here, said I, very politely. She was
• 3:04:45
  Speaker 1: a little doubtful, and tried to peer past me into
• 3:04:47
  Speaker 1: the room, strange enough to her, no doubt, bare walls,
• 3:04:51
  Speaker 1: uncurtained windows, truckle bed with the gas engine vibrating, and
• 3:04:55
  Speaker 1: the seeth of the radiant points, and that faint, ghastly
• 3:04:57
  Speaker 1: stinging of chloroform in the air. She had to be
• 3:05:01
  Speaker 1: satisfied at last, and went away again. How long did
• 3:05:04
  Speaker 1: it take, asked Kemp, Three or four hours? The cat,
• 3:05:11
  Speaker 1: the bones and sinews, and the fat were the last
• 3:05:13
  Speaker 1: to go, and the tips of the colored hairs, and
• 3:05:17
  Speaker 1: as I say, the back part of the eye, tough
• 3:05:20
  Speaker 1: iridescent stuff it is, wouldn't go at all. It was
• 3:05:23
  Speaker 1: night outside long before the business was over, and nothing
• 3:05:27
  Speaker 1: was to be seen but the dim eyes and the claws.
• 3:05:30
  Speaker 1: I stopped the gas engine, felt for and stroke the beast,
• 3:05:33
  Speaker 1: which was still insensible, and then, being tired, left it
• 3:05:37
  Speaker 1: sleeping on the invisible pillow, and went to bed. I
• 3:05:40
  Speaker 1: found it hard to sleep. I lay awake, thinking weak,
• 3:05:44
  Speaker 1: aimless stuff, going over the experiment over and over again,
• 3:05:48
  Speaker 1: or dreaming feverishly of things growing misty and vanishing about me,
• 3:05:51
  Speaker 1: until everything the ground I stood on vanished, and so
• 3:05:55
  Speaker 1: I came to that sickly falling nightmare. One gets about two.
• 3:05:59
  Speaker 1: The cat began meowing about the room. I tried to
• 3:06:03
  Speaker 1: hush it by talking to it, and then I decided
• 3:06:05
  Speaker 1: to turn it out. I remember the shock I had
• 3:06:08
  Speaker 1: when striking a light. There were just the round eyes
• 3:06:11
  Speaker 1: shining green, and nothing round them. I would have given
• 3:06:15
  Speaker 1: it milk, but I hadn't any It wouldn't be quiet.
• 3:06:18
  Speaker 1: It just sat down and me out at the door.
• 3:06:22
  Speaker 1: I tried to catch it, with an idea of putting
• 3:06:24
  Speaker 1: it out of the window, but it wouldn't be caught.
• 3:06:26
  Speaker 1: It vanished. Then it began meowing in different parts of
• 3:06:30
  Speaker 1: the room. At last I opened the window and made
• 3:06:33
  Speaker 1: a bustle. I suppose it went out. At last, I
• 3:06:37
  Speaker 1: never saw any more of it. Then, Heaven knows why
• 3:06:42
  Speaker 1: I fell thinking of my father's funeral again and the
• 3:06:45
  Speaker 1: dismal windy hillside. Until the day had come I found sleeping,
• 3:06:49
  Speaker 1: was hopeless and locking my door after me wandered out
• 3:06:53
  Speaker 1: into the morning streets. You don't mean to say there's
• 3:06:56
  Speaker 1: an invisible cat at large, said Kemp. If it hasn't
• 3:07:00
  Speaker 1: been killed, said the invisible man. Why not? Why not?
• 3:07:05
  Speaker 1: Said Kemp. I didn't mean to interrupt. It's very probably
• 3:07:10
  Speaker 1: been killed, said the invisible man. It was alive four
• 3:07:14
  Speaker 1: days after I know, and down a grating in Great
• 3:07:17
  Speaker 1: Titchfield Street because I saw a crowd round the place
• 3:07:20
  Speaker 1: trying to see whence the meowing came. He was silent
• 3:07:23
  Speaker 1: for the best part of a minute. Then he resumed abruptly.
• 3:07:27
  Speaker 1: I remember that morning before the change very vividly. I
• 3:07:31
  Speaker 1: must have gone up Great Portland Street. I remember the
• 3:07:34
  Speaker 1: barracks in Albany Street and the horse soldiers coming out,
• 3:07:38
  Speaker 1: and at last I found the summit of Primrose Hill.
• 3:07:41
  Speaker 1: It was a sunny day in January, one of those sunny,
• 3:07:44
  Speaker 1: frosty days that came before the snow this year. My
• 3:07:48
  Speaker 1: weary brain tried to formulate the position, to plot out
• 3:07:51
  Speaker 1: a plan of action. I was surprised to find now
• 3:07:55
  Speaker 1: that my prize was within my grasp, how inconclusive its
• 3:07:58
  Speaker 1: attainment seemed. As a matter of fact, I was worked out.
• 3:08:02
  Speaker 1: The intense stress of nearly four years continuous work left
• 3:08:05
  Speaker 1: me incapable of any strength of feeling. I was apathetic,
• 3:08:09
  Speaker 1: and I tried in vain to recover the enthusiasm of
• 3:08:12
  Speaker 1: my first inquiries, the passion of discovery that had enabled
• 3:08:15
  Speaker 1: me to compass even the downfall of my father's gray hairs.
• 3:08:19
  Speaker 1: Nothing seemed to matter. I saw pretty clearly this was
• 3:08:23
  Speaker 1: a transient mood due to overwork and want of sleep,
• 3:08:26
  Speaker 1: and that either by drugs or rest, it would be
• 3:08:28
  Speaker 1: possible to recover my energies. All I could think clearly
• 3:08:32
  Speaker 1: was that the thing had to be carried through. The
• 3:08:34
  Speaker 1: fixed idea still ruled me, and soon for the money
• 3:08:38
  Speaker 1: I had was almost exhausted. I looked about me at
• 3:08:42
  Speaker 1: the hillside, with children playing in girls watching them, and
• 3:08:45
  Speaker 1: tried to think of all the fantastic advantages an invisible
• 3:08:48
  Speaker 1: man would have in the world. After a time, I
• 3:08:51
  Speaker 1: crawled home, took some food and a strong dose of strychnin,
• 3:08:54
  Speaker 1: and went to sleep in my clothes on my unmade bed.
• 3:08:58
  Speaker 1: Strychnin is a grand ton, Kemp, to take the flabbiness
• 3:09:02
  Speaker 1: out of a man. It's the devil, said Kemp. It's
• 3:09:06
  Speaker 1: the Paleolithic in a bottle. I awoke vastly invigorated and
• 3:09:10
  Speaker 1: rather irritable. You know, I know the stuff. And there
• 3:09:16
  Speaker 1: was someone rapping at the door. It was my landlord,
• 3:09:19
  Speaker 1: with threats and inquiries, an old polished jew in a
• 3:09:22
  Speaker 1: long gray coat and greasy slippers. I had been tormenting
• 3:09:26
  Speaker 1: a cat in a night. He was sure the old
• 3:09:29
  Speaker 1: woman's tongue had been busy. He insisted on knowing all
• 3:09:32
  Speaker 1: about it. The laws in this country against vivisection were
• 3:09:36
  Speaker 1: very severe. He might be liable. I denied the cat,
• 3:09:41
  Speaker 1: then the vibration of the little gas engine could be
• 3:09:44
  Speaker 1: felt all over the house. He said that was true, certainly.
• 3:09:49
  Speaker 1: He edged round me into the room, peering about over
• 3:09:52
  Speaker 1: his German silver spectacles, and a sudden dread came into
• 3:09:55
  Speaker 1: my mind that he might carry away something of my secret.
• 3:09:59
  Speaker 1: I tried to keep between him and the concentrating apparatus
• 3:10:02
  Speaker 1: I had arranged, and that only made him more curious.
• 3:10:06
  Speaker 1: What was I doing? Why was I always alone and secretive?
• 3:10:11
  Speaker 1: Was it legal? Was it dangerous? I paid nothing but
• 3:10:15
  Speaker 1: the usual rent. His had always been a most respectable
• 3:10:19
  Speaker 1: house in a disreputable neighborhood. Suddenly my temper gave way.
• 3:10:25
  Speaker 1: I told him to get out. He began to protest,
• 3:10:28
  Speaker 1: to jabber of his right of entry. In a moment
• 3:10:31
  Speaker 1: I had him by the collar. Something ripped, and he
• 3:10:34
  Speaker 1: went spinning out into his own passage. I slammed and
• 3:10:38
  Speaker 1: locked the door and sat down quivering. He made a
• 3:10:41
  Speaker 1: fuss outside, which I disregarded, and after a time he
• 3:10:45
  Speaker 1: went away. But this brought matters to a crisis. I
• 3:10:49
  Speaker 1: did not know what he would do, nor even what
• 3:10:51
  Speaker 1: he had the power to do. To move to fresh
• 3:10:54
  Speaker 1: apartments would have meant delay altogether I had barely twenty
• 3:10:58
  Speaker 1: pounds left in the world for the moment, most part
• 3:11:00
  Speaker 1: in a bank, and I could not afford that vanish.
• 3:11:05
  Speaker 1: It was irresistible. Then there would be an inquiry the
• 3:11:08
  Speaker 1: sacking of my room. At the thought of the possibility
• 3:11:12
  Speaker 1: of my work being exposed or interrupted at its very climax,
• 3:11:16
  Speaker 1: I became very angry and active. I hurried out with
• 3:11:19
  Speaker 1: my three books of notes, my check book. The tramp
• 3:11:23
  Speaker 1: has them now, and directed them from the nearest post
• 3:11:25
  Speaker 1: office to a house of call for letters and parcels
• 3:11:28
  Speaker 1: in Great Portland Street. I tried to go out noiselessly.
• 3:11:33
  Speaker 1: Coming in, I found my landlord going quietly upstairs. He
• 3:11:36
  Speaker 1: had heard the door close. I suppose you would have
• 3:11:40
  Speaker 1: laughed to see him jump aside on the landing as
• 3:11:42
  Speaker 1: I came tearing after him. He glared at me as
• 3:11:46
  Speaker 1: I went by him, and I made the house quiver
• 3:11:48
  Speaker 1: with the slamming of my door. I heard him come
• 3:11:51
  Speaker 1: shuffling up to my floor, hesitate, and go down. I
• 3:11:55
  Speaker 1: set to work upon my preparations forthwith. It was all
• 3:11:59
  Speaker 1: done that evening and night. While I was still sitting
• 3:12:02
  Speaker 1: under the sickly drowsy influence of the drugs that decolorized blood.
• 3:12:06
  Speaker 1: There came a repeated knocking at the door. It ceased,
• 3:12:10
  Speaker 1: footsteps went away and returned, and the knocking was resumed.
• 3:12:15
  Speaker 1: There was an attempt to push something under the door,
• 3:12:17
  Speaker 1: a blue paper. Then, in a fit of irritation, I
• 3:12:21
  Speaker 1: rose and went and flung the door wide open. Now,
• 3:12:24
  Speaker 1: then said I, it was my landlord with a notice
• 3:12:27
  Speaker 1: of ejectment or something. He held it out to me.
• 3:12:31
  Speaker 1: Saw something odd about my hands, I expect, and lifted
• 3:12:34
  Speaker 1: his eyes to my face. For a moment he gaped.
• 3:12:38
  Speaker 1: Then he gave a sort of inarticulate cry, dropped candle
• 3:12:42
  Speaker 1: and writ together, and went blundering down the dark passage
• 3:12:45
  Speaker 1: to the stairs. I shut the door, locked it, and
• 3:12:48
  Speaker 1: went to the looking glass. Then I understood his terror.
• 3:12:53
  Speaker 1: My face was white like white stone. But it was
• 3:12:57
  Speaker 1: all horrible. I had not expected the suffering, A night
• 3:13:02
  Speaker 1: of racking, anguish, sickness, and fainting. I set my teeth,
• 3:13:07
  Speaker 1: though my skin was presently afire, all my body afire.
• 3:13:10
  Speaker 1: But I lay there like grim death. I understood now
• 3:13:14
  Speaker 1: how it was. The cat had howled until I chloroformed it.
• 3:13:17
  Speaker 1: Lucky it was I lived alone and untended in my room.
• 3:13:21
  Speaker 1: There were times when I sobbed and groaned and talked,
• 3:13:24
  Speaker 1: but I stuck to it. I became insensible and woke
• 3:13:28
  Speaker 1: languid in the darkness. The pain had passed. I thought
• 3:13:33
  Speaker 1: I was killing myself, and I did not care. I
• 3:13:36
  Speaker 1: shall never forget that dawn, and the strange horror of
• 3:13:39
  Speaker 1: seeing that my hands had become as clouded glass, and
• 3:13:42
  Speaker 1: watching them grow clearer and thinner as the day went by,
• 3:13:45
  Speaker 1: until at last I could see the sickly disorder of
• 3:13:47
  Speaker 1: my room through them. Though I closed my transparent eyelids,
• 3:13:51
  Speaker 1: my limbs became glassy, the bones and arteries faded, vanished,
• 3:13:55
  Speaker 1: and the little white nerves went last. I gritted my
• 3:13:59
  Speaker 1: teeth and staid there to the end. At last, only
• 3:14:02
  Speaker 1: the dead tips of the finger nails remained pallid and white,
• 3:14:06
  Speaker 1: and the brown stain of some acid upon my fingers.
• 3:14:09
  Speaker 1: I struggled up. At first, I was as incapable as
• 3:14:13
  Speaker 1: a swathed infant, stepping with limbs I could not see.
• 3:14:17
  Speaker 1: I was weak and very hungry. I went and stared
• 3:14:20
  Speaker 1: at nothing in my shaving glass, at nothing save where
• 3:14:23
  Speaker 1: an attenuated pigment still remained behind the retina of my
• 3:14:26
  Speaker 1: eyes fainter than mist. I had to hang on to
• 3:14:30
  Speaker 1: the table and press my forehead against the glass. It
• 3:14:34
  Speaker 1: was only by a frantic effort of will that I
• 3:14:36
  Speaker 1: dragged myself back to the apparatus and completed the process.
• 3:14:40
  Speaker 1: I slept during the forenoon, pulling the sheet over my
• 3:14:43
  Speaker 1: eyes to shut out the light, and about midday I
• 3:14:45
  Speaker 1: was awakened again by a knocking. My strength had returned.
• 3:14:50
  Speaker 1: I sat up and listened, and heard a whispering. I
• 3:14:53
  Speaker 1: sprang to my feet, and as noiselessly as possible, began
• 3:14:56
  Speaker 1: to detach the connections of my apparatus and to distribute
• 3:14:59
  Speaker 1: it a the room, so as to destroy the suggestions
• 3:15:02
  Speaker 1: of its arrangement. Presently, the knocking was renewed, and voices called,
• 3:15:07
  Speaker 1: first my landlords and then two others. To gain time,
• 3:15:11
  Speaker 1: I answered them. The invisible rag and pillow came to hand,
• 3:15:15
  Speaker 1: and I opened the window and pitched them out on
• 3:15:17
  Speaker 1: to the cistern cover. As the window opened, a heavy
• 3:15:21
  Speaker 1: crash came at the door. Someone had charged it with
• 3:15:24
  Speaker 1: the idea of smashing the lock, but the stout bolts
• 3:15:28
  Speaker 1: I had screwed up some days before stopped him. That
• 3:15:31
  Speaker 1: startled me made me angry, I began to tremble and
• 3:15:35
  Speaker 1: do things hurriedly. I tossed together some loose paper, straw,
• 3:15:40
  Speaker 1: packing paper, and so forth in the middle of the room,
• 3:15:43
  Speaker 1: and turned on the gas. Heavy blows began to rain
• 3:15:47
  Speaker 1: upon the door. I could not find the matches. I
• 3:15:51
  Speaker 1: beat my hands on the wall with rage. I turned
• 3:15:55
  Speaker 1: down the gas again, stepped out of the window on
• 3:15:57
  Speaker 1: the cistern cover, very softly, lowered the sash, and sat down,
• 3:16:01
  Speaker 1: secure and invisible, but quivering with anger to watch events.
• 3:16:06
  Speaker 1: They split a panel I saw, and in another moment
• 3:16:09
  Speaker 1: they had broken away the staples of the bolts and
• 3:16:11
  Speaker 1: stood in the open doorway. It was the landlord and
• 3:16:15
  Speaker 1: his two step sons, sturdy young men of three or four,
• 3:16:18
  Speaker 1: and twenty behind them fluttered the old hag of a
• 3:16:21
  Speaker 1: woman from downstairs. You may imagine their astonishment to find
• 3:16:26
  Speaker 1: the room empty. One of the younger men rushed to
• 3:16:29
  Speaker 1: the window at once, flung it up and stared out
• 3:16:33
  Speaker 1: his staring eyes and thick lipped, bearded face came afoot
• 3:16:36
  Speaker 1: from my face. I was half minded to hit his
• 3:16:39
  Speaker 1: silly countenance, but I arrested my doubled fist. He stared
• 3:16:43
  Speaker 1: right through me. So did the others. As they joined him.
• 3:16:48
  Speaker 1: The old man went and peered under the bed, and
• 3:16:50
  Speaker 1: then they all made a rush for the cupboard. They
• 3:16:53
  Speaker 1: had to argue about it at length in Yiddish and
• 3:16:55
  Speaker 1: Cockney English. They concluded I had not answered them, that
• 3:16:59
  Speaker 1: their their imagination had deceived them. A feeling of extraordinary
• 3:17:04
  Speaker 1: elation took the place of my anger as I sat
• 3:17:06
  Speaker 1: outside the window and watched these four people. For the
• 3:17:09
  Speaker 1: old lady came in, glancing suspiciously about her like a cat,
• 3:17:12
  Speaker 1: trying to understand the riddle of my behavior. The old man,
• 3:17:16
  Speaker 1: so far as I could understand his patois, agreed with
• 3:17:19
  Speaker 1: the old lady that I was a vivisectionist. The sons
• 3:17:23
  Speaker 1: protested in garbled English that I was an electrician, and
• 3:17:26
  Speaker 1: appealed to the dynamos and radiators. They were all nervous
• 3:17:30
  Speaker 1: about my arrival, although I found subsequently that they had
• 3:17:33
  Speaker 1: bolted the front door. The old lady peered into the
• 3:17:36
  Speaker 1: cupboard and under the bed, and one of the young
• 3:17:39
  Speaker 1: men pushed up the register and stared up the chimney.
• 3:17:42
  Speaker 1: One of my fellow lodgers, a costermonger who shared the
• 3:17:45
  Speaker 1: opposite room with A butcher appeared on the landing, and
• 3:17:48
  Speaker 1: he was called in and told incoherent things. It occurred
• 3:17:52
  Speaker 1: to me that the radiators, if they fell into the
• 3:17:55
  Speaker 1: hands of some acute, well educated person, would give me
• 3:17:58
  Speaker 1: away too much. And watching my opera tunity, I came
• 3:18:01
  Speaker 1: into the room and tilted one of the little dynamos
• 3:18:03
  Speaker 1: off its fellow on which it was standing, and smashed
• 3:18:05
  Speaker 1: both apparatus. Then, while they were trying to explain the smash,
• 3:18:10
  Speaker 1: I dodged out of the room and went softly downstairs.
• 3:18:14
  Speaker 1: I went into one of the sitting rooms and waited
• 3:18:16
  Speaker 1: until they came down, still speculating and argumentative, all a
• 3:18:20
  Speaker 1: little disappointed at finding no horrors, and all a little
• 3:18:24
  Speaker 1: puzzled how they stood legally towards me. Then I slipped
• 3:18:27
  Speaker 1: up again with a box of matches, fired my heap
• 3:18:30
  Speaker 1: of paper and rubbish, put the chairs and bedding, thereby
• 3:18:33
  Speaker 1: led the gas to the affair by means of an
• 3:18:36
  Speaker 1: India rubber tube, and waving a farewell to the room,
• 3:18:38
  Speaker 1: left it for the last time. You fired the house,
• 3:18:42
  Speaker 1: exclaimed Kemp fired the house. It was the only way
• 3:18:47
  Speaker 1: to cover my trail, and no doubt it was insured.
