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The Invisible Man Chapters 15-17 · The H. G. Wells Library

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Speaker 1: Alex Foster www dot Alex Foster dot me dot UK.
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Speaker 1: The Invisible Man by H. G. Wells, Chapter fifteen, The
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Speaker 1: Man who was running In the early evening time, Doctor
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Speaker 1: Kemp was sitting in his study in the Belvidere on
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Speaker 1: the hill overlooking Burdock. It was a pleasant little room
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Speaker 1: with three windows north west and south, and book shelves
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Speaker 1: covered with books and scientific publications, and a broad writing table,
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Speaker 1: and underneath the north window a microscope, glass lips, minute instruments,
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Speaker 1: some cultures, and scattered bottles of reagents. Doctor Kemp's solar
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Speaker 1: lamp was lit, albeit the sky was still bright with
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Speaker 1: the sunset light, and his blinds were up because there
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Speaker 1: was no offense of peering outsiders to require them pulled down.
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Speaker 1: Doctor Kemp was a tall and slender young man, with
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Speaker 1: flaxen hair and a mustache almost white, and the work
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Speaker 1: he was upon would earn him. He hoped the fellowship
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Speaker 1: of the Royal Society. So highly did he think of
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Speaker 1: it and his eye, presently wandering from his work, caught
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Speaker 1: the sunset blazing at the back of the hill that
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Speaker 1: is over against his own. For a minute, perhaps he
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Speaker 1: sat pen in mouth, admiring the rich golden color above
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Speaker 1: the crest, And then his attention was attracted by the
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Speaker 1: little figure of a man, inky black, running over the
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Speaker 1: hill brow towards him. He was a shortish little man,
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Speaker 1: and he wore a high hat, and he was running
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Speaker 1: so fast that his legs verily twinkled. Another of those fools,
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Speaker 1: said doctor Kemp, like that ass who ran into me
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Speaker 1: this morning around a corner with visible man a coming, Sir,
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Speaker 1: I can't imagine what possesses people one might think we
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Speaker 1: were in the thirteenth century. He got up, went to
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Speaker 1: the window and stared at the dusky hillside and the
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Speaker 1: dark little figure tearing down it. He seems in a
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Speaker 1: confounded hurry, said doctor Kemp. But he doesn't seem to
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Speaker 1: be getting on. If his pockets were full of lead,
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Speaker 1: he couldn't run. Heavier spurted, sir, said doctor Kemp. In
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Speaker 1: another moment, the higher of the villas that had clambered
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Speaker 1: up the hill from Burdock had occluded the running figure.
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Speaker 1: He was visible again for a moment, and again, and
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Speaker 1: then again three times between the three detached houses that
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Speaker 1: came next, and then the terrace hid him, asses, said
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Speaker 1: doctor Kemp, swinging around on his heel and walking back
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Speaker 1: to his writing table. But those who saw the fugitive
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Speaker 1: nearer and perceived the abject terror on his perspiring face,
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Speaker 1: being themselves in the open roadway, did not share in
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Speaker 1: the doctor's contempt. The man pounded, and as he ran,
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Speaker 1: he chinked like a well filled purse that is tossed
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Speaker 1: to and fro. He looked neither to the right nor
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Speaker 1: the left, but his dilated eyes stared straight down hill,
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Speaker 1: to where the lamps were being lit, and the people
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Speaker 1: were crowded in the street, and his ill shaped mouth
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Speaker 1: fell apart, and a glary foam lay on his lips,
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Speaker 1: and his breath came hoarse and noisy. All he passed
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Speaker 1: stopped and began staring up the road and down and
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Speaker 1: interrogating one another with an inkling of discomfort for the
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Speaker 1: reason of his haste. And then presently far up the hill,
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Speaker 1: a dog playing in the road yelped and ran under
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Speaker 1: a gate, And as they still wandered, something a wind,
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Speaker 1: a pad pad pad, a sound like a panting breathing
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Speaker 1: rushed by. People screamed, people sprang off the pavement. It
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Speaker 1: passed in shouts, It passed by instinct down the hill.