• 3:18:51
  Speaker 1: I slipped the bolts of the front door quietly and
• 3:18:53
  Speaker 1: went out into the street. I was invisible, and I
• 3:18:56
  Speaker 1: was only just beginning to realize the extraordinary advantage my
• 3:19:00
  Speaker 1: invisibility gave me. My head was already teeming with plans
• 3:19:04
  Speaker 1: of all the wild and wonderful things I had now
• 3:19:06
  Speaker 1: impunity to do. Chapter twenty one in Oxford Street. In
• 3:19:10
  Speaker 1: going downstairs the first time, I found an unexpected difficulty
• 3:19:14
  Speaker 1: because I could not see my feet. Indeed, I stumbled twice,
• 3:19:17
  Speaker 1: and there was an unaccustomed clumsiness in gripping the bolt.
• 3:19:21
  Speaker 1: By not looking down. However, I managed to walk on
• 3:19:24
  Speaker 1: the level passably well. My mood, I say, was one
• 3:19:28
  Speaker 1: of exaltation. I felt as a seeing man might do
• 3:19:32
  Speaker 1: with padded feet and noiseless clothes in a city of
• 3:19:35
  Speaker 1: the blind. I experienced a wild impulse to jest, to
• 3:19:39
  Speaker 1: startle people, to clap men on the back, fling people's
• 3:19:43
  Speaker 1: hats astray, and generally revel in my extraordinary advantage. But
• 3:19:48
  Speaker 1: hardly had I emerged upon Great Portland Street, However, my
• 3:19:51
  Speaker 1: lodging was close to the Big Draper's shop there when
• 3:19:54
  Speaker 1: I heard a clashing concussion and was hit violently behind
• 3:19:57
  Speaker 1: and turning saw a man carrying a basket of soda
• 3:20:00
  Speaker 1: water siphons and looking in amazement at his burden. Although
• 3:20:04
  Speaker 1: the blow had really hurt me, I found something so
• 3:20:07
  Speaker 1: irresistible in his astonishment that I laughed aloud. The devils
• 3:20:11
  Speaker 1: in the basket, I said, and suddenly twisted it out
• 3:20:14
  Speaker 1: of his hand. He let go incognently, and I swung
• 3:20:18
  Speaker 1: the whole weight into the air. But a fool of
• 3:20:21
  Speaker 1: a cabman standing outside a public house made a sudden
• 3:20:25
  Speaker 1: rush for this, and his extending fingers took me with
• 3:20:27
  Speaker 1: excruciating violence under the ear. I let the hole down
• 3:20:31
  Speaker 1: with a smash on the cabman, and then with shouts
• 3:20:34
  Speaker 1: and a clatter of feet about me, people coming out
• 3:20:36
  Speaker 1: of shops, vehicles pulling up. I realized what I had
• 3:20:39
  Speaker 1: done for myself, and cursing my folly backed against a
• 3:20:43
  Speaker 1: shop window and prepared to dodge out of the confusion.
• 3:20:46
  Speaker 1: In a moment, I should be wedged into a crowd,
• 3:20:48
  Speaker 1: and inevitably discovered I pushed by a butcher boy, who
• 3:20:53
  Speaker 1: luckily did not turn to see the nothingness that shoved
• 3:20:55
  Speaker 1: him aside, and dodged behind the cab man's four wheeler.
• 3:20:59
  Speaker 1: I do not know how they settled the business. I
• 3:21:03
  Speaker 1: hurried straight across the road, which was happily clear and
• 3:21:06
  Speaker 1: hardly heating. Which way I went, in the fright of
• 3:21:08
  Speaker 1: detection the incident had given me, plunged into the afternoon
• 3:21:12
  Speaker 1: throng of Oxford Street. I tried to get into the
• 3:21:15
  Speaker 1: stream of people, but they were too thick for me,
• 3:21:17
  Speaker 1: and in a moment my heels were being trodden upon.
• 3:21:21
  Speaker 1: I took to the gutter, the roughness of which I
• 3:21:23
  Speaker 1: found painful to my feet, and forth with the shaft
• 3:21:26
  Speaker 1: of a crawling handsome dug me forcibly under the shoulder blade,
• 3:21:29
  Speaker 1: reminding me that I was already bruised severely. I staggered
• 3:21:33
  Speaker 1: out of the way of the cab, avoided a perambulator
• 3:21:36
  Speaker 1: by a convulsive movement, and found myself behind the hansom.
• 3:21:41
  Speaker 1: A happy thought saved me, and as this drove slowly along,
• 3:21:44
  Speaker 1: I followed in its immediate wake, trembling and astonished at
• 3:21:47
  Speaker 1: the turn of my adventure, and not only trembling but shivering.
• 3:21:52
  Speaker 1: It was a bright day in January, and I was
• 3:21:54
  Speaker 1: stark naked, and the thin slime of mud that covered
• 3:21:57
  Speaker 1: the road was freezing. Foolish as it seems to me now,
• 3:22:01
  Speaker 1: I had not reckoned that transparent or not, I was
• 3:22:04
  Speaker 1: still amenable to the weather in all its consequences. Then
• 3:22:08
  Speaker 1: suddenly a bright idea came into my head. I ran
• 3:22:11
  Speaker 1: round and got into the cab, and so shivering, scared
• 3:22:16
  Speaker 1: and sniffing, with the first intimations of a cold, and
• 3:22:19
  Speaker 1: with the bruises in the small of my back growing
• 3:22:21
  Speaker 1: upon my attention, I drove slowly along Oxford Street and
• 3:22:25
  Speaker 1: past Tottenham Court Road. My mood was as different from
• 3:22:28
  Speaker 1: that in which I had sallied forth ten minutes ago
• 3:22:31
  Speaker 1: as it is possible to imagine this invisibility. Indeed, the
• 3:22:36
  Speaker 1: one thought that possessed me was how was I to
• 3:22:39
  Speaker 1: get out of the scrape I was in. We crawled
• 3:22:41
  Speaker 1: past Moody's, and there a tall woman with five or
• 3:22:44
  Speaker 1: six yellow labeled books hailed my cab, and I sprang
• 3:22:47
  Speaker 1: out just in time to escape her, shaving a railway
• 3:22:50
  Speaker 1: van narrowly in my flight. I made off up the
• 3:22:54
  Speaker 1: roadway to Bloomsbury Square, intending to strike north past the
• 3:22:57
  Speaker 1: Museum and so get into the quiet district. I was
• 3:23:01
  Speaker 1: now cruelly chilled, and the strangeness of my situation so
• 3:23:04
  Speaker 1: unnerved me that I whimpered as I ran. At the
• 3:23:07
  Speaker 1: northward corner of the square, a little white dog ran
• 3:23:10
  Speaker 1: out of the Pharmaceutical Society's offices and incontinently made for
• 3:23:14
  Speaker 1: me nose down. I had never realized it before, But
• 3:23:18
  Speaker 1: the nose is to the mind of a dog what
• 3:23:20
  Speaker 1: the eye is to the mind of a seeing man.
• 3:23:23
  Speaker 1: Dogs perceived the scent of a man moving as men
• 3:23:25
  Speaker 1: perceive his vision. This brute began barking and leaping, showing,
• 3:23:30
  Speaker 1: as it seemed to me only too plainly, that he
• 3:23:32
  Speaker 1: was aware of me. I crossed Great Russell Street, glancing
• 3:23:37
  Speaker 1: over my shoulder as I did so, and went some
• 3:23:39
  Speaker 1: way along Montague Street before I realized what I was
• 3:23:42
  Speaker 1: running towards. Then I became aware of a blare of music,
• 3:23:46
  Speaker 1: and looking along the street, saw a number of people
• 3:23:48
  Speaker 1: advancing out of Russell Square, red shirts and the banner
• 3:23:51
  Speaker 1: of the Salvation Army to the foe. Such a crowd
• 3:23:55
  Speaker 1: chanting in the roadway and scoffing on the pavement, I
• 3:23:58
  Speaker 1: could not hope to penetrate, and dreading to go back
• 3:24:01
  Speaker 1: and farther from home again, and deciding on the spur
• 3:24:03
  Speaker 1: of the moment, I ran up the white steps of
• 3:24:05
  Speaker 1: a house facing the museum railings and stood there until
• 3:24:08
  Speaker 1: the crowd should have passed. Happily, the dog stopped at
• 3:24:12
  Speaker 1: the noise of the band, too hesitated, and turned tail,
• 3:24:16
  Speaker 1: running back to Bloomsbury Square Again. On came the band,
• 3:24:20
  Speaker 1: bawling with unconscious irony, sum him about when shall we
• 3:24:23
  Speaker 1: see his face? And it seemed an interminable time to
• 3:24:26
  Speaker 1: me before the tide of the crowd washed along the
• 3:24:28
  Speaker 1: pavement by me. Thud thud, thud came the drum with
• 3:24:32
  Speaker 1: a vibrating resonance, and for the moment I did not
• 3:24:35
  Speaker 1: notice two urchins stopping at the railings by me. C
• 3:24:40
  Speaker 1: m said one see what said the other? Why them
• 3:24:45
  Speaker 1: footmarks bear like what you makes in mud? I looked
• 3:24:50
  Speaker 1: down and saw the youngsters had stopped and were gaping
• 3:24:52
  Speaker 1: at the muddy footmarks I had left behind me Up
• 3:24:54
  Speaker 1: the newly widened steps. The passing people elbowed and jostled them,
• 3:24:59
  Speaker 1: but their confined intelligence was arrested. Thud Thud thud, When
• 3:25:04
  Speaker 1: thud shall we see thud his face? Thud thud, there's
• 3:25:10
  Speaker 1: a barefoot man gone up them steps? Or I don't
• 3:25:12
  Speaker 1: know nothing, said one, and he ain't never come down again,
• 3:25:17
  Speaker 1: and his foot was a bleeding. The thick of the
• 3:25:20
  Speaker 1: crowd had already passed. Lookye there, ted quoth the younger
• 3:25:25
  Speaker 1: of the detectives, with the sharpness of surprise in his voice,
• 3:25:29
  Speaker 1: and pointed straight to my feet. I looked down and
• 3:25:32
  Speaker 1: saw at once the dim suggestion of their outline sketched
• 3:25:35
  Speaker 1: in splashes of mud. For a moment I was paralyzed.
• 3:25:40
  Speaker 1: Why that's rum, said the elder dashed rum. It's just
• 3:25:45
  Speaker 1: like the ghost of a foot, ain't it. He hesitated and
• 3:25:48
  Speaker 1: advanced with outstretched hand. A man pulled up short to
• 3:25:52
  Speaker 1: see what he was catching, and then a girl. In
• 3:25:55
  Speaker 1: another moment, he would have touched me. Then I saw
• 3:25:58
  Speaker 1: what to do. I made a step. The boy started
• 3:26:02
  Speaker 1: back with an exclamation, and with a rapid movement, I
• 3:26:05
  Speaker 1: swung myself over into the portico of the next house.
• 3:26:08
  Speaker 1: But the smaller boy was sharp eyed enough to follow
• 3:26:11
  Speaker 1: the movement, and before I was well down the steps
• 3:26:13
  Speaker 1: and upon the pavement, he had recovered from his momentary
• 3:26:16
  Speaker 1: astonishment and was shouting out that the feet had gone
• 3:26:19
  Speaker 1: over the wall. They rushed round and saw my new
• 3:26:22
  Speaker 1: footmarks flash into being on the lower step and upon
• 3:26:25
  Speaker 1: the pavement. What's up? Ask some one feet look feet running.
• 3:26:34
  Speaker 1: Everybody in the road except my three pursuers, was pouring
• 3:26:38
  Speaker 1: along after the Salvation Army, and this blow not only
• 3:26:41
  Speaker 1: impeded me but them. There was an eddy of surprise
• 3:26:44
  Speaker 1: and interrogation at the cost of bowling over one young fellow.
• 3:26:49
  Speaker 1: I got through, and in another moment I was rushing
• 3:26:51
  Speaker 1: headlong round the circuit of Russell Square, with six or
• 3:26:54
  Speaker 1: seven astonished people following my footmarks. There was no time
• 3:26:59
  Speaker 1: for explanation, or else the whole host would have been
• 3:27:01
  Speaker 1: after me. Twice I doubled round corners, thrice, I crossed
• 3:27:06
  Speaker 1: the road and came back upon my tracks. And then,
• 3:27:08
  Speaker 1: as my feet grew hot and dry, the damp impressions
• 3:27:11
  Speaker 1: began to fade. At last I had a breathing space
• 3:27:15
  Speaker 1: and rubbed my feet clean with my hands, and so
• 3:27:18
  Speaker 1: got away altogether. The last I saw of the chase
• 3:27:21
  Speaker 1: was a little group of a dozen people, perhaps studying
• 3:27:24
  Speaker 1: with infinite perplexity, a slowly drying footprint that had resulted
• 3:27:27
  Speaker 1: from a puddle in Tavistock Square, A footprint as isolated
• 3:27:31
  Speaker 1: and incomprehensible to them as Crusoe's solitary discovery. This running
• 3:27:36
  Speaker 1: warmed me to a certain extent, and I went on
• 3:27:38
  Speaker 1: with a better courage through the maze of less frequented
• 3:27:40
  Speaker 1: roads that runs hereabouts. My back had now become very
• 3:27:45
  Speaker 1: stiff and sore. My tonsils were painful from the cabman's fingers,
• 3:27:48
  Speaker 1: and the skin of my neck had been scratched by
• 3:27:50
  Speaker 1: his nails. My feet hurt exceedingly, and I was lame
• 3:27:53
  Speaker 1: from a little cut on one foot. I saw in
• 3:27:56
  Speaker 1: time a blind man approaching me and fled, limping, for
• 3:28:00
  Speaker 1: I feared his subtle intuitions. Once or twice accidental collisions occurred,
• 3:28:05
  Speaker 1: and I left people amazed with unaccountable curses ringing in
• 3:28:08
  Speaker 1: their ears. Then came something silent and quiet against my face,
• 3:28:13
  Speaker 1: and across the square fell a thin veil of slowly
• 3:28:16
  Speaker 1: falling flakes of snow. I had caught a cold, and
• 3:28:19
  Speaker 1: do as I would, I could not avoid an occasional sneeze,
• 3:28:23
  Speaker 1: and every dog that came in sight, with its pointing
• 3:28:26
  Speaker 1: nose and curious sniffing, was a terror to me. Then
• 3:28:30
  Speaker 1: came men and boys, running, first one and then others,
• 3:28:33
  Speaker 1: and shouting as they ran. It was a fire. They
• 3:28:37
  Speaker 1: ran in the direction of my lodging, and looking back
• 3:28:40
  Speaker 1: down a street, I saw a mass of black smoke
• 3:28:42
  Speaker 1: streaming up above the roofs and telephone wires. It was
• 3:28:46
  Speaker 1: my lodging, burning, my clothes, my apparatus, all my resources, indeed,
• 3:28:51
  Speaker 1: except my check book and the three volumes of memoranda
• 3:28:54
  Speaker 1: that awaited me in Great Portland Street were there burning.
• 3:28:59
  Speaker 1: I had burnt my boats. If ever a man did,
• 3:29:02
  Speaker 1: the place was blazing. The invisible man paused in thought.
• 3:29:06
  Speaker 1: Kemp glanced nervously out of the window. Yes, he said,
• 3:29:12
  Speaker 1: go on chapter twenty two in the Emporium. So last January,
• 3:29:17
  Speaker 1: with the beginning of a snow storm in the air
• 3:29:19
  Speaker 1: about me, and if it settled on me, it would
• 3:29:21
  Speaker 1: betray me. Weary, cold, painful, inexpressibly wretched, and still but
• 3:29:26
  Speaker 1: half convinced of my invisible quality, I began this new
• 3:29:29
  Speaker 1: life to which I am committed. I had no refuge,
• 3:29:33
  Speaker 1: no appliances, no human being in the world in whom
• 3:29:36
  Speaker 1: I could confide to have told my secret would have
• 3:29:39
  Speaker 1: given me away, made a mere show and rarity of me. Nevertheless,
• 3:29:44
  Speaker 1: I was half minded to accost some passer by and
• 3:29:46
  Speaker 1: throw myself upon his mercy. But I knew too clearly
• 3:29:50
  Speaker 1: the terror and brutal cruelty my advances would evoke. I
• 3:29:54
  Speaker 1: made no plans in the street. My sole object was
• 3:29:58
  Speaker 1: to get shelter from the snow, to get myself covered
• 3:30:01
  Speaker 1: and warm. Then I might hope to plan, but even
• 3:30:04
  Speaker 1: to me an invisible man, the rows of London houses
• 3:30:07
  Speaker 1: stood latched, barred and bolted impregnably. Only one thing could
• 3:30:12
  Speaker 1: I see clearly before me, the cold, exposure and misery
• 3:30:16
  Speaker 1: of the snow storm and the night. And then I
• 3:30:18
  Speaker 1: had a brilliant idea. I turned down one of the
• 3:30:22
  Speaker 1: roads leading from Gower Street to Tottenham Court Road, and
• 3:30:25
  Speaker 1: found myself outside Omniums, the big establishment where everything is
• 3:30:29
  Speaker 1: to be bought, you know the place, meat, grocery, linen, furniture, clothing, oil, paintings,
• 3:30:35
  Speaker 1: even a huge, meandering collection of shops rather than a shop.
• 3:30:40
  Speaker 1: I had thought I should find the doors open, but
• 3:30:42
  Speaker 1: they were closed. And as I stood in the wide entrance,
• 3:30:45
  Speaker 1: a carriage stopped outside, and a man in uniform, you know,
• 3:30:48
  Speaker 1: the kind of personage with Omnium on his cap, flung
• 3:30:51
  Speaker 1: open the door. I contrived to enter, and walking down
• 3:30:55
  Speaker 1: the shop It was a department where they were selling
• 3:30:58
  Speaker 1: ribbons and gloves and stockings, and that kind of thing.
• 3:31:01
  Speaker 1: Came to a more spacious region devoted to picnic baskets
• 3:31:04
  Speaker 1: and wicker furniture. I did not feel safe there, however,
• 3:31:08
  Speaker 1: people were going to and fro, and I prowled restlessly
• 3:31:11
  Speaker 1: about until I came upon a huge section in an
• 3:31:13
  Speaker 1: upper floor containing multitudes of bedsteads, and over these I
• 3:31:16
  Speaker 1: clambered and found a resting place at last, among a
• 3:31:19
  Speaker 1: huge pile of folded flock mattresses. The place was already
• 3:31:23
  Speaker 1: lit up and agreeably warm, and I decided to remain
• 3:31:26
  Speaker 1: where I was, keeping a cautious eye on the two
• 3:31:29
  Speaker 1: or three sets of shopmen and customers who were meandering
• 3:31:32
  Speaker 1: through the place until closing time came. Then I should
• 3:31:36
  Speaker 1: be able, I thought to rob the place for food
• 3:31:38
  Speaker 1: and clothing, and disguised prowled through it and examine its resources,
• 3:31:43
  Speaker 1: perhaps sleep on some of the bedding. That seemed an
• 3:31:46
  Speaker 1: acceptable plan. My idea was to procure clothing to make
• 3:31:50
  Speaker 1: myself a muffled but acceptable figure, to get money, and
• 3:31:53
  Speaker 1: then to recover my books and parcels where they awaited me.
• 3:31:56
  Speaker 1: Take a lodging somewhere and elaborate plans for the complete
• 3:31:59
  Speaker 1: realisation of the advantages my invisibility gave me as I
• 3:32:03
  Speaker 1: still imagined over my fellow men. Closing time arrived quickly enough.
• 3:32:09
  Speaker 1: It could not have been more than an hour after
• 3:32:11
  Speaker 1: I took up my position on the mattresses before I
• 3:32:13
  Speaker 1: noticed the blinds of the windows being drawn and customers
• 3:32:16
  Speaker 1: being marched doorward. And then a number of brisk young
• 3:32:20
  Speaker 1: men began with remarkable alacrity to tidy up the goods
• 3:32:23
  Speaker 1: that remained disturbed. I left my lair as the crowds
• 3:32:27
  Speaker 1: diminished and prowled cautiously out into the less desolate parts
• 3:32:30
  Speaker 1: of the shop. I was really surprised to observe how
• 3:32:34
  Speaker 1: rapidly the young men and women whipped away the goods
• 3:32:36
  Speaker 1: displayed for sale during the day. All the boxes of goods,
• 3:32:40
  Speaker 1: the hanging fabrics, the festoons of lace, the boxes of
• 3:32:44
  Speaker 1: sweets in the grocery section, the displays of this and
• 3:32:47
  Speaker 1: that were being whipped down, folded up, slapped into tidy receptacles.
• 3:32:51
  Speaker 1: And everything that could not be taken down and put
• 3:32:54
  Speaker 1: away had sheets of some coarse stuff like sacking flung
• 3:32:56
  Speaker 1: over them. Finally, all the chairs were turned off on
• 3:33:00
  Speaker 1: to the counters, leaving the floor clear. Directly each of
• 3:33:04
  Speaker 1: these young people had done, he or she made promptly
• 3:33:06
  Speaker 1: for the door, with such an expression of animation as
• 3:33:09
  Speaker 1: I have rarely observed in a shop assistant before. Then
• 3:33:13
  Speaker 1: came a lot of youngsters, scattering sawdust and carrying pails
• 3:33:16
  Speaker 1: and brooms. I had to dodge to get out of
• 3:33:19
  Speaker 1: the way, and as it was, my ankle got stung
• 3:33:22
  Speaker 1: with the sawdust. For some time, wandering through the swathed
• 3:33:26
  Speaker 1: and darkened apartments, I could hear the brooms at work,
• 3:33:30
  Speaker 1: And at last, a good hour or more after the
• 3:33:32
  Speaker 1: shop had been closed, came a noise of locking doors.
• 3:33:36
  Speaker 1: Silence came upon the place, and I found myself wandering
• 3:33:40
  Speaker 1: through the vast and intricate shops, galleries, showrooms of the
• 3:33:43
  Speaker 1: place alone. It was very still. In one place I
• 3:33:47
  Speaker 1: remember passing near one of the Tottenham Court Road entrances
• 3:33:50
  Speaker 1: and listening to the tapping of boot heels of the
• 3:33:52
  Speaker 1: passers by. My first visit was to the place where
• 3:33:56
  Speaker 1: I had seen stockings and gloves for sale. It was,
• 3:34:00
  Speaker 1: and I had the devil of a hunt after matches,
• 3:34:02
  Speaker 1: which I found at last in the drawer of the
• 3:34:04
  Speaker 1: little cash desk. Then I had to get a candle.
• 3:34:09
  Speaker 1: I had to tear down wrappings and ransack a number
• 3:34:11
  Speaker 1: of boxes and drawers, but at last I managed to
• 3:34:14
  Speaker 1: turn out what I sought. The box label called them
• 3:34:17
  Speaker 1: lambswool pants and lambswool vests. Then socks, a thick comforter.
• 3:34:22
  Speaker 1: And then I went to the clothing place and got trousers,
• 3:34:25
  Speaker 1: a lounge jacket, an overcoat, and a slouch hat, a
• 3:34:28
  Speaker 1: clerical sort of hat with the brim turned down. I
• 3:34:32
  Speaker 1: began to feel a human being again, and my next
• 3:34:35
  Speaker 1: thought was food. Up Stairs was a refreshment apartment, and
• 3:34:39
  Speaker 1: there I got cold meat. There was coffee still in
• 3:34:42
  Speaker 1: the urn, and I lit the gas and warmed it
• 3:34:44
  Speaker 1: up again, and altogether I did not do badly. Afterwards,
• 3:34:49
  Speaker 1: prowling through the place in search of blankets, I had
• 3:34:52
  Speaker 1: to put up at last with a heap of down quilts.
• 3:34:54
  Speaker 1: I came upon a grocery section with a lot of
• 3:34:56
  Speaker 1: chocolate and candied fruits more than was good for me indeed,
• 3:35:01
  Speaker 1: and some white burgundy. And near that was a toy department,
• 3:35:05
  Speaker 1: and I had a brilliant idea. I found some artificial
• 3:35:08
  Speaker 1: noses dummy noses, you know. And I thought of dark spectacles,
• 3:35:13
  Speaker 1: but omniums had no optical department. My nose had been
• 3:35:17
  Speaker 1: a difficulty. Indeed, I had thought of paint, but the
• 3:35:21
  Speaker 1: discovery set my mind running on wigs and masks and
• 3:35:24
  Speaker 1: the like. Finally I went to sleep in a heap
• 3:35:27
  Speaker 1: of down quilts, very warm and comfortable. My last thoughts
• 3:35:32
  Speaker 1: before sleeping were the most agreeable I had had since
• 3:35:34
  Speaker 1: the change. I was in a state of physical serenity,
• 3:35:38
  Speaker 1: and that was reflected in my mind. I thought that
• 3:35:41
  Speaker 1: I should be able to slip out unobserved in the morning,
• 3:35:44
  Speaker 1: with my clothes upon me, muffling my face with a
• 3:35:46
  Speaker 1: white wrapper I had taken purchase with the money I
• 3:35:49
  Speaker 1: had taken spectacles and so forth, and so complete my disguise.
• 3:35:54
  Speaker 1: I lapsed into disorderly dreams of all the fantastic things
• 3:35:57
  Speaker 1: that had happened during the last few days. I saw
• 3:36:01
  Speaker 1: the ugly little jew of a landlord vociferating in his rooms.
• 3:36:04
  Speaker 1: I saw his two sons marveling, and the wrinkled old
• 3:36:07
  Speaker 1: woman's gnarled face as she asked for her cat. I
• 3:36:10
  Speaker 1: experienced again the strange sensation of seeing the cloth disappear,
• 3:36:14
  Speaker 1: And so I came round to the windy hillside and
• 3:36:16
  Speaker 1: the sniffing old clergyman mumbling earth to earth, ashes to ashes,
• 3:36:20
  Speaker 1: dust to dust. At my father's open grave, you also
• 3:36:25
  Speaker 1: said a voice, and suddenly I was being forced towards
• 3:36:28
  Speaker 1: the grave. I struggled, shouted, appealed to the mourners, but
• 3:36:32
  Speaker 1: they continued stonily following the service. The old clergyman, too,
• 3:36:37
  Speaker 1: never faltered, droning and sniffing through the ritual. I realized
• 3:36:41
  Speaker 1: I was invisible and inaudible, that overwhelming forces had their
• 3:36:44
  Speaker 1: grip on me. I struggled in vain. I was forced
• 3:36:48
  Speaker 1: over the brink. The coffin rang hollow as I fell
• 3:36:51
  Speaker 1: upon it, and the gravel came flying after me in spadefuls.
• 3:36:55
  Speaker 1: Nobody heeded me, nobody was aware of me. I made
• 3:36:59
  Speaker 1: convulsive struggle and awoke. The pale London dawn had come.
• 3:37:03
  Speaker 1: The place was full of a chilly gray light that
• 3:37:06
  Speaker 1: filtered round the edges of the window blinds. I sat up,
• 3:37:10
  Speaker 1: and for a time I could not think where this
• 3:37:12
  Speaker 1: ample apartment, with its counters, its piles of rolled stuff,
• 3:37:16
  Speaker 1: its heap of quilts and cushions, its iron pillars might be. Then,
• 3:37:21
  Speaker 1: as recollection came back to me, I heard voices in conversation. Then,
• 3:37:26
  Speaker 1: far down the place, in the brighter light of some
• 3:37:28
  Speaker 1: department which had already raised its blinds, I saw two
• 3:37:32
  Speaker 1: men approaching. I scrambled to my feet, looking about me
• 3:37:36
  Speaker 1: for some way of escape, And even as I did so,
• 3:37:38
  Speaker 1: the sound of my movement made them aware of me.
• 3:37:41
  Speaker 1: I supposed they saw merely a figure moving quietly and
• 3:37:44
  Speaker 1: quickly away. Who's that? Cried one, and stopped there, shouted
• 3:37:50
  Speaker 1: the other. I dashed around a corner and came full
• 3:37:54
  Speaker 1: tilt a faceless figure, mind you, on, a lanky lad
• 3:37:57
  Speaker 1: of fifteen, He yelled, and I pulled him over, rushed
• 3:38:01
  Speaker 1: past him, turned another corner, and by a happy inspiration,
• 3:38:04
  Speaker 1: threw myself behind the counter. In another moment, feet went
• 3:38:08
  Speaker 1: running past, and I heard voices shouting, all hands to
• 3:38:11
  Speaker 1: the doors, asking what was up, and giving one another
• 3:38:14
  Speaker 1: advice how to catch me lying on the ground. I
• 3:38:18
  Speaker 1: felt scared out of my wits, But odd as it
• 3:38:21
  Speaker 1: may seem, it did not occur to me at the
• 3:38:24
  Speaker 1: moment to take off my clothes as I should have done.
• 3:38:27
  Speaker 1: I had made up my mind. I suppose to get
• 3:38:30
  Speaker 1: away in them, and that ruled me. And then down
• 3:38:33
  Speaker 1: the vista of the counters came a bawling of here
• 3:38:35
  Speaker 1: he is. I sprang to my feet, whipped a chair
• 3:38:39
  Speaker 1: off the counter and sent it whirling at the fool
• 3:38:41
  Speaker 1: who had shouted, turned, came into another round a corner,
• 3:38:45
  Speaker 1: sent him spinning and rushed up the stairs. He kept
• 3:38:49
  Speaker 1: his footing, gave a view hello, and came up the
• 3:38:51
  Speaker 1: staircase hot after me. Up the staircase were piled a
• 3:38:55
  Speaker 1: multitude of those bright colored pot things. What are they?
• 3:38:59
  Speaker 1: Art pot, suggested Kemp, that's it art pots. Well. I
• 3:39:06
  Speaker 1: turned at the top step and swung round, plucked one
• 3:39:08
  Speaker 1: out of a pile, and smashed it on his silly head.
• 3:39:11
  Speaker 1: As he came at me. The whole pile of pots
• 3:39:14
  Speaker 1: went headlong, and I heard shouting in footsteps running from
• 3:39:17
  Speaker 1: all parts. I made a mad rush for the refreshment place,
• 3:39:21
  Speaker 1: and there was a man in white, like a man cook,
• 3:39:23
  Speaker 1: who took up the chase. I made one last desperate
• 3:39:27
  Speaker 1: turn and found myself among lamps and iron mungery. I
• 3:39:31
  Speaker 1: went behind the counter of this and waited for my cook,
• 3:39:34
  Speaker 1: And as he bolted in at the head of the chase,
• 3:39:36
  Speaker 1: I doubled him up with a lamp. Down he went,
• 3:39:40
  Speaker 1: and I crouched down behind the counter and began whipping
• 3:39:42
  Speaker 1: off my clothes as fast as I could. Coat, jacket, trousers,
• 3:39:47
  Speaker 1: shoes were all right, but a lamp swoof vest fits
• 3:39:50
  Speaker 1: a man like a skin. I heard more men coming.
• 3:39:54
  Speaker 1: My cook was lying quiet on the other side of
• 3:39:56
  Speaker 1: the counter, stunner, scared speechless, and I had to make
• 3:39:59
  Speaker 1: another dawn USh for it, like a rabbit hunted out
• 3:40:01
  Speaker 1: of a woodpile. This way policemen, I heard someone shouting.
• 3:40:07
  Speaker 1: I found myself in my bedstead storeroom again, and at
• 3:40:10
  Speaker 1: the end of a wilderness of wardrobes, I rushed among them,
• 3:40:14
  Speaker 1: went flat, got rid of my vest after infinite wriggling,
• 3:40:17
  Speaker 1: and stood a free man again, panting and scared. As
• 3:40:20
  Speaker 1: the policemen and three of the shopmen came round the corner,
• 3:40:24
  Speaker 1: they made a rush for the vest and pants and
• 3:40:27
  Speaker 1: collared the trousers. He's dropping his plunder, said one of
• 3:40:31
  Speaker 1: the young men. He must be somewhere here, But they
• 3:40:35
  Speaker 1: did not find me. All the same. I stood watching
• 3:40:39
  Speaker 1: them hunt for me for a time and cursing my
• 3:40:41
  Speaker 1: ill luck in losing the clothes. Then I went into
• 3:40:44
  Speaker 1: the refreshment room, drank a little milk I found there,
• 3:40:47
  Speaker 1: and sat down by the fire to consider my position.
• 3:40:51
  Speaker 1: In a little while, two assistants came in and began
• 3:40:53
  Speaker 1: to talk over the business, very excitedly, and like the
• 3:40:56
  Speaker 1: fools they were. I heard a magnified account of my
• 3:40:59
  Speaker 1: dear predations and other speculations as to my whereabouts. Then
• 3:41:04
  Speaker 1: I fell to scheming again. The insurmountable difficulty of the place,
• 3:41:09
  Speaker 1: especially now it was alarmed, was to get any plunder
• 3:41:12
  Speaker 1: out of it. I went down into the warehouse to
• 3:41:15
  Speaker 1: see if there was any chance of packing and addressing
• 3:41:17
  Speaker 1: a parcel, but I could not understand the system of checking.
• 3:41:21
  Speaker 1: About eleven o'clock, the snow having thawed as it fell,
• 3:41:24
  Speaker 1: and the day being finer and a little warmer than
• 3:41:26
  Speaker 1: the previous one, I decided that the emporium was hopeless
• 3:41:30
  Speaker 1: and went out again, exasperated at my want of success,
• 3:41:33
  Speaker 1: with only the vaguest plans of action in my mind,
• 3:41:36
  Speaker 1: Chapter twenty three in Drury Lane. But you begin now
• 3:41:40
  Speaker 1: to realize, said the invisible man, the full disadvantage of
• 3:41:43
  Speaker 1: my condition. I had no shelter, no covering. To get
• 3:41:48
  Speaker 1: clothing was to forego all my advantage to make myself
• 3:41:51
  Speaker 1: a strange and terrible thing. I was fasting for to eat,
• 3:41:55
  Speaker 1: to fill myself with unassimilated matter, would be to become
• 3:41:59
  Speaker 1: grotesquely visible again. I never thought of that, said Kemp,
• 3:42:04
  Speaker 1: nor had I, and the snow had warned me of
• 3:42:06
  Speaker 1: other dangers. I could not go abroad in snow. It
• 3:42:10
  Speaker 1: would settle on me and expose me. Rain, too, would
• 3:42:14
  Speaker 1: make me a watery outline, a glistening surface of a man,
• 3:42:18
  Speaker 1: a bubble and fog. I should be like a fainter
• 3:42:21
  Speaker 1: bubble in a fog, a surface, a greasy glimmer of humanity. Moreover,
• 3:42:27
  Speaker 1: as I went abroad in the London air, I gathered
• 3:42:30
  Speaker 1: dirt about my ankles, floating smuts and dust upon my skin.
• 3:42:35
  Speaker 1: I did not know how long it would be before
• 3:42:36
  Speaker 1: I should become visible from that cause also, but I
• 3:42:40
  Speaker 1: saw clearly it could not be for long, not in
• 3:42:43
  Speaker 1: London at any rate. I went into the slums towards
• 3:42:47
  Speaker 1: Great Portland Street and found myself at the end of
• 3:42:49
  Speaker 1: the street in which I had lodged. I did not
• 3:42:52
  Speaker 1: go that way because of the crowd half way down
• 3:42:55
  Speaker 1: at opposite to the still smoking ruins of the house
• 3:42:57
  Speaker 1: I had fired. My most immediate problem was to get clothing.
• 3:43:02
  Speaker 1: What to do with my face puzzled me. Then I
• 3:43:06
  Speaker 1: saw in one of those little miscellaneous shops news suites, toys, stationery,
• 3:43:11
  Speaker 1: belated Christmas, tomfoolery, and so forth, an array of masks
• 3:43:15
  Speaker 1: and noses. I realized that problem was solved. In a flash.
• 3:43:20
  Speaker 1: I saw my course. I turned about, no longer aimless,
• 3:43:25
  Speaker 1: and went circuitously in order to avoid the busy ways
• 3:43:28
  Speaker 1: towards the back streets north of the Strand, for I remembered,
• 3:43:32
  Speaker 1: though not very distinctly, aware that some theatrical costumiers had
• 3:43:35
  Speaker 1: shops in that district. The day was cold, with a
• 3:43:39
  Speaker 1: nipping wind down the northward running streets. I walked fast
• 3:43:43
  Speaker 1: to avoid being overtaken. Every crossing was a danger, every
• 3:43:48
  Speaker 1: passenger a thing to watch alertly. One man, as I
• 3:43:51
  Speaker 1: was about to pass him at the top of Bedford Street,
• 3:43:54
  Speaker 1: turned upon me abruptly and came into me, sending me
• 3:43:57
  Speaker 1: into the road and almost under the wheel of a
• 3:43:59
  Speaker 1: passing hansom. The verdict of the cab rank was that
• 3:44:02
  Speaker 1: he had had some sort of stroke. I was so
• 3:44:05
  Speaker 1: unnerved by this encounter that I went into Covent Garden
• 3:44:08
  Speaker 1: Market and sat down for some time in a quiet
• 3:44:10
  Speaker 1: corner by a stall of violets, panting and trembling. I
• 3:44:14
  Speaker 1: found I had caught a fresh cold and had to
• 3:44:17
  Speaker 1: turn out after a time lest my sneezes should attract attention.
• 3:44:21
  Speaker 1: At last I reached the object of my quest, a dirty,
• 3:44:24
  Speaker 1: fly blown little shop in a by way near Drury Lane,
• 3:44:27
  Speaker 1: with a window full of tinsel, robes, sham, jewels, wigs, slippers, dominoes,
• 3:44:32
  Speaker 1: and theatrical photographs. The shop was old fashioned and low
• 3:44:37
  Speaker 1: and dark, and the house rose above it for four stories,
• 3:44:40
  Speaker 1: dark and dismal. I peered through the window, and, seeing
• 3:44:44
  Speaker 1: no one within, entered. The opening of the door set
• 3:44:48
  Speaker 1: a clanking bell ringing. I left it open and walked
• 3:44:51
  Speaker 1: round a bare costume stand into a corner behind the
• 3:44:54
  Speaker 1: cheval glass. For a minute or so, no one came.
• 3:44:59
  Speaker 1: Then I heard heavy feet striding across a room, and
• 3:45:02
  Speaker 1: a man appeared down the shop. My plans were now
• 3:45:05
  Speaker 1: perfectly definite. I proposed to make my way into the house,
• 3:45:10
  Speaker 1: secrete myself upstairs, watch my opportunity, and when everything was quiet,
• 3:45:15
  Speaker 1: rummage out a wig, mask, spectacles and costume and go
• 3:45:19
  Speaker 1: into the world, perhaps a grotesque, but still a credible figure.
• 3:45:23
  Speaker 1: And incidentally, of course I could rob the house of
• 3:45:26
  Speaker 1: any available money. The man who had just entered the
• 3:45:29
  Speaker 1: shop was a short, slight hunched, beetle browed man with
• 3:45:33
  Speaker 1: long arms and very short bandy legs. Apparently I had
• 3:45:37
  Speaker 1: interrupted a meal. He stared about the shop with an
• 3:45:41
  Speaker 1: expression of expectation. This gave way to surprise and then
• 3:45:45
  Speaker 1: to anger as he saw the shop empty. Dan the boys,
• 3:45:49
  Speaker 1: he said, he went to stare up and down the street.
• 3:45:54
  Speaker 1: He came in again in a minute, kicked the door
• 3:45:56
  Speaker 1: to with his foot spitefully, and went muttering back to
• 3:45:59
  Speaker 1: the house door. I came forward to follow him, and
• 3:46:02
  Speaker 1: at the noise of my movement, he stopped dead. I
• 3:46:06
  Speaker 1: did so, too, startled by his quickness of ear, he
• 3:46:10
  Speaker 1: slammed the house door in my face. I stood hesitating.
• 3:46:15
  Speaker 1: Suddenly I heard his quick footsteps returning, and the door reopened.