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Speaker 1: They were shouting in the street before Marvel was half
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Speaker 1: way there. They were bolting into houses and slamming the
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Speaker 1: doors behind them. And with the news he heard it
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Speaker 1: and made one last desperate spurt. Fear came striding by,
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Speaker 1: rushed ahead of him, and in a moment had seized
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Speaker 1: the town. The Invisible Man is coming, The Invisible Man,
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Speaker 1: Chapter sixteen in The Jolly Cricketers. The Jolly Cricketers is
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Speaker 1: just at the bottom of the hill where the tram
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Speaker 1: lines begin. The barman leant his fat red arms on
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Speaker 1: the counter and talked of horses with an anemic cabman,
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Speaker 1: while a black bearded man in a gray snapped up
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Speaker 1: biscuits and cheese, drank burton, and conversed in American with
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Speaker 1: a policeman off duty. What's the shouting about, said the
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Speaker 1: anemic cabman, going off at a tangent, trying to see
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Speaker 1: up the hill over the dirty yellow blind in the
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Speaker 1: low window of the inn. Somebody ran by outside fire perhaps,
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Speaker 1: said the barman. Footsteps approached, running heavily. The door was
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Speaker 1: pushed open violently, and Marvel, weeping and disheveled, his hat gone,
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Speaker 1: the neck of his coat torn open, rushed in, made
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Speaker 1: a convulsive turn and attempted to shut the door. It
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Speaker 1: was half held open by a strap. Coming. He bawled,
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Speaker 1: his voice shrieking with terror. He's coming, the visible man
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Speaker 1: after me. For God's sake, help help, help shut the doors,
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Speaker 1: said the policeman, who's coming. What's the row? He went
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Speaker 1: to the door, released the strap, and it slammed. The
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Speaker 1: American closed the other door. Let me go inside, said Marvel,
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Speaker 1: staggering and weeping, but still clutching the books. Let me
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Speaker 1: go inside. Lock me in somewhere. I tell you he's
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Speaker 1: after me. I gave him the slip. He said he'd
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Speaker 1: kill me, and you will. You're safe, said the man
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Speaker 1: with the black beard. The door's shut. What's it all about?
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Speaker 1: Let me go inside, said Marvel, and shrieked aloud as
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Speaker 1: a blow suddenly made the fastened door shiver, and was
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Speaker 1: followed by a hurried rapping and a shouting outside. Hello,
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Speaker 1: cried the policeman, who's there, mister Marvel began to make
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Speaker 1: frantic dives at panels that looked like doors. E'll kill me.
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Speaker 1: He's got a knife or something. For God's sake, here
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Speaker 1: you are, said the barman. Come in here, and he
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Speaker 1: held up the flap of the bar. Mister Marvel rushed
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Speaker 1: behind the bar as the summon's outside was repeated. Don't
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Speaker 1: open the door, he screamed, Please, don't open the door.
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Speaker 1: Where shall I eide this? This invisible man then asked
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Speaker 1: the man with the black beard, with one hand behind him, Oh, yes,
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Speaker 1: it's about time we saw him. The window of the
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Speaker 1: inn was suddenly smashed in, and there was a screaming
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Speaker 1: and running to and fro in the street. The policeman
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Speaker 1: had been standing on the settee staring out, craning to
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Speaker 1: see who was at the door. He got down with
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Speaker 1: raised eyebrows. It's that, he said. The barman stood in
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Speaker 1: front of the bar parlor, which was now locked on.
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Speaker 1: Mister Marvel stared at the smashed window and came round
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Speaker 1: to the other two men. Everything was suddenly I wish
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Speaker 1: I had my truncheon, said the policeman, going irresolutely to
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Speaker 1: the door. Once we open and he comes, there's no
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Speaker 1: stop in him. Don't you be in too much hurry
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Speaker 1: about that door, said the anemic cabman. Actionously, draw the bolts,
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Speaker 1: said the man with the black beard, And if he comes,
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Speaker 1: he showed a revolver in his hand. That won't do,
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Speaker 1: said the policeman. That's murder. I know what country I'm in,
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Speaker 1: said the man with the beard. I'm going to let
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Speaker 1: off at his legs, draw the bolts. Not with that
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Speaker 1: blinking tingering off behind me, said the barman, craning over
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Speaker 1: the blind Very well, said the man with a black beard,
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Speaker 1: and stooping down. Revolver already drew himself. Barman, cabman and
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Speaker 1: policeman faced about. Come in, said the bearded man in
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Speaker 1: an undertone, standing back and facing the unbolted doors with
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Speaker 1: his pistol behind him. No one came in. The door
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Speaker 1: remained closed five minutes afterwards, when a second cabman pushed
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Speaker 1: his head in cautiously. They were still waiting, and an
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Speaker 1: anxious face peered out of the bar parlor and supplied information.