• 3:46:19
  Speaker 1: He stood looking about the shop like one who was
• 3:46:22
  Speaker 1: still not satisfied. Then murmuring to himself, he examined the
• 3:46:26
  Speaker 1: back of the counter and peered behind some fixtures. Then
• 3:46:30
  Speaker 1: he stood, doubtful he had left the house door open,
• 3:46:34
  Speaker 1: and I slipped into the inner room. It was a
• 3:46:37
  Speaker 1: queer little room, poorly furnished, and with a number of
• 3:46:39
  Speaker 1: big masks. In the corner. On the table was his
• 3:46:43
  Speaker 1: belated breakfast. And it was a confoundedly exasperating thing for
• 3:46:46
  Speaker 1: me Kemp to have to sniff his coffee and stand
• 3:46:49
  Speaker 1: watching while he came in and resumed his meal. And
• 3:46:53
  Speaker 1: his table manners were irritating. Three doors opened into the
• 3:46:57
  Speaker 1: little room, one going upstairs and one down, but they
• 3:47:00
  Speaker 1: were all shut. I could not get out of the
• 3:47:03
  Speaker 1: room while he was there. I could scarcely move because
• 3:47:05
  Speaker 1: of his alertness, and there was a draft down my back.
• 3:47:09
  Speaker 1: Twice I strangled a sneeze just in time. The spectacular
• 3:47:13
  Speaker 1: quality of my sensations was curious and novel. But for
• 3:47:16
  Speaker 1: all that, I was heartily tired and angry long before
• 3:47:19
  Speaker 1: he had done his eating. But at last he made
• 3:47:22
  Speaker 1: an end in putting his beggarly crockery on the black
• 3:47:24
  Speaker 1: tin tray upon which he had had his teapot, and
• 3:47:27
  Speaker 1: gathering all the crumbs up on the mustard stained cloth.
• 3:47:30
  Speaker 1: He took the whole lot of things after him. His
• 3:47:33
  Speaker 1: burden prevented his shutting the door behind him, as he
• 3:47:35
  Speaker 1: would have done. I never saw such a man for
• 3:47:38
  Speaker 1: shutting doors. And I followed him into a very dirty
• 3:47:41
  Speaker 1: underground kitchen and scullery. I had the pleasure of seeing
• 3:47:45
  Speaker 1: him begin to wash up, and then, finding no good
• 3:47:48
  Speaker 1: in keeping down there, and the brick floor being cold
• 3:47:50
  Speaker 1: on my feet, I returned upstairs and sat in his
• 3:47:53
  Speaker 1: chair by the fire. It was burning low, and scarcely thinking,
• 3:47:58
  Speaker 1: I put on a little coal. The noise of this
• 3:48:01
  Speaker 1: brought him up at once, and he stood a glare.
• 3:48:04
  Speaker 1: He peered about the room and was within an ace
• 3:48:06
  Speaker 1: of touching me. Even after that examination, he scarcely seemed satisfied.
• 3:48:12
  Speaker 1: He stopped in the doorway and took a final inspection
• 3:48:15
  Speaker 1: before he went down. I waited in the little parlor
• 3:48:18
  Speaker 1: for an age, and at last he came up and
• 3:48:20
  Speaker 1: opened the upstairs door. I just managed to get by
• 3:48:24
  Speaker 1: him on the staircase. He stopped suddenly, so that I
• 3:48:28
  Speaker 1: very nearly blundered into him. He stood looking back right
• 3:48:31
  Speaker 1: into my face and listening. I could have sworn he said,
• 3:48:36
  Speaker 1: his long hairy hand pulled at his lower lip. His
• 3:48:40
  Speaker 1: eye went up and down the staircase. Then he grunted
• 3:48:44
  Speaker 1: and went on up again. His hand was on the
• 3:48:47
  Speaker 1: handle of a door, and then he stopped again, with
• 3:48:49
  Speaker 1: the same puzzled anger on his face. He was becoming
• 3:48:53
  Speaker 1: aware of the faint sounds of my movements about him.
• 3:48:56
  Speaker 1: The man must have had diabolically acute hearing. He suddenly
• 3:49:00
  Speaker 1: flashed into rage. If there's any one in this house,
• 3:49:04
  Speaker 1: he cried with an oath, and left the threat unfinished.
• 3:49:08
  Speaker 1: He put his hand in his pocket, failed to find
• 3:49:10
  Speaker 1: what he wanted, and rushing past me, went blundering noisily
• 3:49:14
  Speaker 1: and pugnaciously downstairs. But I did not follow him. I
• 3:49:19
  Speaker 1: sat on the head of the staircase until his return.
• 3:49:22
  Speaker 1: Presently he came up again, still muttering. He opened the
• 3:49:26
  Speaker 1: door of the room, and before I could enter, slammed
• 3:49:29
  Speaker 1: it in my face. I resolved to explore the house,
• 3:49:33
  Speaker 1: and spent some time in doing so as noiselessly as possible.
• 3:49:37
  Speaker 1: The house was very old and tumbled down, damped so
• 3:49:40
  Speaker 1: that the paper in the attics was peeling from the walls,
• 3:49:42
  Speaker 1: and rat infested. Some of the door handles were stiff,
• 3:49:46
  Speaker 1: and I was afraid to turn them. Several rooms I
• 3:49:49
  Speaker 1: did inspect were unfurnished, and others were littered with theatrical lumber,
• 3:49:53
  Speaker 1: bought second hand, I judged from its appearance. In one
• 3:49:58
  Speaker 1: room next to his, I found a lot of old,
• 3:50:00
  Speaker 1: old clothes. I began routing among these, and in my eagerness,
• 3:50:04
  Speaker 1: forgot again the evident sharpness of his ears. I heard
• 3:50:08
  Speaker 1: a stealthy footstep, and, looking up just in time, saw
• 3:50:11
  Speaker 1: him peering in at the tumbled heap and holding an
• 3:50:13
  Speaker 1: old fashioned revolver in his hand. I stood perfectly still
• 3:50:17
  Speaker 1: while he stared about, open mouthed and suspicious. It must
• 3:50:21
  Speaker 1: have been her, he said, slowly, damn her. He shut
• 3:50:26
  Speaker 1: the door quietly, and immediately I heard the key turn
• 3:50:29
  Speaker 1: in the lock. Then his footsteps retreated. I realized abruptly
• 3:50:34
  Speaker 1: that I was locked in for a minute. I did
• 3:50:37
  Speaker 1: not know what to do. I walked from door to
• 3:50:40
  Speaker 1: window and back, and stood perplexed. A gust of anger
• 3:50:44
  Speaker 1: came upon me, but I decided to inspect the clothes
• 3:50:48
  Speaker 1: before I did anything further, and my first attempt brought
• 3:50:51
  Speaker 1: down a pile from an upper shelf. This brought him
• 3:50:55
  Speaker 1: back more sinister than ever. That time he actually touched me,
• 3:50:59
  Speaker 1: jumped back with amazement, and stood astonished in the middle
• 3:51:02
  Speaker 1: of the room. Presently he calmed A little rats, he said,
• 3:51:07
  Speaker 1: in an undertone, fingers on lips. He was evidently a
• 3:51:11
  Speaker 1: little scared. I edged quietly out of the room, but
• 3:51:15
  Speaker 1: a plank creaked. Then the infernal little brute started going
• 3:51:19
  Speaker 1: all over the house, revolver in hand, and locking door
• 3:51:22
  Speaker 1: after door, and pocketing the keys. When I realized what
• 3:51:26
  Speaker 1: he was up to, I had a fit of rage.
• 3:51:28
  Speaker 1: I could hardly control myself sufficiently to watch my opportunity.
• 3:51:32
  Speaker 1: By this time I knew he was alone in the house,
• 3:51:34
  Speaker 1: and so I made no more ado, but knocked him
• 3:51:37
  Speaker 1: on the head. Knocked him on the head, exclaimed Kemp. Yes,
• 3:51:42
  Speaker 1: stunned him as he was going downstairs, hit him from
• 3:51:46
  Speaker 1: behind with a stool that stood on the landing. He
• 3:51:50
  Speaker 1: went downstairs like a bag of old boots. But I say,
• 3:51:55
  Speaker 1: the common conventions of humanity are all very well for
• 3:51:58
  Speaker 1: common people. But the point was, Kemp, that I had
• 3:52:02
  Speaker 1: to get out of that house in a disguise without
• 3:52:04
  Speaker 1: his seeing me. I couldn't think of any other way
• 3:52:07
  Speaker 1: of doing it. And then I gagged him with a
• 3:52:10
  Speaker 1: lowis quador's vest and tied him up in a sheet.
• 3:52:13
  Speaker 1: Tied him up in a sheet, made a sort of
• 3:52:16
  Speaker 1: bag of it. It was rather a good idea to
• 3:52:19
  Speaker 1: keep the idiot scared and quiet, and a devilish hard
• 3:52:22
  Speaker 1: thing to get out of head, away from the string.
• 3:52:26
  Speaker 1: My dear Kemp, it's no good you're sitting glaring as
• 3:52:28
  Speaker 1: though I was a murderer. It had to be done.
• 3:52:32
  Speaker 1: He had his revolver, if once he saw me he
• 3:52:36
  Speaker 1: would be able to describe me. But still, said Kemp.
• 3:52:39
  Speaker 1: In England to day, and the man was in his
• 3:52:42
  Speaker 1: own house, and you were well, robbing, robbing, confound it.
• 3:52:49
  Speaker 1: You'll call me a thief next. Surely, Kemp, you're not
• 3:52:53
  Speaker 1: fool enough to dance on the old strings. Can't you
• 3:52:56
  Speaker 1: see my position? And his? Too? Said Kemp. The invisible
• 3:53:02
  Speaker 1: man stood up sharply. What do you mean to say?
• 3:53:05
  Speaker 1: Kemp's face grew a trifle hard. He was about to speak,
• 3:53:09
  Speaker 1: and checked himself. I suppose, after all, he said, with
• 3:53:13
  Speaker 1: a sudden change of manner, the thing had to be done.
• 3:53:17
  Speaker 1: You were in a fix. But still, of course I
• 3:53:21
  Speaker 1: was in a fix, an infernal fix. And he made
• 3:53:24
  Speaker 1: me wild too, hunting me about the house, fooling about
• 3:53:28
  Speaker 1: with his revolver, locking and unlocking doors. He was simply exasperating.
• 3:53:34
  Speaker 1: You don't blame me, do you? You don't blame me. I
• 3:53:38
  Speaker 1: never blame anyone, said Kemp. It's quite out of fashion.
• 3:53:43
  Speaker 1: What did you do next? I was hungry. Downstairs, I
• 3:53:48
  Speaker 1: found a loaf in some rank cheese, more than sufficient
• 3:53:51
  Speaker 1: to satisfy my hunger. I took some brandy and water,
• 3:53:55
  Speaker 1: and then, when up past my impromptu bag, he was
• 3:53:58
  Speaker 1: lying quite still to the room containing the old clothes.
• 3:54:02
  Speaker 1: This looked out upon the street. Two lace curtains, brown
• 3:54:05
  Speaker 1: with dirt, guarding the window. I went and peered out
• 3:54:08
  Speaker 1: through their interstices. Outside, the day was bright, by contrast
• 3:54:13
  Speaker 1: with the brown shadows of the dismal house in which
• 3:54:15
  Speaker 1: I found myself dazzlingly bright. A brisk traffic was going
• 3:54:20
  Speaker 1: by fruit carts, a hansom, a four wheeler with a
• 3:54:23
  Speaker 1: pile of boxes, a fishmonger's cart. I turned, with spots
• 3:54:28
  Speaker 1: of color swimming before my eyes, to the shadowy fixtures
• 3:54:31
  Speaker 1: behind me. My excitement was giving place to a clear
• 3:54:34
  Speaker 1: apprehension of my position. Again. The room was full of
• 3:54:38
  Speaker 1: a faint scent of benzoline, used, I suppose in cleaning
• 3:54:42
  Speaker 1: the garments. I began a systematic search of the place
• 3:54:47
  Speaker 1: I should judge. The hunchback had been alone in the
• 3:54:49
  Speaker 1: house for some time. He was a curious person. Everything
• 3:54:54
  Speaker 1: that could possibly be of service to me I collected
• 3:54:56
  Speaker 1: in a clothes storeroom, and then I made a deliberate selection.
• 3:55:00
  Speaker 1: I found a hand bag I thought a suitable possession,
• 3:55:03
  Speaker 1: and some powder rouge and sticking plaster. I had thought
• 3:55:07
  Speaker 1: of painting and powdering my face and all that there
• 3:55:10
  Speaker 1: was to show of me, in order to render myself visible,
• 3:55:13
  Speaker 1: But the disadvantage of this lay in the fact that
• 3:55:15
  Speaker 1: I should require turpentine and other appliances, and a considerable
• 3:55:18
  Speaker 1: amount of time before I could vanish again. Finally, I
• 3:55:22
  Speaker 1: chose a mask of the better type, slightly grotesque, but
• 3:55:25
  Speaker 1: not more so than many human beings, dark glasses, grayish whiskers,
• 3:55:30
  Speaker 1: and a wig. I could find no underclothing, but that
• 3:55:33
  Speaker 1: I could buy. Subsequently, and for the time I swathed
• 3:55:36
  Speaker 1: myself in calico dominoes and some white cashmere scarfs. I
• 3:55:40
  Speaker 1: could find no socks, but the hunchback's boots were rather
• 3:55:44
  Speaker 1: a loose fit than sufficed. In a desk in the
• 3:55:47
  Speaker 1: shop were three sovereigns and about thirty shillings worth of silver,
• 3:55:50
  Speaker 1: and in a locked cupboard. I burst in the inner
• 3:55:52
  Speaker 1: room were eight pounds in gold. I could go forth
• 3:55:56
  Speaker 1: into the world again equipped. Then came a curious hesitation.
• 3:56:01
  Speaker 1: Was my appearance really credible? I tried myself with a
• 3:56:05
  Speaker 1: little bedroom looking glass, inspecting myself from every point of
• 3:56:09
  Speaker 1: view to discover any forgotten chink. But it all seemed sound.
• 3:56:13
  Speaker 1: I was grotesque to the theatrical pitch, a stage miser,
• 3:56:16
  Speaker 1: but I was certainly not a physical impossibility. Gathering confidence,
• 3:56:21
  Speaker 1: I took my looking glass down into the shop, pulled
• 3:56:24
  Speaker 1: down the shop blinds, and surveyed myself from every point
• 3:56:27
  Speaker 1: of view, with the help of the cheval glass in
• 3:56:29
  Speaker 1: the corner. I spent some minutes screwing up my courage,
• 3:56:33
  Speaker 1: and then unlocked the shop door and marched out into
• 3:56:35
  Speaker 1: the street, leaving the little man to get out of
• 3:56:37
  Speaker 1: his sheet again when he liked. In five minutes, a
• 3:56:41
  Speaker 1: dozen turnings intervened between me and the costumier's shop. No
• 3:56:45
  Speaker 1: one appeared to notice me. Very pointedly, my last difficulty
• 3:56:49
  Speaker 1: seemed overcome. He stopped again, and you troubled No more
• 3:56:54
  Speaker 1: about the hunchback, said Kemp. No said the invisible man,
• 3:57:00
  Speaker 1: Nor have I heard what became of him. I suppose
• 3:57:03
  Speaker 1: he untied himself or kicked himself out. The knots were
• 3:57:07
  Speaker 1: pretty tight. He became silent and went to the window
• 3:57:10
  Speaker 1: and stared out what happened when you went out into
• 3:57:13
  Speaker 1: the strand? Oh, disillusionment again. I thought my troubles were
• 3:57:18
  Speaker 1: over practically. I thought I had impunity to do whatever
• 3:57:22
  Speaker 1: I chose, everything save to give away my secret. So
• 3:57:27
  Speaker 1: I thought whatever I did, whatever the consequences might be,
• 3:57:31
  Speaker 1: was nothing to me. I had merely to fling aside
• 3:57:35
  Speaker 1: my garments and vanish. No person could hold me. I
• 3:57:39
  Speaker 1: could take my money where I found it. I decided
• 3:57:43
  Speaker 1: to treat myself to a sumptuous feast and then put
• 3:57:45
  Speaker 1: up at a good hotel and accumulate a new outfit
• 3:57:48
  Speaker 1: of property. I felt amazingly confident. It's not particularly pleasant
• 3:57:53
  Speaker 1: recalling that I was an ass. I went into a
• 3:57:56
  Speaker 1: place and was already ordering lunch when it occurred to
• 3:57:59
  Speaker 1: me that I could not eat unless I exposed my
• 3:58:01
  Speaker 1: invisible face. I finished ordering the lunch, told the man
• 3:58:05
  Speaker 1: I should be back in ten minutes, and went out, exasperated.
• 3:58:09
  Speaker 1: I don't know if you have ever been disappointed in
• 3:58:11
  Speaker 1: your appetite not quite so badly, said Kemp, But I
• 3:58:16
  Speaker 1: can imagine it. I could have smashed the silly devils.
• 3:58:21
  Speaker 1: At last, faint with the desire for tasteful food, I
• 3:58:24
  Speaker 1: went into another place and demanded a private room. I
• 3:58:27
  Speaker 1: am disfigured, I said badly. They looked at me curiously,
• 3:58:32
  Speaker 1: but of course it was not their affair, and so
• 3:58:34
  Speaker 1: at last I got my lunch. It was not particularly
• 3:58:38
  Speaker 1: well served, but it sufficed. And when I had had it,
• 3:58:41
  Speaker 1: I sat over a cigar, trying to plan my line
• 3:58:44
  Speaker 1: of action, and outside a snowstorm was beginning. The more
• 3:58:49
  Speaker 1: I thought it over, Kemp, the more I realized what
• 3:58:51
  Speaker 1: a helpless, absurdity and invisible man was in a cold
• 3:58:55
  Speaker 1: and dirty climate and a crowded, civilized city. Before I
• 3:58:59
  Speaker 1: made this mad exace experiment, I had dreamt of a
• 3:59:01
  Speaker 1: thousand advantages. That afternoon, it seemed all disappointment. I went
• 3:59:06
  Speaker 1: over the heads of the things a man reckons desirable,
• 3:59:10
  Speaker 1: No doubt, invisibility made it possible to get them, but
• 3:59:13
  Speaker 1: it made it impossible to enjoy them when they are
• 3:59:15
  Speaker 1: got ambition. What is the good of pride of place
• 3:59:19
  Speaker 1: when you cannot appear there? What is the good of
• 3:59:22
  Speaker 1: the love of woman when her name must needs be Delilah.
• 3:59:25
  Speaker 1: I have no taste for politics, for the blaggardisms of fame,
• 3:59:29
  Speaker 1: for philanthropy, for sport. What was I to do? And
• 3:59:34
  Speaker 1: for this I had become a wrapped up mystery, a
• 3:59:37
  Speaker 1: swathed and bandaged caricature of a man. He paused, and
• 3:59:40
  Speaker 1: his attitude suggested a roving glance at the window. But
• 3:59:44
  Speaker 1: how did you get to whipping? Said Kemp, anxious to
• 3:59:47
  Speaker 1: keep his guest busy talking. I went there to work.
• 3:59:51
  Speaker 1: I had one hope. It was a half idea. I
• 3:59:55
  Speaker 1: have it still. It is a full blown idea now,
• 4:00:00
  Speaker 1: a way of getting back, of restoring what I have
• 4:00:03
  Speaker 1: done when I choose, when I have done all I
• 4:00:07
  Speaker 1: mean to do invisibly. And that is what I chiefly
• 4:00:10
  Speaker 1: want to talk to you about. Now you went straight
• 4:00:13
  Speaker 1: to ipping. Yes, I had simply to get my three
• 4:00:18
  Speaker 1: volumes of memoranda, and my check book, my luggage and underclothing,
• 4:00:22
  Speaker 1: order a quantity of chemicals to work out this idea
• 4:00:25
  Speaker 1: of mine. I will show you the calculations as soon
• 4:00:27
  Speaker 1: as I get my books. And then I started jove,
• 4:00:32
  Speaker 1: I remember the snow storm now and the accursed bother
• 4:00:35
  Speaker 1: it was to keep the snow from damping my pasteboard
• 4:00:37
  Speaker 1: nose at the end, said Kemp. The day before yesterday,
• 4:00:42
  Speaker 1: when they found you out, you rather to judge by
• 4:00:45
  Speaker 1: the papers I did? Rather? Did I kill that fool
• 4:00:49
  Speaker 1: of a constable? No, said Kemp. He's expected to recover.
• 4:00:55
  Speaker 1: That's his luck. Then I clean lost my temper the fools.
• 4:01:01
  Speaker 1: Why couldn't they leave me alone? And that grocer lout?