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Speaker 1: Are all the doors of the house shut? Asked Marvel.
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Speaker 1: He's going round, prowling round. He's as artful as the devil,
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Speaker 1: good Lord, said the burly barman. There's the back. Just
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Speaker 1: watch them doors, I say. He looked about him helplessly.
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Speaker 1: The bar parlor door slammed, and they heard the key turn.
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Speaker 1: There's the yard door and the private door. The yard door.
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Speaker 1: He rushed out of the bar. In a minute he
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Speaker 1: reappeared with a carving knife in his hand. The yard
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Speaker 1: door was open, he said, and his fat under lip dropped.
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Speaker 1: He may be in the house now, said the first cabman.
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Speaker 1: He's not in the kitchen, said the barman. There's two
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Speaker 1: women there, and I've stabbed every inch of it with
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Speaker 1: his little beef slicer. And they don't think he's come in.
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Speaker 1: They haven't noticed. Have you fastened it, asked the first cabman.
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Speaker 1: A mote of frocks, said the barman. The man with
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Speaker 1: the beard replaced his revolver, and even as he did so,
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Speaker 1: the flap of the bar was shut down and the
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Speaker 1: bolt clicked, And then with a tremendous thud, the catch
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Speaker 1: of the door snapped, and the bar parlor door pursed open.
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Speaker 1: The heard marvel squeal like a caught leverage, and forthwith
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Speaker 1: they were clambering over the bar to his rescue. The
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Speaker 1: bearded man's revolver cracked, and the looking glass at the
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Speaker 1: back of the parlor starred and came smashing and tinkling down.
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Speaker 1: As the barman entered the room, he saw Marvel curiously
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Speaker 1: crumpled up and struggling against the door that led to
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Speaker 1: the yard and kitchen. The door flew open while the
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Speaker 1: barman hesitated, and Marvel was dragged into the kitchen. There
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Speaker 1: was a scream and a clatter of hands. Marvel, head
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Speaker 1: down and lugging back obstinately, was forced to the kitchen door,
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Speaker 1: and the bolts were drawn. Then the policeman, who had
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Speaker 1: been trying to pass the barman, rushed in, followed by
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Speaker 1: one of the cabin grabbed the wrist of the invisible
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Speaker 1: hand that collared Marvel, was hit in the face and
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Speaker 1: went reeling back. The door opened and Marvel made a
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Speaker 1: frantic effort to obtain a lodgment behind it. Then the
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Speaker 1: cabman collared something. I got him, said the cabman. The
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Speaker 1: barman's red hands came clawing at the unseen here he is,
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Speaker 1: said the barman. Mister Marvel released suddenly dropped to the
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Speaker 1: ground and made an attempt to crawl behind the legs
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Speaker 1: of the fighting men. The struggle blundered around the edge
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Speaker 1: of the door. The voice of the invisible man was
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Speaker 1: heard for the first time, yelling out sharply as the
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Speaker 1: policeman trod on his foot. Then he cried out passionately,
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Speaker 1: and his fists flew round like flails. The cabman suddenly
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Speaker 1: whooped and doubled up, kicked under the diaphragm. The door
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Speaker 1: into the bar parlor from the kitchen slammed and covered
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Speaker 1: mister Marvell's retreat. The men in the kitchen found themselves
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Speaker 1: clutching at and struggling with empty air. Where is he gone,
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Speaker 1: cried the man with a beard. Out this way, said
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Speaker 1: the policeman, stepping into the yard, and stopping. A piece
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Speaker 1: of time whizzed by his head and smashed among the
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Speaker 1: crockery on the kitchen table. I'll show him, shouted the
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Speaker 1: man with a black beard. And suddenly a steel barrel
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Speaker 1: shone over the policeman's shoulder, and five bullets had followed
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Speaker 1: one another into the twilight. Whence the missile had come.