• 4:01:05
  Speaker 1: There are no deaths expected, said Kemp. I don't know
• 4:01:09
  Speaker 1: about that tramp of mine, said the invisible man, with
• 4:01:12
  Speaker 1: an unpleasant laugh. By heaven, Kemp, you don't know what
• 4:01:17
  Speaker 1: rage is to have worked for years, to have planned
• 4:01:21
  Speaker 1: and plotted, and then to get some fumbling, purblind idiot
• 4:01:24
  Speaker 1: messing across your course. Every conceivable sort of silly creature
• 4:01:28
  Speaker 1: that has ever been created has been sent to cross me.
• 4:01:31
  Speaker 1: If I have much more of it, I shall go wild.
• 4:01:34
  Speaker 1: I shall start mowing em As it is. They've made
• 4:01:38
  Speaker 1: things a thousand times more difficult. No doubt it's exasperating,
• 4:01:43
  Speaker 1: said Kemp. Drilly Chapter twenty four. The plan that failed.
• 4:01:48
  Speaker 1: But now, said Kemp, with a side glance out of
• 4:01:51
  Speaker 1: the window, what are we to do? He moved nearer
• 4:01:55
  Speaker 1: his guest, as he spoke in such a manner as
• 4:01:57
  Speaker 1: to prevent the possibility of a sudden glimpse of the
• 4:01:59
  Speaker 1: three men who were advancing up the hill road with
• 4:02:02
  Speaker 1: an intolerable slowness, As it seemed to Kemp, What were
• 4:02:06
  Speaker 1: you planning to do when you were heading for Port Burdock?
• 4:02:09
  Speaker 1: Had you any plan? I was going to clear out
• 4:02:12
  Speaker 1: of the country, but I have altered that plan rather
• 4:02:15
  Speaker 1: since seeing you. I thought it would be wise now
• 4:02:19
  Speaker 1: the weather is hot and invisibility possible to make for
• 4:02:22
  Speaker 1: the south, especially as my secret was known and everyone
• 4:02:26
  Speaker 1: would be on the lookout for a masked and muffled man.
• 4:02:29
  Speaker 1: You have a line of steamers from here to France.
• 4:02:33
  Speaker 1: My idea was to get aboard one and run the
• 4:02:35
  Speaker 1: risks of the passage. Thence I could go by train
• 4:02:39
  Speaker 1: into Spain, or else get to Algiers. It would not
• 4:02:42
  Speaker 1: be difficult. There a man might always be invisible and
• 4:02:46
  Speaker 1: yet live and do things. I was using that tramp
• 4:02:51
  Speaker 1: as a money box and luggage carrier until I decided
• 4:02:54
  Speaker 1: how to get my books and things sent over to
• 4:02:56
  Speaker 1: meet me. That's clear, and then the fill healthy brute
• 4:03:00
  Speaker 1: must needs try and rob me. He has hidden my books, Kemp,
• 4:03:05
  Speaker 1: hidden my books. If I can lay my hands on him,
• 4:03:10
  Speaker 1: best plan to get the books out of him first.
• 4:03:13
  Speaker 1: But where is he? Do you know? He's in the
• 4:03:17
  Speaker 1: town police station, locked up by his own request, in
• 4:03:20
  Speaker 1: the strongest cell in the place, curR, said the invisible man.
• 4:03:26
  Speaker 1: But that hangs up your plans a little. We must
• 4:03:29
  Speaker 1: get those books. Those books are vital, certainly, said Kemp,
• 4:03:34
  Speaker 1: a little nervously, wondering if he heard footsteps outside. Certainly
• 4:03:39
  Speaker 1: we must get those books. But that won't be difficult
• 4:03:43
  Speaker 1: if he doesn't know there for you, No, said the
• 4:03:46
  Speaker 1: invisible man, and thought Kemp tried to think of something
• 4:03:50
  Speaker 1: to keep the talk going, but the invisible Man resumed
• 4:03:53
  Speaker 1: of his own accord. Blundering into your house, Kemp, he said,
• 4:03:58
  Speaker 1: changes all my plans. For you are a man that
• 4:04:01
  Speaker 1: can understand. In spite of all that has happened, in
• 4:04:05
  Speaker 1: spite of this publicity, of the loss of my books,
• 4:04:08
  Speaker 1: of what I have suffered, there still remain great possibilities,
• 4:04:12
  Speaker 1: huge possibilities. You have told no one I am here,
• 4:04:15
  Speaker 1: he asked abruptly. Kemp hesitated, that was implied, he said,
• 4:04:22
  Speaker 1: no one, insisted Griffin, not a soul ah. Now the
• 4:04:28
  Speaker 1: invisible man stood up, and sticking his arms, Akimbo began
• 4:04:32
  Speaker 1: to pace the study. I made a mistake, Kemp, a
• 4:04:35
  Speaker 1: huge mistake in carrying this thing through alone. I have
• 4:04:40
  Speaker 1: wasted strength, time, opportunities alone. It is wonderful how little
• 4:04:45
  Speaker 1: a man can do alone, to rob a little, to
• 4:04:48
  Speaker 1: hurt a little. And there is the end. What I want, Kemp,
• 4:04:53
  Speaker 1: is a goal keeper, a helper, and a hiding place,
• 4:04:56
  Speaker 1: an arrangement whereby I can sleep and eat and rest
• 4:04:59
  Speaker 1: in peace and unsuspected. I must have a confederate, with
• 4:05:04
  Speaker 1: a confederate, with food and rest. A thousand things are possible.
• 4:05:08
  Speaker 1: Hitherto I have gone on vague lines. We have to
• 4:05:12
  Speaker 1: consider all that invisibility means, all that it does not mean.
• 4:05:17
  Speaker 1: It means little advantage for eavesdropping and so forth. One
• 4:05:20
  Speaker 1: makes sounds it's of little help. A little help perhaps
• 4:05:24
  Speaker 1: in house breaking and so forth. Once you've caught me,
• 4:05:28
  Speaker 1: you could easily imprison me. But on the other hand,
• 4:05:31
  Speaker 1: I am hard to catch this Invisibility, in fact, is
• 4:05:36
  Speaker 1: only good in two cases. It's useful in getting away,
• 4:05:39
  Speaker 1: it's useful in approaching. It's particularly useful therefore, in killing
• 4:05:45
  Speaker 1: I can walk round a man, whatever weapon he has,
• 4:05:49
  Speaker 1: choose My point, strike as I like, dodge, as I like, escape,
• 4:05:54
  Speaker 1: as I like. Kemp's hand went to his mustache. Was
• 4:05:58
  Speaker 1: that a movement downstairs? And it is killing we must do, Kemp?
• 4:06:03
  Speaker 1: It is killing we must do, repeated Kemp. I'm listening
• 4:06:07
  Speaker 1: to your plan, Gryffin, but I'm not agreeing. Mind why
• 4:06:12
  Speaker 1: killing not wanton killing, but a judicious slaying. The point
• 4:06:17
  Speaker 1: is they know there is an invisible man as well
• 4:06:20
  Speaker 1: as we know there is an invisible man. And that
• 4:06:23
  Speaker 1: invisible man, Kemp must now establish a reign of terror. Yes,
• 4:06:29
  Speaker 1: no doubt it's startling, but I mean it a reign
• 4:06:33
  Speaker 1: of terror. He must take some town like your Burdock
• 4:06:36
  Speaker 1: and terrify and dominate it. He must issue his orders.
• 4:06:41
  Speaker 1: He can do that in a thousand ways. Scraps of
• 4:06:44
  Speaker 1: paper thrust under doors would suffice, and all who disobey
• 4:06:48
  Speaker 1: his orders he must kill and kill all who would
• 4:06:51
  Speaker 1: defend them. Humph said Kemp, no longer listening to Gryffin,
• 4:06:55
  Speaker 1: but to the sound of his front door opening and closing,
• 4:06:59
  Speaker 1: it seems to me Griffin, he said, to cover his
• 4:07:02
  Speaker 1: wandering attention, that your confederate would be in a difficult position.
• 4:07:06
  Speaker 1: No one would know he was a confederate, said the
• 4:07:09
  Speaker 1: invisible man eagerly, and then suddenly, hush, what's that downstairs? Nothing,
• 4:07:17
  Speaker 1: said Kemp, and suddenly began to speak loud and fast.
• 4:07:21
  Speaker 1: I don't agree to this, Griffin, he said, understand me,
• 4:07:25
  Speaker 1: I don't agree to this. Why dream of playing a
• 4:07:29
  Speaker 1: game against a race? How can you hope to gain happiness?
• 4:07:33
  Speaker 1: Don't be a lone wolf. Publish your results, take the world,
• 4:07:38
  Speaker 1: take the nation at least into your confidence. Think what
• 4:07:42
  Speaker 1: you might do with a million helpers. The invisible man interrupted,
• 4:07:46
  Speaker 1: arm extended. There are footsteps coming upstairs, he said in
• 4:07:50
  Speaker 1: a low voice. Nonsense, said Kemp. Let me see, said
• 4:07:56
  Speaker 1: the invisible man, and advanced, arm extended to the door,
• 4:08:00
  Speaker 1: and then things happened very swiftly. Kemp hesitated for a second,
• 4:08:05
  Speaker 1: and then moved to intercept him. The invisible man started
• 4:08:09
  Speaker 1: and stood still. Traitor, cried the voice, and suddenly the
• 4:08:13
  Speaker 1: dressing gown opened, and, sitting down, the unseen began to disrobe.
• 4:08:18
  Speaker 1: Kemp made three swift steps to the door and forth
• 4:08:21
  Speaker 1: with the invisible man. His legs had vanished, sprang to
• 4:08:24
  Speaker 1: his feet. With a shout, Kemp flung the door open.
• 4:08:29
  Speaker 1: As it opened, there came a sound of hurrying feet
• 4:08:31
  Speaker 1: downstairs and voices. With a quick movement, Kemp thrust the
• 4:08:35
  Speaker 1: invisible man back, sprang aside, and slammed the door. The
• 4:08:40
  Speaker 1: key was outside and ready. In another moment, Griffin would
• 4:08:44
  Speaker 1: have been alone in a Belvedere's study a prisoner, save
• 4:08:48
  Speaker 1: for one little thing. The key had been slipped in
• 4:08:51
  Speaker 1: hastily that morning. As Kemp slammed the door, it fell
• 4:08:55
  Speaker 1: noisily upon the carpet. Kemp's face became white. He tried
• 4:09:00
  Speaker 1: to grip the door handle with both hands. For a
• 4:09:03
  Speaker 1: moment he stood lugging. Then the door gave six inches,
• 4:09:08
  Speaker 1: but he got it closed again. The second time, it
• 4:09:12
  Speaker 1: was jerked a foot wide, and the dressing gown came
• 4:09:14
  Speaker 1: wedging itself into the opening. His throat was gripped by
• 4:09:18
  Speaker 1: invisible fingers, and he left his hold on the handle
• 4:09:21
  Speaker 1: to defend himself. He was forced back, tripped, and pitched
• 4:09:25
  Speaker 1: heavily into the corner of the landing. The empty dressing
• 4:09:29
  Speaker 1: gown was flung on the top of him. Half Way
• 4:09:32
  Speaker 1: up the staircase was Colonel Addie, the recipient of Kemp's
• 4:09:35
  Speaker 1: letter the chief of the Burdock Police. He was staring
• 4:09:39
  Speaker 1: aghast at the sudden appearance of Kemp, followed by the
• 4:09:42
  Speaker 1: extraordinary sight of clothing tossing empty in the air. He
• 4:09:46
  Speaker 1: saw Kemp feld and struggling to his feet. He saw
• 4:09:50
  Speaker 1: him rush forward and go down again. Felt like an ox.
• 4:09:54
  Speaker 1: Then suddenly he was struck violently by nothing. A vast weight,
• 4:10:00
  Speaker 1: it seemed, leapt upon him, and he was hurled headlong
• 4:10:03
  Speaker 1: down the staircase, with a grip on his throat and
• 4:10:05
  Speaker 1: a knee in his groin. An invisible foot trod on
• 4:10:09
  Speaker 1: his back. A ghostly patter passed downstairs. He heard the
• 4:10:12
  Speaker 1: two police officers in the hall shout and run, and
• 4:10:15
  Speaker 1: the front door of the house slammed violently. He rolled
• 4:10:19
  Speaker 1: over and sat up, staring. He saw staggering down the
• 4:10:23
  Speaker 1: staircase Kemp, dusty and disheveled, one side of his face
• 4:10:27
  Speaker 1: white from a blow, his lip bleeding, and a pink
• 4:10:29
  Speaker 1: dressing gown and some underclothing held in his arms. My God,
• 4:10:34
  Speaker 1: cried Kemp. The game's up, He's gone. Chapter twenty five,
• 4:10:40
  Speaker 1: The Hunting of the Invisible Man. For a space, Kemp
• 4:10:42
  Speaker 1: was too inarticulate to make Addie understand the swift things
• 4:10:45
  Speaker 1: that had just happened. They stood on the landing, Kemp
• 4:10:49
  Speaker 1: speaking swiftly, the grotesque swathings of Griffin still on his arm.
• 4:10:54
  Speaker 1: But presently Attie began to grasp something of the situation.
• 4:10:58
  Speaker 1: He is mad, said Kemp, inhuman. He is pure selfishness.
• 4:11:04
  Speaker 1: He thinks of nothing but his own advantage, his own safety.
• 4:11:08
  Speaker 1: I have listened to such a story this morning, of
• 4:11:10
  Speaker 1: brutal self seeking. He has wounded men. He will kill them.
• 4:11:15
  Speaker 1: Unless we can prevent him, he will create a panic.
• 4:11:20
  Speaker 1: Nothing can stop him. He is going out now, furious.
• 4:11:25
  Speaker 1: He must be caught, said Attie. That is certain, But
• 4:11:29
  Speaker 1: how cried Kemp, and suddenly became full of ideas. You
• 4:11:34
  Speaker 1: must begin at once. You must set every available man
• 4:11:38
  Speaker 1: to work. You must prevent his leaving this district. Once
• 4:11:42
  Speaker 1: he gets away, he may go through the countryside as
• 4:11:45
  Speaker 1: he wills, killing and maiming. He dreams of a reign
• 4:11:49
  Speaker 1: of terror, a reign of terror. I tell you you
• 4:11:53
  Speaker 1: must set a watch on trains and roads and shipping.
• 4:11:57
  Speaker 1: The garrison must help. You must for help. The only
• 4:12:02
  Speaker 1: thing that may keep him here is the thought of
• 4:12:04
  Speaker 1: recovering some books of notes he counts a value. I
• 4:12:07
  Speaker 1: will tell you of that. There is a man in
• 4:12:10
  Speaker 1: your police station marvel. I know, said Addie. I know
• 4:12:16
  Speaker 1: those books, yes, but the tramp says he hasn't them.
• 4:12:22
  Speaker 1: But he thinks the tramp has. And you must prevent
• 4:12:25
  Speaker 1: him from eating or sleeping day and night. The country
• 4:12:28
  Speaker 1: must be astir for him. Food must be locked up
• 4:12:31
  Speaker 1: and secured, all food, so that he will have to
• 4:12:34
  Speaker 1: break his way to it. The houses everywhere must be
• 4:12:37
  Speaker 1: barred against him. Heaven send us cold nights and rain.
• 4:12:42
  Speaker 1: The whole countryside must begin hunting, and keep hunting. I
• 4:12:46
  Speaker 1: tell you, Addie, he is a danger, a disaster unless
• 4:12:50
  Speaker 1: he is pinned and secured. It is frightful to think
• 4:12:52
  Speaker 1: of the things that may happen. What else can we do?
• 4:12:56
  Speaker 1: Said Addie. I must go down at once and begin organized.
• 4:13:01
  Speaker 1: But why not? Come? Yes, you come too, Come, and
• 4:13:06
  Speaker 1: we must hold a sort of council of war. Get
• 4:13:08
  Speaker 1: hops to help, and the railway managers. By Jove, it's urgent.
• 4:13:15
  Speaker 1: Come along. Tell me as we go what else is
• 4:13:18
  Speaker 1: there we can do? Put that stuff down. In another moment,
• 4:13:22
  Speaker 1: Addie was leading the way downstairs. They found the front
• 4:13:26
  Speaker 1: door open, and the policeman standing outside staring at empty air.
• 4:13:30
  Speaker 1: He's got away, sir, said one. We must go to
• 4:13:34
  Speaker 1: the central station at once, said Addie. One of you
• 4:13:38
  Speaker 1: go on down and get a cab to come up
• 4:13:40
  Speaker 1: and meet us quickly. And now, Kemp, what else? Dogs?
• 4:13:46
  Speaker 1: Said Kemp? Get dogs. They don't see him, but they
• 4:13:51
  Speaker 1: win him. Get dogs. Good, said Addie. It's not generally known,
• 4:13:57
  Speaker 1: but the prison officials over at Halsted no o a
• 4:14:00
  Speaker 1: man with bloodhounds dogs? What else? Bear in mind? Said Kemp.
• 4:14:07
  Speaker 1: His food shows after eating. His food shows until it
• 4:14:11
  Speaker 1: is assimilated, so that he has to hide after eating.
• 4:14:16
  Speaker 1: You must keep on beating every thicket, every quiet corner,
• 4:14:21
  Speaker 1: and put all weapons, all implements that might be weapons away.
• 4:14:26
  Speaker 1: He can't carry such things for long. And what he
• 4:14:29
  Speaker 1: can snatch up and strike men with must be hidden away.
• 4:14:33
  Speaker 1: Good again, said Addie. We shall have him yet, and
• 4:14:37
  Speaker 1: on the roads, said Kemp. And hesitated, yes, said Addie.
• 4:14:43
  Speaker 1: Powdered glass said Kemp. It's cruel, I know, but think
• 4:14:49
  Speaker 1: of what he may do. Addie drew the air in
• 4:14:51
  Speaker 1: sharply between his teeth. It's unsportsmanlike. I don't know. But
• 4:14:57
  Speaker 1: I'll have powdered glass got ready. If he goes too far,
• 4:15:02
  Speaker 1: the man's become inhuman, I tell you, said Kemp. I
• 4:15:06
  Speaker 1: am as sure he will establish a reign of terror
• 4:15:09
  Speaker 1: so soon as he has got over the emotions of
• 4:15:11
  Speaker 1: this escape. As I am sure I am talking to you.
• 4:15:14
  Speaker 1: Our only chance is to be ahead. He has cut
• 4:15:17
  Speaker 1: himself off from his kind. His blood be upon his
• 4:15:21
  Speaker 1: own head. Chapter twenty six, The wigs Dee'd Murder. The
• 4:15:25
  Speaker 1: Invisible Man seems to have rushed out of Kemp's house
• 4:15:28
  Speaker 1: in a state of blind fury. A little child playing
• 4:15:31
  Speaker 1: near Kemp's gateway was violently caught up and thrown aside,
• 4:15:34
  Speaker 1: so that its ankle was broken, And thereafter, for some
• 4:15:37
  Speaker 1: hours the Invisible Man passed out of human perceptions. No
• 4:15:41
  Speaker 1: one knows where he went, nor what he did, but
• 4:15:44
  Speaker 1: one can imagine him hurrying through the hot June forenoon
• 4:15:47
  Speaker 1: up the hill and on to the open downland behind
• 4:15:50
  Speaker 1: Port Burdock, raging and despairing at his intolerable fate, and
• 4:15:53
  Speaker 1: sheltering at last, heated and weary, amid the thickets of Hintondean,
• 4:15:58
  Speaker 1: to piece together again his shattered schemes against his species
• 4:16:02
  Speaker 1: That seems the most probable refuge for him, For there
• 4:16:05
  Speaker 1: it was he reasserted himself in a grimly tragical manner
• 4:16:08
  Speaker 1: about two in the afternoon. One wonders what his state
• 4:16:11
  Speaker 1: of mind may have been during that time, and what
• 4:16:14
  Speaker 1: plans he devised. No doubt he was almost ecstatically exasperated
• 4:16:19
  Speaker 1: by Kemp's treachery, and though we may be able to
• 4:16:21
  Speaker 1: understand the motives that led to that deceit, we may
• 4:16:24
  Speaker 1: still imagine and even sympathize a little with the fury
• 4:16:26
  Speaker 1: the attempted surprise must have occasioned. Perhaps something of the
• 4:16:30
  Speaker 1: stunned astonishment of his Oxford Street experiences may have returned
• 4:16:34
  Speaker 1: to him, for he had evidently counted on Kemp's co
• 4:16:37
  Speaker 1: operation in his brutal dream of a terrorized world. At
• 4:16:40
  Speaker 1: any rate, he vanished from human ken about midday, and
• 4:16:43
  Speaker 1: no living witness can tell what he did until about
• 4:16:46
  Speaker 1: half past two. It was a fortunate thing, perhaps for humanity,
• 4:16:51
  Speaker 1: but for him it was a fatal inaction. During that time,
• 4:16:54
  Speaker 1: a growing multitude of men scattered over the countryside were busy.
• 4:16:59
  Speaker 1: In the morning, he had still been simply a legend
• 4:17:01
  Speaker 1: a terror. In the afternoon, by virtue, chiefly of Kemp's
• 4:17:05
  Speaker 1: drilly worded proclamation. He was presented as a tangible antagonist
• 4:17:09
  Speaker 1: to be wounded, captured, or overcome, and the countryside began
• 4:17:13
  Speaker 1: organizing itself with inconceivable rapidity. By two o'clock even he
• 4:17:18
  Speaker 1: might still have removed himself out of the district by
• 4:17:20
  Speaker 1: getting aboard a train, but after two that became impossible.
• 4:17:24
  Speaker 1: Every passenger train along the lines on a great parallelogram
• 4:17:28
  Speaker 1: between Southampton, Manchester, Brighton and Horsham, traveled with locked doors,
• 4:17:33
  Speaker 1: and the goods traffic was almost entirely suspended, and in
• 4:17:37
  Speaker 1: a great circle of twenty miles round Port Burdock, men
• 4:17:40
  Speaker 1: armed with guns and bludgeons were presently setting out in
• 4:17:43
  Speaker 1: groups of three and four with dogs to beat the
• 4:17:46
  Speaker 1: roads and fields. Mounted policemen rode along the country lanes,
• 4:17:51
  Speaker 1: stopping at every cottage and warning the people to lock
• 4:17:53
  Speaker 1: up their houses and keep indoors unless they were armed.
• 4:17:56
  Speaker 1: And all the elementary schools had broken up by three o'clock,
• 4:18:00
  Speaker 1: and the children, scared and keeping together in groups, were
• 4:18:03
  Speaker 1: hurrying home. Kemp's proclamation, signed indeed by Addie, was posted
• 4:18:08
  Speaker 1: over almost the whole district by four or five o'clock
• 4:18:11
  Speaker 1: in the afternoon. It gave briefly but clearly, all the
• 4:18:15
  Speaker 1: conditions of the struggle, the necessity of keeping the invisible
• 4:18:18
  Speaker 1: man from food and sleep, the necessity for incessant watchfulness,
• 4:18:22
  Speaker 1: and for a prompt attention to any evidence of his movements.
• 4:18:26
  Speaker 1: And so swift and decided was the action of the authorities,
• 4:18:29
  Speaker 1: so prompt and universal was the belief in this strange being,
• 4:18:32
  Speaker 1: that before nightfall an area of several hundred square miles
• 4:18:35
  Speaker 1: was in a stringent state of siege, And before nightfall
• 4:18:39
  Speaker 1: two a thrill of horror went through the whole watching
• 4:18:42
  Speaker 1: nervous countryside. Going from whispering mouth to mouth, swift and
• 4:18:47
  Speaker 1: certain over the length and breadth of the country passed
• 4:18:50
  Speaker 1: the story of the murder of mister Wicksteed. If our
• 4:18:53
  Speaker 1: supposition that the invisible man's refuge was the Hintondean thickets,
• 4:18:57
  Speaker 1: then we must suppose that in the early afternoon he
• 4:18:59
  Speaker 1: said sallied out again, bent upon some project that involved
• 4:19:02
  Speaker 1: the use of a weapon. We cannot know what the
• 4:19:05
  Speaker 1: project was, but the evidence that he had the iron
• 4:19:08
  Speaker 1: rod in hand before he met wixteed as to me
• 4:19:10
  Speaker 1: at least overwhelming. Of course, We can know nothing of
• 4:19:14
  Speaker 1: the details of that encounter. It occurred on the edge
• 4:19:17
  Speaker 1: of a gravel pit, not two hundred yards from Lord
• 4:19:20
  Speaker 1: Burdock's lodge gate. Everything points to a desperate struggle. The
• 4:19:25
  Speaker 1: trampled ground, the numerous wounds mister Wixteed received his splintered
• 4:19:29
  Speaker 1: walking stick. But why the attack was made save in
• 4:19:32
  Speaker 1: a murderous frenzy, it is impossible to imagine. Indeed, the
• 4:19:36
  Speaker 1: theory of madness is almost unavoidable. Mister Wixteed was a
• 4:19:42
  Speaker 1: man of forty five or forty six, steward to Lord Burdock,
• 4:19:45
  Speaker 1: of inoffensive habits and appearance, the very last person in
• 4:19:49
  Speaker 1: the world to provoke such a terrible antagonist against him.
• 4:19:53
  Speaker 1: It would seem the invisible Man used an iron rod
• 4:19:56
  Speaker 1: dragged from a broken piece of fence. He stopped this
• 4:19:59
  Speaker 1: quiet man going quietly home to his midday meal, attacked him,
• 4:20:03
  Speaker 1: beat down his feeble defenses, broke his arm, felled him
• 4:20:07
  Speaker 1: and smashed his head to a jelly. Of course, he
• 4:20:10
  Speaker 1: must have dragged this rod out of the fencing before
• 4:20:13
  Speaker 1: he met his victim. He must have been carrying it
• 4:20:15
  Speaker 1: ready in his hand. Only two details beyond what has
• 4:20:19
  Speaker 1: already been stated seemed to bear on the matter. One
• 4:20:23
  Speaker 1: is the circumstance that the gravel pit was not in
• 4:20:25
  Speaker 1: mister Wicksteed's direct path home, but nearly a couple of
• 4:20:28
  Speaker 1: hundred yards out of his way. The other is the
• 4:20:31
  Speaker 1: assertion of a little girl to the effect that, going
• 4:20:34
  Speaker 1: to her afternoon school, she saw the murdered man trotting
• 4:20:37
  Speaker 1: in a peculiar manner across a field towards the gravel pit.
• 4:20:41
  Speaker 1: Her pantomime of his action suggests a man pursuing something
• 4:20:44
  Speaker 1: on the ground before him and striking at it ever
• 4:20:47
  Speaker 1: and again with his walking stick. She was the last
• 4:20:50
  Speaker 1: person to see him alive. He passed out of her
• 4:20:53
  Speaker 1: sight to his death, the struggle being hidden from her
• 4:20:56
  Speaker 1: only by a clump of beech trees and a slight
• 4:20:58
  Speaker 1: depression in the ground. Now, this, to the present writer's mind,
• 4:21:03
  Speaker 1: at least lifts the murder out of the realm of
• 4:21:05
  Speaker 1: the absolutely wanton. We may imagine that Griffin had taken
• 4:21:09
  Speaker 1: the rod as a weapon indeed, but without any deliberate
• 4:21:12
  Speaker 1: intention of using it in murder. Wixteed may then have
• 4:21:15
  Speaker 1: come by and noticed this rod inexplicably moving through the
• 4:21:18
  Speaker 1: air without any thought of the Invisible Man, for Port
• 4:21:22
  Speaker 1: Burdock is ten miles away, he may have pursued it.
• 4:21:26
  Speaker 1: It is quite conceivable that he may not even have
• 4:21:29
  Speaker 1: heard of the Invisible Man. One can then imagine the
• 4:21:32
  Speaker 1: invisible Man making off quietly in order to avoid discovering
• 4:21:36
  Speaker 1: his presence in the neighborhood, and Wixteed, excited and curious,
• 4:21:40
  Speaker 1: pursuing this unaccountably locomotive object, finally striking at it. No doubt,
• 4:21:45
  Speaker 1: the Invisible Man could easily have distanced his middle aged
• 4:21:48
  Speaker 1: pursuer under ordinary circumstances, but the position in which Wixteed's
• 4:21:52
  Speaker 1: body was found suggests that he had the ill luck
• 4:21:55
  Speaker 1: to drive his quarry into a corner between a drift
• 4:21:57
  Speaker 1: of stinging nettles and the gravel pit. To those who
• 4:22:00
  Speaker 1: appreciate the extraordinary irascibility of the Invisible Man, the rest
• 4:22:04
  Speaker 1: of the encounter will be easy to imagine, but this
• 4:22:08
  Speaker 1: is pure hypothesis. The only undeniable facts, for stories of
• 4:22:13
  Speaker 1: children are often unreliable, are the discovery of Wixteed's body
• 4:22:17
  Speaker 1: done to death, and of the blood stained iron rod
• 4:22:20
  Speaker 1: flung among the nettles. The abandonment of the rod by
• 4:22:23
  Speaker 1: Griffin suggests that in the emotional excitement of the affair,
• 4:22:27
  Speaker 1: the purpose for which he took it, if he had
• 4:22:29
  Speaker 1: a purpose, was abandoned. He was certainly an intensely egotistical
• 4:22:34
  Speaker 1: and unfeeling man, But the sight of his victim, his
• 4:22:37
  Speaker 1: first victim, bloody and pitiful at his feet, may have
• 4:22:40
  Speaker 1: released some long pent fountain of remorse, which for a
• 4:22:42
  Speaker 1: time may have flooded whatever scheme of action he had
• 4:22:45
  Speaker 1: contrived after the murder of mister Wixedeed, he would seem
• 4:22:50
  Speaker 1: to have struck across the country towards the Downland. There
• 4:22:54
  Speaker 1: is a story of a voice heard about sunset by
• 4:22:56
  Speaker 1: a couple of men in a field near fern Bottom.
• 4:22:59
  Speaker 1: It it was wailing and laughing, sobbing and groaning, and
• 4:23:03
  Speaker 1: ever and again it shouted. It must have been queer
• 4:23:06
  Speaker 1: hearing it. Drove up across the middle of a clover field,
• 4:23:10
  Speaker 1: and died away towards the hills that afternoon. The invisible
• 4:23:14
  Speaker 1: man must have learned something of the rapid use camp
• 4:23:16
  Speaker 1: had made of his confidences. He must have found houses
• 4:23:20
  Speaker 1: locked and secured. He may have loitered about railway stations
• 4:23:23
  Speaker 1: and prowled about inns and no doubt he read the
• 4:23:26
  Speaker 1: proclamations and realized something of the nature of the campaign
• 4:23:29
  Speaker 1: against him, And as the evening advanced, the fields became
• 4:23:33
  Speaker 1: dotted here and therewith groups of three or four men,
• 4:23:36
  Speaker 1: and noisy with the yelping of dogs. These men hunters
• 4:23:40
  Speaker 1: had particular instructions in the case of an encounter, as
• 4:23:43
  Speaker 1: to the way they should support one another, but he
• 4:23:45
  Speaker 1: avoided them all. We may understand something of his exasperation,
• 4:23:50
  Speaker 1: and it could have been none the less because he
• 4:23:52
  Speaker 1: himself had supplied the information that was being used so
• 4:23:55
  Speaker 1: remorselessly against him. For that day at least he lost
• 4:23:59
  Speaker 1: heart for nearly twenty four hours. Save when he turned
• 4:24:02
  Speaker 1: on Wicksteed, he was a hunted man. In the night
• 4:24:06
  Speaker 1: he must have eaten and slept, for in the morning
• 4:24:08
  Speaker 1: he was himself again, active, powerful, angry, and malignant, prepared
• 4:24:13
  Speaker 1: for his last great struggle against the world. Chapter twenty seven,
• 4:24:18
  Speaker 1: The Siege of Kemp's House. Kemp read a strange missive
• 4:24:21
  Speaker 1: written in pencil on a greasy sheet of paper. You
• 4:24:25
  Speaker 1: have been amazingly energetic and clever this letter ran, Though
• 4:24:28
  Speaker 1: what you stand to gain by it, I cannot imagine.
• 4:24:31
  Speaker 1: You are against me for a whole day. You have
• 4:24:35
  Speaker 1: chased me. You have tried to rob me of a
• 4:24:37
  Speaker 1: night's rest. But I have had food in spite of you.
• 4:24:40
  Speaker 1: I have slept in spite of you. And the game
• 4:24:43
  Speaker 1: is only beginning. The game is only beginning. There is
• 4:24:47
  Speaker 1: nothing for it but to start the terror. This announces
• 4:24:51
  Speaker 1: the first day of the terror. Port Burdock is no
• 4:24:54
  Speaker 1: longer under the Queen. Tell your colonel of police and
• 4:24:57
  Speaker 1: the rest of them. It is under me, the err.
• 4:25:01
  Speaker 1: This is day one of year one of the new Epoch,
• 4:25:03
  Speaker 1: the epoch of the Invisible Man. I am invisible man,
• 4:25:07
  Speaker 1: the first to begin with. The rule will be easy.
• 4:25:11
  Speaker 1: The first day there will be one execution. For the
• 4:25:14
  Speaker 1: sake of example, a man named Kemp. Death starts for
• 4:25:18
  Speaker 1: him today. He may lock himself away, hide himself away,
• 4:25:22
  Speaker 1: get guards about him, put on armor if he likes death.
• 4:25:26
  Speaker 1: The unseen death is coming. Let him take precautions. It
• 4:25:30
  Speaker 1: will impress my people. Death starts from the pillar box.
• 4:25:34
  Speaker 1: By midday, the letter will fall in as the postman
• 4:25:38
  Speaker 1: comes along. Then off the game begins. Death starts. Help
• 4:25:44
  Speaker 1: him not my people, lest death fall upon you also.
• 4:25:48
  Speaker 1: Today Kemp is to die. Kemp read this letter twice.
• 4:25:51
  Speaker 1: It's no hoax, he said, that's his voice and he
• 4:25:56
  Speaker 1: means it. He turned the folded sheet over and saw
• 4:26:00
  Speaker 1: on the addressed side of it the postmark Hinton Dean
• 4:26:02
  Speaker 1: and the prosaic detail two d to pay. He got
• 4:26:07
  Speaker 1: up slowly, leaving his lunch unfinished the letter had come
• 4:26:10
  Speaker 1: by the one o'clock post, and went into his study.
• 4:26:14
  Speaker 1: He rang for his housekeeper and told her to go
• 4:26:16
  Speaker 1: round the house at once, examine all the fastenings of
• 4:26:19
  Speaker 1: the windows, and close all the shutters. He closed the
• 4:26:23
  Speaker 1: shutters of his study himself. From a locked drawer in
• 4:26:27
  Speaker 1: his bedroom, he took a little revolver, examined it carefully,
• 4:26:30
  Speaker 1: and put it into the pocket of his lounge jacket.
• 4:26:34
  Speaker 1: He wrote a number of brief notes, one to Colonel Addey,
• 4:26:37
  Speaker 1: gave them to his servant to take with explicit instructions
• 4:26:40
  Speaker 1: as to her way of leaving the house. There is
• 4:26:43
  Speaker 1: no danger, he said, and added a mental reservation to you.
• 4:26:47
  Speaker 1: He remained meditative for a space after doing this, and
• 4:26:50
  Speaker 1: then returned to his cooling lunch. He ate with gaps
• 4:26:54
  Speaker 1: of thought. Finally he struck the table sharply. We will
• 4:26:59
  Speaker 1: have him, he said, and I am the bait. He
• 4:27:02
  Speaker 1: will come too far. He went up to the belvidere,
• 4:27:05
  Speaker 1: carefully shutting every door after him. It's a game, he said,
• 4:27:09
  Speaker 1: an odd game, but the chances are all for me,
• 4:27:12
  Speaker 1: mister Griffin, in spite of your invisibility, gryffin contremandum with
• 4:27:17
  Speaker 1: a vengeance. He stood at the window, staring at the
• 4:27:21
  Speaker 1: hot hillside. He must get food every day, and I
• 4:27:25
  Speaker 1: don't envy him. Did he really sleep last night out
• 4:27:29
  Speaker 1: in the open, somewhere secure from collisions. I wish we
• 4:27:33
  Speaker 1: could get some good, cold, wet weather instead of the heat.
• 4:27:37
  Speaker 1: He may be watching me now. He went close to
• 4:27:39
  Speaker 1: the window. Something wrapped smartly against the brickwork over the
• 4:27:43
  Speaker 1: frame and made him start violently back. I'm getting nervous,
• 4:27:48
  Speaker 1: said Kemp. But it was five minutes before he went
• 4:27:51
  Speaker 1: to the window again. It must have been a sparrow,
• 4:27:54
  Speaker 1: he said. Presently, he heard the front door bell ringing
• 4:27:58
  Speaker 1: and hurried downstairs. He unbolted and unlocked the door, examined
• 4:28:03
  Speaker 1: the chain, put it up, and opened cautiously without showing himself.
• 4:28:08
  Speaker 1: A familiar voice hailed him. It was Addie. Your servant's
• 4:28:13
  Speaker 1: been assaulted, Kemp, He said, round the door, What, exclaimed Kemp,
• 4:28:19
  Speaker 1: had that note of yours taken away from her? He's
• 4:28:22
  Speaker 1: close about here, let me in. Kemp released the chain
• 4:28:27
  Speaker 1: and Addie entered through as narrow an opening as possible.
• 4:28:31
  Speaker 1: He stood in the hall, looking with infinite relief at
• 4:28:34
  Speaker 1: Kemp refastening the door. Note was snatched out of her hand.
• 4:28:39
  Speaker 1: Scared her horribly. She's down at the station hysterics. He's
• 4:28:45
  Speaker 1: close here. What was it about? Kemp swore? What a
• 4:28:50
  Speaker 1: fool I was, said Kemp. I might have known. It's
• 4:28:55
  Speaker 1: not an hour's walk from Hinton Dean already. What's up?
• 4:29:00
  Speaker 1: Said Addie. Look here, said Kemp, and led the way
• 4:29:04
  Speaker 1: into his study. He handed Addie the Invisible Man's letter.
• 4:29:09
  Speaker 1: Addie read it and whistled softly. And you, said, Addie
• 4:29:14
  Speaker 1: proposed a trap like a fool, said Kemp, and sent
• 4:29:17
  Speaker 1: my proposal out by a maid servant to him. Addie
• 4:29:22
  Speaker 1: followed Kemp's profanity. He'll clear out, said Addie. Not he,
• 4:29:28
  Speaker 1: said Kemp. A resounding smash of glass came from upstairs.
• 4:29:33
  Speaker 1: Addie had a silvery glimpse of a little revolver half
• 4:29:36
  Speaker 1: out of Kemp's pocket. It's a window upstairs, said Kemp
• 4:29:41
  Speaker 1: and led the way up. There came a second smash
• 4:29:44
  Speaker 1: while they were still on the staircase. When they reached
• 4:29:48
  Speaker 1: the study, they found two of the three windows smashed,
• 4:29:50
  Speaker 1: half the room littered with splintered glass, and one big
• 4:29:53
  Speaker 1: flint lying on the writing table. The two men stopped
• 4:29:57
  Speaker 1: in the doorway, contemplating the wreckage. Kemp swore again, and
• 4:30:02
  Speaker 1: as he did so, the third window went with a
• 4:30:04
  Speaker 1: snap like a pistol, hung start for a moment and
• 4:30:07
  Speaker 1: collapsed in jagged, shivering triangles into the room. What's this for,
• 4:30:12
  Speaker 1: said Addie. It's a beginning, said Kemp. There's no way
• 4:30:17
  Speaker 1: of climbing up here. Not for a cat, said Kemp.
• 4:30:21
  Speaker 1: No shutters, not here, all the downstairs rooms. Hello, smash
• 4:30:28
  Speaker 1: and then whack of boards hit hard came from downstairs.
• 4:30:32
  Speaker 1: Confound him, said Kemp. That must be yes, it's one
• 4:30:36
  Speaker 1: of the bedrooms. He's going to do all the house.
• 4:30:41
  Speaker 1: But he's a fool. The shutters are up and the
• 4:30:44
  Speaker 1: glass will fall outside. He'll cut his feet. Another window
• 4:30:48
  Speaker 1: proclaimed its destruction. The two men stood on the landing perplexed.