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Speaker 1: As he fired, the man with the beard moved his
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Speaker 1: hand in a horizontal curve, so that his shots radiated
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Speaker 1: out into the narrow yard, like spokes from a wheel.
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Speaker 1: A silence followed. Five cartridges, said the man with a
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Speaker 1: black beard, that's the best of all four aces, and
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Speaker 1: a joker get a lantern. Some one uncome and feel
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Speaker 1: about for his body. Chapter seventeen, Doctor Kemp's visitor. Doctor
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Speaker 1: Kemp had continued writing in his study until the shots
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Speaker 1: aroused him. Crack, crack, crack. They came, one after another. Hallo,
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Speaker 1: said doctor Kemp, putting his pen into his mouth again
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Speaker 1: and listening. Who's letting revolvers off in Burdock? What are
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Speaker 1: the asses at now? He went to the south window,
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Speaker 1: threw it up, and leaning out, stared down on the
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Speaker 1: network of windows, beaded gas lamps, and shops with its
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Speaker 1: black interstices of roof and yard that made up the
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Speaker 1: town at night. Looked like a crowd down the hill,
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Speaker 1: he said, by the cricketers, and remained watching. Thence his
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Speaker 1: eyes wandered over the town to far away, where the
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Speaker 1: ship's lights shone and the pier glowed a little illuminated
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Speaker 1: faceted pavilion like a gem of yellow light. The moon
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Speaker 1: in his first quarter hung over the westward hill, and
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Speaker 1: the stars were clear and almost tropically bright. After five minutes,
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Speaker 1: during which his mind had traveled into a remote speculation
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Speaker 1: of social conditions of the future, and lost itself at
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Speaker 1: last over the time dimension, Doctor Kemp roused himself with
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Speaker 1: a sigh, pulled down the window again, and returned to
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Speaker 1: his writing desk. It must have been about an hour
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Speaker 1: after this that the front door bell rang. He had
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Speaker 1: been writing slightly and with intervals of abstraction since the shots.
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Speaker 1: He sat listening. He heard the servant answer the door,
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Speaker 1: and waited for her feet on the staircase, but she
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Speaker 1: did not come. Wonder what that was, said doctor Kemp.
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Speaker 1: He tried to resume his work, failed, got up, went
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Speaker 1: downstairs from his study to the landing rang, and called
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Speaker 1: over the balustrade to the housemaid as she appeared in
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Speaker 1: the hall below. Was that a letter, he asked, Only
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Speaker 1: a runaway ring, sir, she answered, I'm restless to night,
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Speaker 1: he has said to himself. He went back to his
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Speaker 1: study and this time attacked his work resolutely. In a
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Speaker 1: little while he was hard at work again, and the
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Speaker 1: only sounds in the room were the ticking of the
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Speaker 1: clock and the subdued shrillness of his quill hurrying in
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Speaker 1: the very center of the circle of light his lamp
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Speaker 1: shade threw on his table. It was two o'clock before
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Speaker 1: doctor Kemp had finished his work for the night. He rose, yawned,
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Speaker 1: and went downstairs to bed. He had already removed his
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Speaker 1: coat and vest when he noticed that he was thirsty.
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Speaker 1: He took a candle and went down to the dining
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Speaker 1: room in search of a siphon and whiskey. Doctor Kemp's
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Speaker 1: scientific pursuits have made him a very observant man, and
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Speaker 1: as he recrossed the hall, he noticed a dark spot
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Speaker 1: on the linoleum near the mat at the foot of
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Speaker 1: the stairs. He went on upstairs, and then it suddenly
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Speaker 1: occurred to him to ask himself what the spot on
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Speaker 1: the linonium might be. Apparently some subconscious element was at work.
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Speaker 1: At any rate, he turned with his burden, went back
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Speaker 1: to the hall, put down the siphon and whiskey, and
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Speaker 1: bending down, touched the spot. Without any great surprise, he
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Speaker 1: found it had the stickiness and color of drying blood.
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Speaker 1: He took up his burden again and returned upstairs. Looking
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Speaker 1: about him and trying to account for the blood spot
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Speaker 1: on the landing, he saw something and stopped, Astonished. The
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Speaker 1: door handle of his own room was blood stained. He
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Speaker 1: looked at his own hand it was quite clean. And
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Speaker 1: then he remembered the door of his room had been
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Speaker 1: open when he came down from his study, and that
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Speaker 1: consequently he had not touched the handle at all. He
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Speaker 1: went straight into his room, his face quite calm, perhaps
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Speaker 1: a trifle more resolute than usual. His glance wandering inquisitively
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Speaker 1: fell on the bed. On the counterpane was a mess
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Speaker 1: of blood, and the sheet had been torn. He had
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Speaker 1: not noticed this before because he had walked straight to
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Speaker 1: the dressing table on the further side. The bedclothes were depressed,
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Speaker 1: as if someone had recently been sitting there. Then he
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Speaker 1: had an odd impression that he heard a low voice say, good,
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Speaker 1: Heaven's Kemp. But doctor Kemp was no believer in voices.
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Speaker 1: He stood staring at the tumbled sheets. Was that really
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Speaker 1: a voice? He looked about again, but noticed nothing further
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Speaker 1: than the disordered and bloodstained bed. Then he distinctly heard
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Speaker 1: a movement across the room near the wash handstand. All men, however,
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Speaker 1: highly educated, retained some superstitious inklings. The feeling that is
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Speaker 1: called eerie came upon him. He closed the door of
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Speaker 1: the room, came forward to the dressing table and put
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Speaker 1: down his burdens. Suddenly, with a start, he perceived a
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Speaker 1: coiled and blood stained bandage of linen rag hanging in
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Speaker 1: mid air between him and the washhandstand. He stared at
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Speaker 1: this in amazement. It was an empty bandage, a bandage
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Speaker 1: properly tied, but quite empty. He would have advanced to
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Speaker 1: grasp it, but a touch arrested him, and a voice
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Speaker 1: speaking quite close to him. Kemp said the voice. Eh,
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Speaker 1: said Kemp, with his mouth open. Keep your nerve, said
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Speaker 1: the voice, I am an invisible man. Kemp made no
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Speaker 1: answer for a space, simply stared at the bandage. Invisible man,
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Speaker 1: he said, I am an invisible man, repeated the voice.
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Speaker 1: The story he had been active to ridicule only that
16:58
Speaker 1: morning rushed through Kemp's brain. He does not appear to
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Speaker 1: have been either very much frightened or very greatly surprised
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Speaker 1: at the moment. Realization came later. I thought it was
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Speaker 1: all a lie, he said. The thought uppermost in his
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Speaker 1: mind was the reiterated arguments of the morning. Have you
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Speaker 1: a Bandagejohn, he asked, Yes, said the invisible man. Oh,
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Speaker 1: said Kemp, and then roused himself. I say, he said,
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Speaker 1: but this is nonsense. It's some trick. He stepped forward.
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Speaker 1: Suddenly in his hand extended towards the bandage, met invisible fingers.
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Speaker 1: He recoiled at the touch and his color changed. Keep steady, Kemp,
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Speaker 1: for God's sake, I want help badly. Stop. The hand
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Speaker 1: gripped his arm. He struck at it. Kemp cried the voice, Kemp,
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Speaker 1: keep steady, and the grip tightened. A frantic desire to
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Speaker 1: free himself took possession of Kemp. The hand of the
17:55
Speaker 1: bandaged arm gripped his shoulder, and he was suddenly tripped
17:57
Speaker 1: and flung backwards upon the bed. He opened his mouth
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Speaker 1: to shout, and the corner of the sheet was thrust
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Speaker 1: between his teeth. The invisible man had him down grimly,
18:07
Speaker 1: but his arms were free, and he struck and tried
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Speaker 1: to kick savagely. Listen to reason, will you, said the
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Speaker 1: invisible man, sticking to him, in spite of a pounding
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Speaker 1: in the ribs. By Heaven, you'll madden me in a minute.