• 4:30:54
  Speaker 1: I have it, said Addie. Let me have a stick
• 4:30:57
  Speaker 1: or something and I'll go down to the station and
• 4:30:59
  Speaker 1: get the bloodhounds put on. That ought to settle him
• 4:31:04
  Speaker 1: there hard By not ten minutes another window went the
• 4:31:07
  Speaker 1: way of its fellows. You haven't a revolver, asked Daddy.
• 4:31:12
  Speaker 1: Kemp's hand went to his pocket. Then he hesitated, I
• 4:31:17
  Speaker 1: haven't won at least to spare. I'll bring it back,
• 4:31:21
  Speaker 1: said Addie. You'll be safe here. Kemp, ashamed of his
• 4:31:24
  Speaker 1: momentary lapse from truthfulness, handed him the weapon. Now for
• 4:31:28
  Speaker 1: the door, said Addie. As they stood hesitating in the hall,
• 4:31:33
  Speaker 1: they heard one of the first floor bedroom windows crack
• 4:31:35
  Speaker 1: and clash. Kemp went to the door and began to
• 4:31:39
  Speaker 1: slip the bolts as silently as possible. His face was
• 4:31:43
  Speaker 1: a little paler than usual. You must step straight out,
• 4:31:46
  Speaker 1: said Kemp. In another moment, Addie was on the doorstep
• 4:31:50
  Speaker 1: and the bolts were dropping back into the staples. He
• 4:31:54
  Speaker 1: hesitated for a moment, feeling more comfortable with his back
• 4:31:57
  Speaker 1: against the door. Then he marched upright and square down
• 4:32:01
  Speaker 1: the steps. He crossed the lawn and approached the gate.
• 4:32:06
  Speaker 1: A little breeze seemed to ripple over the grass. Something
• 4:32:10
  Speaker 1: moved near him. Stop a bit, said a voice, and
• 4:32:13
  Speaker 1: Addie stopped dead, and his hand tightened on the revolver. Well,
• 4:32:18
  Speaker 1: said Addie, White and grim and every nerve tense, oblige
• 4:32:23
  Speaker 1: me by going back to the house, said the voice,
• 4:32:25
  Speaker 1: as tense and grim as ADDIE's sorry, said Addie a
• 4:32:29
  Speaker 1: little hoarsely, and moistened his lips with his tongue. The
• 4:32:33
  Speaker 1: voice was on his left front. He thought, suppose he
• 4:32:37
  Speaker 1: were to take his luck with a shot? What are
• 4:32:39
  Speaker 1: you going for? Said the voice, and there was a
• 4:32:43
  Speaker 1: quick movement of the two and a flash of sunlight
• 4:32:46
  Speaker 1: from the open lip of ADDIE's pocket. Addie desisted in thought.
• 4:32:51
  Speaker 1: Where I go, he said, slowly is my own business.
• 4:32:54
  Speaker 1: The words were still on his lips when an arm
• 4:32:56
  Speaker 1: came round his neck. His back felt a knee, and
• 4:32:59
  Speaker 1: he was sprang calling backward. He drew clumsily and fired absurdly,
• 4:33:04
  Speaker 1: and in another moment he was struck in the mouth,
• 4:33:06
  Speaker 1: and the revolver rested from his grip. He made a
• 4:33:09
  Speaker 1: vain clutch at a slippery limb, tried to struggle up
• 4:33:12
  Speaker 1: and fell back. Damn, said Addie. The voice laughed, I'd
• 4:33:18
  Speaker 1: kill you now if it wasn't the waste of a bullet,
• 4:33:20
  Speaker 1: it said. He saw the revolver in mid air six
• 4:33:24
  Speaker 1: feet off, covering him well, said Addie, sitting up, Get up,
• 4:33:30
  Speaker 1: said the voice. Addie stood up attention, said the voice,
• 4:33:35
  Speaker 1: and then fiercely. Don't try any games. Remember I can
• 4:33:40
  Speaker 1: see your face if you can't see mine. You've got
• 4:33:43
  Speaker 1: to go back to the house. He won't let me in,
• 4:33:46
  Speaker 1: said Addie. That's a pity, said the invisible man. I've
• 4:33:51
  Speaker 1: got no quarrel with you. Addie moistened his lips again.
• 4:33:55
  Speaker 1: He glanced away from the barrel of the revolver and
• 4:33:57
  Speaker 1: saw the sea far off, very blue and dark under
• 4:34:00
  Speaker 1: the midday sun, the smooth green down, the white cliff
• 4:34:03
  Speaker 1: of the head, and the multitudinous town, and suddenly he
• 4:34:06
  Speaker 1: knew that life was very sweet. His eyes came back
• 4:34:10
  Speaker 1: to this little metal thing hanging between heaven and earth,
• 4:34:13
  Speaker 1: six yards away. What am I to do? He said, sullenly.
• 4:34:18
  Speaker 1: What am I to do? Asked the invisible man. You
• 4:34:22
  Speaker 1: will get help. The only thing is for you to
• 4:34:25
  Speaker 1: go back. I will try if he lets me in.
• 4:34:29
  Speaker 1: Will you promise not to rush the door. I've got
• 4:34:32
  Speaker 1: no quarrel with you, said the voice. Kemp had hurried
• 4:34:36
  Speaker 1: upstairs after letting Addie out and now crouching among the
• 4:34:39
  Speaker 1: broken glass and peering cautiously over the edge of the
• 4:34:42
  Speaker 1: study window sill, he saw Attie stand parleying with the unseen.
• 4:34:46
  Speaker 1: Why doesn't he fire, whispered Kemp to himself. Then the
• 4:34:50
  Speaker 1: revolver moved a little, and the glint of the sunlight
• 4:34:53
  Speaker 1: flashed in Kemp's eyes. He shaded his eyes and tried
• 4:34:57
  Speaker 1: to see the source of the blinding beam. Surely, he said,
• 4:35:01
  Speaker 1: Addie has given up the revolver. Promise not to rush
• 4:35:05
  Speaker 1: the door. Addie was saying, don't push a winning game
• 4:35:08
  Speaker 1: too far. Give a man a chance. You go back
• 4:35:12
  Speaker 1: to the house. I tell you flatly, I will not
• 4:35:16
  Speaker 1: promise anything. ADDIE's decision seemed suddenly made. He turned towards
• 4:35:20
  Speaker 1: the house, walking slowly with his hands behind him. Kemp
• 4:35:25
  Speaker 1: watched him, puzzled. The revolver vanished, flashed again into sight,
• 4:35:30
  Speaker 1: vanished again, and became evident on a closer scrutiny as
• 4:35:33
  Speaker 1: a little dark object following Addie. Then things happened very quickly.
• 4:35:39
  Speaker 1: Addie leapt backwards, swung around, clutched at this little object,
• 4:35:43
  Speaker 1: missed it, threw up his hands and fell forward on
• 4:35:45
  Speaker 1: his face. Leaving a little puff of blue in the air.
• 4:35:49
  Speaker 1: Kemp did not hear the sound of the shot. Addie writhed,
• 4:35:53
  Speaker 1: raised himself on one arm, fell forward, and lay still
• 4:35:58
  Speaker 1: for a space. Kemp remained staring at the quiet carelessness
• 4:36:01
  Speaker 1: of ADDIE's attitude. The afternoon was very hot, and still
• 4:36:05
  Speaker 1: nothing seemed stirring in all the world, save a couple
• 4:36:07
  Speaker 1: of yellow butterflies chasing each other through the shrubbery between
• 4:36:10
  Speaker 1: the house and the road gate. Addie lay on the
• 4:36:14
  Speaker 1: lawn near the gate. The blinds of all the villas
• 4:36:17
  Speaker 1: down the hill road were drawn, but in one little
• 4:36:19
  Speaker 1: green summer house was a white figure, apparently an old
• 4:36:22
  Speaker 1: man asleep. Kemp scrutinized the surroundings of the house for
• 4:36:26
  Speaker 1: a glimpse of the revolver, but it had vanished. His
• 4:36:30
  Speaker 1: eyes came back to Addie. The game was opening well.
• 4:36:35
  Speaker 1: Then came a ringing and knocking at the front door
• 4:36:37
  Speaker 1: that grew at last tumultuous, but pursuant to Kemp's instructions,
• 4:36:41
  Speaker 1: the servants had locked themselves into their rooms. This was
• 4:36:45
  Speaker 1: followed by a silence. Kemp sat listening, and then began
• 4:36:49
  Speaker 1: peering cautiously out of the three windows one after another.
• 4:36:53
  Speaker 1: He went to the staircase head and stood listening uneasily.
• 4:36:57
  Speaker 1: He armed himself with his bedroom poker and went to
• 4:37:00
  Speaker 1: examined the interior fastenings of the ground floor windows. Again
• 4:37:04
  Speaker 1: everything was safe and quiet. He returned to the Belvidere
• 4:37:09
  Speaker 1: Addie lay motionless over the edge of the gravel, just
• 4:37:11
  Speaker 1: as he had fallen. Coming along the road by the
• 4:37:15
  Speaker 1: villas were the housemaid and two policemen. Everything was deadly still.
• 4:37:20
  Speaker 1: The three people seemed very slow in approaching. He wondered
• 4:37:24
  Speaker 1: what his antagonist was doing. He started. There was a
• 4:37:29
  Speaker 1: smash from below. He hesitated and went downstairs again. Suddenly
• 4:37:35
  Speaker 1: the house resounded with heavy blows and the splintering of wood.
• 4:37:39
  Speaker 1: He heard a smash and the destructive clang of the
• 4:37:41
  Speaker 1: iron fastenings of the shutters. He turned the key and
• 4:37:45
  Speaker 1: opened the kitchen door. As he did so, the shutters
• 4:37:49
  Speaker 1: split and splintering came flying inward. He stood aghast. The
• 4:37:55
  Speaker 1: window frame, save for one crossbar, was still intact, but
• 4:37:59
  Speaker 1: only little teeth of glass remained in the frame. The
• 4:38:02
  Speaker 1: shutters had been driven in with an axe, and now
• 4:38:05
  Speaker 1: the axe was descending in sweeping blows upon the window
• 4:38:07
  Speaker 1: frame and the iron bars defending it. Then suddenly it
• 4:38:11
  Speaker 1: leapt aside and vanished. He saw the revolver lying on
• 4:38:15
  Speaker 1: the path outside, and then the little weapon sprang into
• 4:38:18
  Speaker 1: the air. He dodged back. The revolver cracked just too late,
• 4:38:23
  Speaker 1: and a splinter from the edge of the closing door
• 4:38:26
  Speaker 1: flashed over his head. He slammed and locked the door,
• 4:38:30
  Speaker 1: and as he stood outside he heard Griffin shouting and laughing.
• 4:38:34
  Speaker 1: Then the blows of the axe, with its splitting and
• 4:38:36
  Speaker 1: smashing consequences, were resumed. Kemp stood in a passage, trying
• 4:38:41
  Speaker 1: to think. In a moment, the invisible Man would be
• 4:38:44
  Speaker 1: in the kitchen. This door would not keep him a moment,
• 4:38:48
  Speaker 1: and then a ringing came at the front door. Again,
• 4:38:51
  Speaker 1: it would be the policeman. He ran into the hall,
• 4:38:55
  Speaker 1: put up the chain and drew the bolts. He made
• 4:38:58
  Speaker 1: the girl speak before he drove up the chain, and
• 4:39:01
  Speaker 1: the three people blundered into the house in a heap,
• 4:39:03
  Speaker 1: and Kemp slammed the door again. The invisible man said Kemp,
• 4:39:09
  Speaker 1: he has a revolver with two shots left. He's killed.
• 4:39:13
  Speaker 1: Addie shot him anyhow, didn't you see him on the lawn.
• 4:39:18
  Speaker 1: He's lying there, who said one of the policemen. Addie,
• 4:39:24
  Speaker 1: said Kemp. We came in the back way, said the girl.
• 4:39:28
  Speaker 1: What's that smashing, asked one of the policemen. He's in
• 4:39:32
  Speaker 1: the kitchen or will be he has found an axe.
• 4:39:36
  Speaker 1: Suddenly the house was full of the invisible man's resounding
• 4:39:39
  Speaker 1: blows on the kitchen door. The girl stared towards the kitchen, shuddered,
• 4:39:44
  Speaker 1: and retreated into the dining room. Kemp tried to explain
• 4:39:48
  Speaker 1: in broken sentences. They heard the kitchen door. Give this way,
• 4:39:53
  Speaker 1: said Kemp, starting into activity and bundled the policeman into
• 4:39:57
  Speaker 1: the dining room. Doorway, said Kemp, and rushed to the fender.
• 4:40:03
  Speaker 1: He handed the poker he had carried to the policeman
• 4:40:06
  Speaker 1: and the dining room one to the other. He suddenly
• 4:40:09
  Speaker 1: flung himself backward. Whoop, said One policeman ducked and caught
• 4:40:14
  Speaker 1: the axe on his poker. The pistol snapped its penultimate
• 4:40:18
  Speaker 1: shot and ripped a valuable Sydney cooper. The second policeman
• 4:40:22
  Speaker 1: brought his poker down on the little weapon as one
• 4:40:24
  Speaker 1: might knock down a wasp, and sent it rattling to
• 4:40:27
  Speaker 1: the floor. At the first clash. The girl screamed, stood
• 4:40:31
  Speaker 1: screaming for a moment by the fireplace, and then ran
• 4:40:34
  Speaker 1: to open the shutters, possibly with an idea of escaping
• 4:40:37
  Speaker 1: by the shattered window. The axe receded into the passage
• 4:40:41
  Speaker 1: and fell to a position about two feet from the ground.
• 4:40:45
  Speaker 1: They could hear the invisible man breathing, Stand away you too,
• 4:40:49
  Speaker 1: he said, I want that man, kemp, We want you,
• 4:40:54
  Speaker 1: said the first policeman, making a quick step forward and
• 4:40:57
  Speaker 1: wiping with his poker at the voice. The invisible man
• 4:41:01
  Speaker 1: must have started back, and he blundered into the umbrella stand. Then,
• 4:41:05
  Speaker 1: as the policeman staggered with the swing of the blow
• 4:41:08
  Speaker 1: he had aimed, the invisible man countered with the axe.
• 4:41:11
  Speaker 1: The helmet crumpled like paper, and the blow sent the
• 4:41:14
  Speaker 1: man spinning to the floor at the head of the
• 4:41:15
  Speaker 1: kitchen stairs. But the second policeman, aiming behind the axe
• 4:41:20
  Speaker 1: with his poker, hit something soft that snapped. There was
• 4:41:24
  Speaker 1: a sharp exclamation of pain, and then the axe fell
• 4:41:26
  Speaker 1: to the ground. The policeman wiped again at vacancy and
• 4:41:30
  Speaker 1: hit nothing. He put his foot on the axe and
• 4:41:33
  Speaker 1: struck again. Then he stood poker clubbed, listening intent for
• 4:41:37
  Speaker 1: the slightest movement. He heard the dining room window open
• 4:41:42
  Speaker 1: and a quick rush of feet within. His companion rolled
• 4:41:45
  Speaker 1: over and sat up, with the blood running down between
• 4:41:48
  Speaker 1: his eye and ear. Where is he asked the man
• 4:41:51
  Speaker 1: on the floor. Don't know I've hit him. He's standing
• 4:41:57
  Speaker 1: somewhere in the hall, unless he slipped past you, Doctor Kemp.
• 4:42:02
  Speaker 1: Sir pause. Doctor Kemp, cried the policeman again. The second
• 4:42:08
  Speaker 1: policeman began struggling to his feet. He stood up. Suddenly,
• 4:42:13
  Speaker 1: the faint pad of bare feet on the kitchen stairs
• 4:42:15
  Speaker 1: could be heard. Yap, cried the first policeman, and incognently
• 4:42:20
  Speaker 1: flung his poker. It smashed a little gas bracket. He
• 4:42:24
  Speaker 1: made as if he would pursue the invisible man downstairs.
• 4:42:28
  Speaker 1: Then he thought better of it and stepped into the
• 4:42:30
  Speaker 1: dining room. Doctor Kemp, he began and stopped short. Doctor
• 4:42:36
  Speaker 1: Kemp's a hero, he said, as his companion looked over
• 4:42:39
  Speaker 1: his shoulder. The dining room window was wide open, and
• 4:42:43
  Speaker 1: neither housemaid nor Kemp was to be seen. The second
• 4:42:47
  Speaker 1: policeman's opinion of Kemp was terse and vivid. Chapter twenty eight,
• 4:42:53
  Speaker 1: The hunter hunted mister Hilas mister Kemp's nearest neighbor among
• 4:42:56
  Speaker 1: the villa holders, was asleep in his summer house when
• 4:42:59
  Speaker 1: the siege of Kemp's house began. Mister Heilos was one
• 4:43:03
  Speaker 1: of the sturdy minority who refused to believe in all
• 4:43:06
  Speaker 1: this nonsense about an invisible man. His wife, however, as
• 4:43:10
  Speaker 1: he was subsequently to be reminded, did he insisted upon
• 4:43:15
  Speaker 1: walking about his garden just as if nothing was the matter,
• 4:43:18
  Speaker 1: and he went to sleep in the afternoon in accordance
• 4:43:20
  Speaker 1: with the custom of years. He slept through the smashing
• 4:43:24
  Speaker 1: of the windows, and then woke up suddenly with a
• 4:43:26
  Speaker 1: curious persuasion of something wrong. He looked across at Kemp's house,
• 4:43:31
  Speaker 1: rubbed his eyes, and looked again. Then he put his
• 4:43:34
  Speaker 1: feet to the ground and sat listening. He said he
• 4:43:38
  Speaker 1: was damned, but still the strange thing was visible. The
• 4:43:42
  Speaker 1: house looked as though it had been deserted for weeks
• 4:43:44
  Speaker 1: after a violent riot. Every window was broken, and every
• 4:43:49
  Speaker 1: window save those of the Belvitere's study, was blinded by
• 4:43:52
  Speaker 1: the internal shutters. I could have sworn it was all right.
• 4:43:56
  Speaker 1: He looked at his watch. Twenty minutes ago he became
• 4:43:59
  Speaker 1: aware of a measured concussion in the clash of glass
• 4:44:02
  Speaker 1: far away in the distance. And then as he sat
• 4:44:05
  Speaker 1: open mouthed, came a still more wonderful thing. The shutters
• 4:44:10
  Speaker 1: of the drawing room window were flung open violently, and
• 4:44:13
  Speaker 1: the housemaid, in her outdoor hat and garments, appeared, struggling
• 4:44:16
  Speaker 1: in a frantic manner to throw up the sash. Suddenly
• 4:44:20
  Speaker 1: a man appeared beside her, helping her, doctor Kemp. In
• 4:44:24
  Speaker 1: another moment, the window was open and the housemaid was
• 4:44:27
  Speaker 1: struggling out. She pitched forward and vanished among the shrubs.
• 4:44:32
  Speaker 1: Mister Hilaw stood up, exclaiming vaguely and vehemently at all
• 4:44:35
  Speaker 1: these wonderful things. He saw Kemp stand on the sill,
• 4:44:39
  Speaker 1: spring from the window, and reappear almost instantaneously, running along
• 4:44:43
  Speaker 1: a path in the shrubbery, and stooping as he ran,
• 4:44:46
  Speaker 1: like a man who evades observation. He vanished behind a
• 4:44:50
  Speaker 1: laburnum and appeared again, clambering over a fence that abutted
• 4:44:53
  Speaker 1: on the open down. In a second he had tumbled
• 4:44:56
  Speaker 1: over and was running at a tremendous pace down the
• 4:44:59
  Speaker 1: slope towards mistters Helas. Lord cried. Mister Hilas struck with
• 4:45:04
  Speaker 1: an idea, it's that invisible man, brute. It's right after
• 4:45:08
  Speaker 1: all with mister Heilos. To think things like that was
• 4:45:12
  Speaker 1: to act, and his cook, watching him from the top window,
• 4:45:15
  Speaker 1: was amazed to see him come, pelting towards the house
• 4:45:17
  Speaker 1: at a good nine miles an hour. There was a
• 4:45:20
  Speaker 1: slamming of doors, a ringing of bells, and the voice
• 4:45:23
  Speaker 1: of mister Hilos bellowing like a bull. Shut the doors, shut,
• 4:45:28
  Speaker 1: the windows, shut everything there. Invisible man is coming Instantly.