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Speaker 1: Lie still, you fool, bawled the invisible man in Kemp's ear.
18:23
Speaker 1: Kemp struggled for another moment, and then lay still. If
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Speaker 1: you shout, I'll smash your face, said the invisible man,
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Speaker 1: relieving his mouth. I'm an invisible man. It's no foolish
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Speaker 1: and no magic. I really am an invisible man, and
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Speaker 1: I want your help. I don't want to hurt you,
18:41
Speaker 1: but if you behave like a frantic rustic I must.
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Speaker 1: Don't you remember me? Kemp Gryffin of University College. Let
18:50
Speaker 1: me get up, said Kemp. I'll stop where I am
18:52
Speaker 1: and let me sit quiet for a minute. He sat
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Speaker 1: up and felt his neck. I am Gryffin of University College,
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Speaker 1: and I have made myself invisible. I am just an
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Speaker 1: ordinary man, a man you have known, made invisible, Gryffin,
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Speaker 1: said Kemp. Gryffin answered the voice, A younger student than
19:12
Speaker 1: you were, almost an albino, six feet high and broad,
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Speaker 1: with a pink and white face and red eyes, who
19:18
Speaker 1: won the medal for chemistry. I am confused, said Kemp.
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Speaker 1: My brain is rioting. What has this to do with Gryffin?
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Speaker 1: I am Griffin? Kemp thought. It's horrible, he said, but
19:33
Speaker 1: what devilry must happen to make a man invisible? It's
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Speaker 1: no devilry, It's a process, sane and intelligible enough. It's horrible,
19:41
Speaker 1: said Kemp. How on earth it's horrible enough. But I
19:46
Speaker 1: am wounded and in pain and tired. Great God, Kemp,
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Speaker 1: you are a man. Take it steady, Give me some
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Speaker 1: food and drink, and let me sit down here. Kemp
19:57
Speaker 1: stared at the bandage as it moved across the room,
20:00
Speaker 1: then saw a basket chair dragged across the floor and
20:02
Speaker 1: come to rest near the bed. It creaked, and the
20:05
Speaker 1: seat was depressed by the quarter of an inch or so.
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Speaker 1: He rubbed his eyes and felt his neck again. This
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Speaker 1: beats ghosts, he said, and laughed stupidly. That's better, Thank Heaven.
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Speaker 1: You're getting sensible or silly, said Kemp, and knuckled his eyes.
20:23
Speaker 1: Give me some whisky. I'm near dead, it didn't feel so.
20:27
Speaker 1: Where are you? If I get up, I run into you? There?
20:30
Speaker 1: All right? Whisky here? Where shall I give it to you?
20:35
Speaker 1: The chair creaked, and Kemp felt the glass drawn away
20:38
Speaker 1: from him. He let go by an effort, his instinct
20:41
Speaker 1: was all against it. It came to rest poised twenty
20:44
Speaker 1: inches above the front edge of the seat of the chair.
20:48
Speaker 1: He stared at it in infinite perplexity. This is this
20:53
Speaker 1: must be hypnotism. You have suggested you are invisible. Nonsense,
20:58
Speaker 1: said the voice. It's fram Listen to me. I demonstrated
21:03
Speaker 1: conclusively this morning, began Kemp that invisibility. Never mind what
21:07
Speaker 1: you've demonstrated. I'm starving, said the voice, and the night
21:10
Speaker 1: is chilly to a man without clothes. Food, said Kemp.
21:15
Speaker 1: The tumbler of whiskey tilted itself, Yes, said the invisible man,
21:18
Speaker 1: wrapping it down. Have you a dressing gown? Kemp made
21:23
Speaker 1: some exclamation in an undertone. He walked to a wardrobe
21:26
Speaker 1: and produced a robe of Dingy's corlet. This do, he asked?