• 4:45:33
  Speaker 1: The house was full of screams and directions and scurrying feet.
• 4:45:38
  Speaker 1: He ran himself to shut the French windows that opened
• 4:45:40
  Speaker 1: on the verandah. As he did so, Kemp's head and
• 4:45:43
  Speaker 1: shoulders and knee appeared over the edge of the garden fence.
• 4:45:47
  Speaker 1: In another moment, Kemp had plowed through the asparagus and
• 4:45:50
  Speaker 1: was running across the tennis lawn to the house. You
• 4:45:53
  Speaker 1: can't come in, said mister Hilas, shutting the bolts. I'm
• 4:45:58
  Speaker 1: very sorry if he's after you, but you can't come in.
• 4:46:01
  Speaker 1: Kemp appeared with a face of terror, close to the glass,
• 4:46:04
  Speaker 1: rapping and then shaking frantically at the French window. Then
• 4:46:08
  Speaker 1: seeing his efforts were useless. He ran along the verandah
• 4:46:12
  Speaker 1: vaulted the end and went to hammer at the side door.
• 4:46:15
  Speaker 1: Then he ran round by the side gate to the
• 4:46:18
  Speaker 1: front of the house, and so into the hill road.
• 4:46:21
  Speaker 1: And mister Hilas, staring from his window a face of horror,
• 4:46:26
  Speaker 1: had scarcely witnessed Kemp vanish ere. The asparagus was being
• 4:46:29
  Speaker 1: trampled this way and that by feet unseen at that
• 4:46:33
  Speaker 1: mister Hilos fled precipitately upstairs, and the rest of the
• 4:46:36
  Speaker 1: chase is beyond his purview. But as he passed the
• 4:46:40
  Speaker 1: staircase window he heard the side gate slam. Emerging into
• 4:46:44
  Speaker 1: the hill road, Kemp naturally took the downward direction, and
• 4:46:48
  Speaker 1: so it was he came to run in his own
• 4:46:49
  Speaker 1: person the very race he had watched with such a
• 4:46:52
  Speaker 1: critical eye from the Belvedere study only four days ago.
• 4:46:55
  Speaker 1: He ran it well for a man out of training,
• 4:46:58
  Speaker 1: and though his face was white and wet, his wits
• 4:47:00
  Speaker 1: were cool to the last. He ran with wide strides,
• 4:47:04
  Speaker 1: and wherever a patch of rough ground intervened, wherever there
• 4:47:07
  Speaker 1: came a patch of raw flints or a bit of
• 4:47:10
  Speaker 1: broken glass shone dazzling, he crossed it and left the bare,
• 4:47:13
  Speaker 1: invisible feet that followed to take what line they would.
• 4:47:17
  Speaker 1: For the first time in his life, Kempt discovered that
• 4:47:19
  Speaker 1: the hill road was indescribably vast and desolate, and that
• 4:47:22
  Speaker 1: the beginnings of the town far below at the hill
• 4:47:24
  Speaker 1: foot were strangely remote. Never had there been a slower
• 4:47:28
  Speaker 1: or more painful method of progression than running. All the
• 4:47:32
  Speaker 1: daunk villas, sleeping in the afternoon sun looked locked and barred.
• 4:47:36
  Speaker 1: No doubt they were locked and barred by his own orders,
• 4:47:40
  Speaker 1: but at any rate they might have kept a lookout
• 4:47:42
  Speaker 1: for an eventuality like this. The town was rising up now,
• 4:47:47
  Speaker 1: the sea had dropped out of sight behind it, and
• 4:47:49
  Speaker 1: people down below were stirring. A tram was just arriving
• 4:47:53
  Speaker 1: at the hill foot. Beyond that was the police station.
• 4:47:58
  Speaker 1: Was that footsteps he heard behind him spurt. The people
• 4:48:02
  Speaker 1: below were staring at him, One or two were running,
• 4:48:05
  Speaker 1: and his breath was beginning to saw in his throat.
• 4:48:09
  Speaker 1: The tram was quite near now, and the Jolly Cricketers
• 4:48:12
  Speaker 1: was noisily barring its doors. Beyond the tram were posts
• 4:48:16
  Speaker 1: and heaps of gravel, the drainage works. He had a
• 4:48:20
  Speaker 1: transitory idea of jumping into the tram and slamming the doors,
• 4:48:24
  Speaker 1: and then he resolved to go for the police station.
• 4:48:27
  Speaker 1: In another moment, he had passed the door of the
• 4:48:29
  Speaker 1: Jolly Cricketers and was in the blistering fag end of
• 4:48:32
  Speaker 1: the street, with human beings about him. The tram driver
• 4:48:36
  Speaker 1: and his helper, arrested by the sight of his furious haste,
• 4:48:40
  Speaker 1: stood staring with the tram horses unhitched. Further on, the
• 4:48:44
  Speaker 1: astonished features of navvies appeared above the mounds of gravel.
• 4:48:48
  Speaker 1: His pace broke a little, and then he heard the
• 4:48:50
  Speaker 1: swift pad of his pursuer, and leaped forward again the
• 4:48:54
  Speaker 1: invisible man. He cried to the navvies with a vague
• 4:48:58
  Speaker 1: indicative gesture, and by an inspiration leapt the excavation and
• 4:49:02
  Speaker 1: placed a burly group between him and the chase. Then,
• 4:49:06
  Speaker 1: abandoning the idea of the police station, he turned into
• 4:49:08
  Speaker 1: a little side street, rushed by a greengrocer's cart, hesitated
• 4:49:12
  Speaker 1: for the tenth of a second at the door of
• 4:49:14
  Speaker 1: a sweet stuff shop, and then made for the mouth
• 4:49:16
  Speaker 1: of an alley that ran back into the main hill
• 4:49:18
  Speaker 1: street again. Two or three little children were playing here
• 4:49:22
  Speaker 1: and shrieked and scattered at his apparition, and forth with
• 4:49:25
  Speaker 1: doors and windows opened, and excited mothers revealed their hearts out.
• 4:49:30
  Speaker 1: He shot into Hill Street again, three hundred yards from
• 4:49:33
  Speaker 1: the tramline end, and immediately he became aware of a
• 4:49:36
  Speaker 1: tumultuous vociferation and running people. He glanced up the street
• 4:49:41
  Speaker 1: towards the hill. Hardly a dozen yards off ran a
• 4:49:44
  Speaker 1: huge navvy, cursing in fragments and slashing viciously with a spade,
• 4:49:48
  Speaker 1: and hard behind him came the tram conductor, with his
• 4:49:51
  Speaker 1: fists clenched up the street. Others followed these two, striking
• 4:49:55
  Speaker 1: and shouting down towards the town. Men and women were running,
• 4:50:00
  Speaker 1: and he noticed clearly one man coming out of a
• 4:50:03
  Speaker 1: shop door with a stick in his hand, spread out,
• 4:50:07
  Speaker 1: spread out, cried some one. Kemp suddenly grasped the altered
• 4:50:11
  Speaker 1: condition of the chase. He stopped and looked round, panting,
• 4:50:17
  Speaker 1: He's close here, he cried, form a line across. He
• 4:50:21
  Speaker 1: was hit hard under the ear and went reeling, trying
• 4:50:24
  Speaker 1: to face round towards his unseen antagonist. He just managed
• 4:50:29
  Speaker 1: to keep his feet and he struck a vain counter
• 4:50:31
  Speaker 1: in the air. Then he was hit again under the
• 4:50:34
  Speaker 1: jaw and sprawled headlong on the ground. In another moment,
• 4:50:38
  Speaker 1: a knee compressed his diaphragm, and a couple of eager
• 4:50:41
  Speaker 1: hands gripped his throat, but the grip of one was
• 4:50:43
  Speaker 1: weaker than the other. He grasped the wrists, heard a
• 4:50:46
  Speaker 1: cry of pain from his assailant, and then the spade
• 4:50:49
  Speaker 1: of the navvy came whirling through the air above him
• 4:50:51
  Speaker 1: and struck something. With a dull thought, he felt a
• 4:50:55
  Speaker 1: drop of moisture on his face. The grip at his
• 4:50:58
  Speaker 1: throat suddenly relaxed, and with a convulsive effort, Kemp loosed himself,
• 4:51:02
  Speaker 1: grasped a limp shoulder and rolled uppermost. He gripped the
• 4:51:07
  Speaker 1: unseen elbows near the ground. I've got him, screamed Kemp.
• 4:51:12
  Speaker 1: Help help hold he's down, hold his feet. In another second,
• 4:51:20
  Speaker 1: there was a simultaneous rush upon the struggle, and a
• 4:51:22
  Speaker 1: stranger coming into the road suddenly might have thought an
• 4:51:25
  Speaker 1: exceptionally savage game of rugby football was in progress, and
• 4:51:29
  Speaker 1: there was no shouting after Kemp's cry, only a sound
• 4:51:32
  Speaker 1: of blows and feet and heavy breathing. Then came a
• 4:51:36
  Speaker 1: mighty effort, and the invisible man threw off a couple
• 4:51:39
  Speaker 1: of his antagonists and rose to his knees. Kemp clung
• 4:51:43
  Speaker 1: to him in front, like a hound to a stag,
• 4:51:45
  Speaker 1: and a dozen hands gripped, clutched and tore at the unseen.
• 4:51:49
  Speaker 1: The tram conductor suddenly got the neck and shoulders and
• 4:51:52
  Speaker 1: lugged him back down. Went the heap of struggling men
• 4:51:56
  Speaker 1: again and rolled over. There was I am afraid, some
• 4:52:00
  Speaker 1: savage kicking. Then suddenly a wild scream of mercy, mercy,
• 4:52:06
  Speaker 1: that died down swiftly to a sound like choking. Get back,
• 4:52:10
  Speaker 1: you fools, cried the muffled voice of Kemp, and there
• 4:52:14
  Speaker 1: was a vigorous shoving back of stalwart forms. He's hurt,
• 4:52:18
  Speaker 1: I tell you stand back. There was a brief struggle
• 4:52:22
  Speaker 1: to clear a space, and then the circle of eager
• 4:52:25
  Speaker 1: faces saw the doctor kneeling, as it seemed fifteen inches
• 4:52:28
  Speaker 1: in the air and holding invisible arms to the ground.
• 4:52:32
  Speaker 1: Behind him, a constable gripped invisible ankles. Don't you leave
• 4:52:36
  Speaker 1: go of en, cried the big navvy, holding a blood
• 4:52:39
  Speaker 1: stained spade. He's shamming. He's not shamming, said the doctor, cautiously,
• 4:52:45
  Speaker 1: raising his knee and I'll hold him. His face was
• 4:52:48
  Speaker 1: bruised and already going red. He spoke thickly because of
• 4:52:51
  Speaker 1: a bleeding lip. He released one hand and seemed to
• 4:52:54
  Speaker 1: be feeling at the face. The mouth's all wet, he said,
• 4:52:59
  Speaker 1: And then, good God. He stood up abruptly, and then
• 4:53:03
  Speaker 1: knelt down on the ground by the side of the
• 4:53:05
  Speaker 1: thing unseen. There was a pushing and shuffling, a sound
• 4:53:09
  Speaker 1: of heavy feet, as fresh people turned up to increase
• 4:53:11
  Speaker 1: the pressure of the crowd. People now were coming out
• 4:53:15
  Speaker 1: of the houses. The doors of the Jolly cricketers stood
• 4:53:19
  Speaker 1: suddenly wide open. Very little was said. Kemp felt about
• 4:53:24
  Speaker 1: his hand, seeming to pass through empty air. He's not breathing,
• 4:53:28
  Speaker 1: he said, And then I can't feel his heart. His
• 4:53:32
  Speaker 1: side ough. Suddenly, an old woman peering under the arm
• 4:53:36
  Speaker 1: of the big navvy screamed, sharply, looky there, she said,
• 4:53:41
  Speaker 1: and thrust out a wrinkled finger, and looking where she pointed,
• 4:53:45
  Speaker 1: every one saw faint and transparent, as though it was
• 4:53:48
  Speaker 1: made of glass, so that veins and arteries and bones
• 4:53:50
  Speaker 1: and nerves could be distinguished. The outline of a hand,
• 4:53:54
  Speaker 1: a hand, limp and prone. It grew clouded and opaque,
• 4:53:57
  Speaker 1: even As they stared, Hollo cried the constable, here's his feet,
• 4:54:03
  Speaker 1: a showing, and so slowly, beginning at his hands and feet,
• 4:54:08
  Speaker 1: and creeping along his limbs to the vital centers of
• 4:54:10
  Speaker 1: his body, that strange change continued. It was like the
• 4:54:14
  Speaker 1: slow spreading of a poison. First came the little white nerves,
• 4:54:18
  Speaker 1: a hazy gray sketch of a limb, Then the glassy
• 4:54:21
  Speaker 1: bones and intricate arteries. Then the flesh and skin, first
• 4:54:25
  Speaker 1: a faint fogginess, and then growing rapidly dense and opaque.
• 4:54:29
  Speaker 1: Presently they could see his crushed chest and his shoulders,
• 4:54:32
  Speaker 1: and the dim outline of his drawn and battered features.
• 4:54:36
  Speaker 1: When at last the crowd made way for Kemp to
• 4:54:38
  Speaker 1: stand erect. There lay, naked and pitiful on the ground,
• 4:54:42
  Speaker 1: the bruised and broken body of a young man about thirty.
• 4:54:46
  Speaker 1: His hair and brow were white, not gray with age,
• 4:54:49
  Speaker 1: but white with the whiteness of albinism, and his eyes
• 4:54:51
  Speaker 1: were like garnets. His hands were clenched, his eyes wide open,
• 4:54:56
  Speaker 1: and his expression was one of anger and dismay. Cover
• 4:55:00
  Speaker 1: his face, said a man, for God's sake, cover that face.
• 4:55:05
  Speaker 1: And three little children, pushing forward through the crowd were
• 4:55:08
  Speaker 1: suddenly twisted round and sent packing off again. Someone brought
• 4:55:12
  Speaker 1: a sheet from the jolly cricketers, and having covered him,
• 4:55:16
  Speaker 1: they carried him into that house. And there it was,
• 4:55:19
  Speaker 1: on a shabby bed, in a tawdry, ill lighted bedroom,
• 4:55:22
  Speaker 1: surrounded by a crowd of ignorant and excited people, broken
• 4:55:26
  Speaker 1: and wounded, betrayed and unpitied, that Griffin, the first of
• 4:55:29
  Speaker 1: all men to make himself invisible. Griffin, the most gifted
• 4:55:34
  Speaker 1: physicist the world has ever seen, ended in infinite disaster
• 4:55:37
  Speaker 1: his strange and terrible career. The epilogue so ends the
• 4:55:41
  Speaker 1: story of the strange and evil experiments of the Invisible Man.
• 4:55:45
  Speaker 1: And if you would learned more of him, you must
• 4:55:47
  Speaker 1: go to a little in near port Stow and talk
• 4:55:49
  Speaker 1: to the landlord. The sign of the inn is an
• 4:55:52
  Speaker 1: empty board save for a hat and boots, and the
• 4:55:55
  Speaker 1: name is the title of this story. The landlord is
• 4:55:58
  Speaker 1: a short and corpulent little man, with a nose of
• 4:56:01
  Speaker 1: cylindrical proportions, wary hair, and the sporadic rosiness of visage.
• 4:56:06
  Speaker 1: Drink generously, and he will tell you generously of all
• 4:56:09
  Speaker 1: the things that happened to him after that time, and
• 4:56:11
  Speaker 1: of how the lawyers tried to do him out of
• 4:56:13
  Speaker 1: the treasure found upon him when they found they couldn't
• 4:56:16
  Speaker 1: prove whose money was, which I'm blessed, he says, if
• 4:56:20
  Speaker 1: they didn't try to make me out of blooming treasure trove,
• 4:56:23
  Speaker 1: do I look like a treasure trove? And then a
• 4:56:26
  Speaker 1: gentleman gave me a guinea knight to tell the story
• 4:56:29
  Speaker 1: at the Empire Music Hall, just to tell M in
• 4:56:32
  Speaker 1: my own words, barring one. And if you want to
• 4:56:34
  Speaker 1: cut off the flow of his reminiscences abruptly, you can
• 4:56:37
  Speaker 1: always do so by asking if there weren't three manuscript
• 4:56:40
  Speaker 1: books in the story. He admits there were in proceeds
• 4:56:44
  Speaker 1: to explain were the severations that everybody thinks he has M,
• 4:56:48
  Speaker 1: but bless you, he hasn't. The invisible man. It was
• 4:56:53
  Speaker 1: took M off to hide M when I cut and
• 4:56:55
  Speaker 1: ran for port Stow. It's that mister Ken put people
• 4:56:59
  Speaker 1: on with the idea of having M. And then he
• 4:57:02
  Speaker 1: subsides into a pensive state, watches you furtively, bustles nervously
• 4:57:06
  Speaker 1: with glasses, and presently leaves the bar. He is a
• 4:57:10
  Speaker 1: bachelor man. His tastes were ever bachelor, and there are
• 4:57:14
  Speaker 1: no women folk in the house. Outwardly he buttons it
• 4:57:18
  Speaker 1: is expected of him. But in his more vital privacies,
• 4:57:21
  Speaker 1: in the matter of braces, for example, he still turns
• 4:57:24
  Speaker 1: to string. He conducts his house without enterprise, but with
• 4:57:28
  Speaker 1: eminent decorum. His movements are slow, and he is a
• 4:57:32
  Speaker 1: great thinker. But he has a reputation for wisdom and
• 4:57:36
  Speaker 1: for a respectable parsimony in the village, and his knowledge
• 4:57:39
  Speaker 1: of the roads of the south of England would beat Cobbett.
• 4:57:42
  Speaker 1: And on Sunday mornings, every Sunday morning all the year round,
• 4:57:46
  Speaker 1: while he is closed to the outer world, and every
• 4:57:49
  Speaker 1: night after ten he goes into his bar parlor bearing
• 4:57:52
  Speaker 1: a glass of gin, faintly tinged with water, and having
• 4:57:55
  Speaker 1: placed this down, he locks the door and examines the blinds,
• 4:57:58
  Speaker 1: and even looks under the table, And then, being satisfied
• 4:58:03
  Speaker 1: of his solitude, he unlocks the cupboard, and a box
• 4:58:05
  Speaker 1: in the cupboard, and a drawer in that box, and
• 4:58:08
  Speaker 1: produces three volumes, bound in brown leather, and places them
• 4:58:11
  Speaker 1: solemnly in the middle of the table. The covers are
• 4:58:14
  Speaker 1: weather worn and tinged with an algal green, for once
• 4:58:17
  Speaker 1: they sojourned in a ditch and some of the pages
• 4:58:19
  Speaker 1: have been washed blank by dirty water. The Landlord sits
• 4:58:23
  Speaker 1: down in an arm chair fills a long clay pipe,
• 4:58:26
  Speaker 1: slowly gloating over the books the while. Then he pulls
• 4:58:30
  Speaker 1: one towards him and opens it and begins to study it,
• 4:58:33
  Speaker 1: turning over the leaves backwards and forwards. His brows are
• 4:58:37
  Speaker 1: knit and his lips move painfully. He's little two up
• 4:58:41
  Speaker 1: in the air, cross and a fiddle the dee lord,
• 4:58:46
  Speaker 1: What a one he was for intellect. Presently he relaxes
• 4:58:50
  Speaker 1: and leans back and blinks through his smoke across the
• 4:58:52
  Speaker 1: room at things invisible to other eyes. Full of secrets,
• 4:58:57
  Speaker 1: he says, wonderful secrets. Once I get the hall of them, Lord,
• 4:59:03
  Speaker 1: I wouldn't do what he did. I just well, He
• 4:59:06
  Speaker 1: pulls at his pipe, so he lapses into a dream,
• 4:59:10
  Speaker 1: the undying, wonderful dream of his life. And though Kemp
• 4:59:14
  Speaker 1: has fished unceasingly, no human being save the Landlord knows
• 4:59:18
  Speaker 1: those books are there, with the subtle secret of invisibility,
• 4:59:21
  Speaker 1: and a dozen other strange secrets written therein, and none
• 4:59:25
  Speaker 1: other will know of them until he dies the end.
• 4:59:29
  Speaker 1: Thanks for listening.