21:30
Speaker 1: It was taken from him. It hung limp for a
21:32
Speaker 1: moment in mid air, fluttered weirdly, stood full and decorously,
21:36
Speaker 1: buttoning itself, and sat down in his chair. Drawers, socks,
21:41
Speaker 1: slippers would be a comfort, said the unseen curtly, and food, anything,
21:46
Speaker 1: but this is the insanest thing I was ever in
21:48
Speaker 1: in my life. He turned out his drawers for the articles,
21:53
Speaker 1: and then went downstairs to ransack his larder. He came
21:55
Speaker 1: back with some cold cutlets and bread, pulled up a
21:58
Speaker 1: light table, and placed them before his guest. Never mind knives,
22:02
Speaker 1: said his visitor, and a cutlet hung in mid air
22:05
Speaker 1: with a sound of gnawing. Invisible, said Kemp, and sat
22:09
Speaker 1: down on a bedroom chair. I always like to get
22:12
Speaker 1: something about me before I eat, said the invisible man,
22:14
Speaker 1: with a full mouth, eating greedily. Queer fancy. I suppose
22:19
Speaker 1: that wrist is all right, said Kemp. Trust me, said
22:22
Speaker 1: the invisible man. I've all the strange and wonderful exactly.
22:27
Speaker 1: But it's odd I should blunder into your house to
22:29
Speaker 1: get my bandaging, my first stroke of luck. Anyhow, I
22:33
Speaker 1: meant to sleep in this house to night. You must
22:35
Speaker 1: stand that it's a filthy nuisance. My blood showing, Isn't
22:37
Speaker 1: it quite a clot? Over there? Gets visible as it coagulates.
22:41
Speaker 1: You see, it's the only living tissue I've changed, and
22:44
Speaker 1: only for as long as I'm alive. I've been in
22:47
Speaker 1: the house three hours. But how's it done? Began Kemp
22:52
Speaker 1: in a tone of exasperation. Confound it the whole business.
22:55
Speaker 1: It's unreasonable, from beginning to end. Quite reasonable, said the
22:59
Speaker 1: invisible man, per perfectly reasonable. He reached over and secured
23:02
Speaker 1: the whiskey bottle. Kemp stared at the devouring dressing gown,
23:06
Speaker 1: a ray of candle light penetrating a torn patch in
23:09
Speaker 1: the right shoulder made a triangle of light under the
23:11
Speaker 1: left ribs. Where are the shots? He asked? How did
23:14
Speaker 1: the shooting begin? There was a real fool of a man,
23:18
Speaker 1: a sort of confederate of mine. Curse him who tried
23:21
Speaker 1: to steal my money has done so? Is he invisible too? No? Well,
23:28
Speaker 1: can't I have some more to eat before I tell
23:29
Speaker 1: you all that I'm hungry in pain, and you want
23:32
Speaker 1: me to tell stories? Kemp got up. You didn't do
23:36
Speaker 1: any shooting, he asked, Not me, said his visitor. Some
23:40
Speaker 1: fool I'd never seen fired at random. A lot of
23:43
Speaker 1: em got scared. They all got scared at me. Curse them.
23:46
Speaker 1: I say, I want more to eat than this, Kemp.
23:49
Speaker 1: I'll see what there is to eat downstairs, said Kemp,
23:52
Speaker 1: not much, I'm afraid. After he had done eating, and
23:55
Speaker 1: he had made a heavy meal, the invisible man demanded
23:58
Speaker 1: a cigar. He bit the end savagely before Kemp could
24:02
Speaker 1: find a knife, and cursed. When the outer leaf loosened,
24:05
Speaker 1: it was strange to see him smoking his mouth and throat.
24:08
Speaker 1: Phananx and narrows became visible as a sort of whirling smoke.
24:11
Speaker 1: Cast this blessed gift of smoking, he said, and puffed vigorously.
24:16
Speaker 1: I am lucky to have fallen upon you, Kemp. You
24:18
Speaker 1: must help me. Fancy tumbling on you just now. I'm
24:21
Speaker 1: in a devilish scrape. I've been mad. I think the
24:24
Speaker 1: things I've been through. But we will do things yet,
24:27
Speaker 1: let me tell you. He helped himself to more whiskey
24:29
Speaker 1: and soda. Kemp got up, looked about him, and fetched
24:32
Speaker 1: a glass from his spare room. It's wild, but I
24:35
Speaker 1: suppose I may drink. You haven't changed much, Kemp, these
24:39
Speaker 1: dozen years. You fair men don't cool and methodical. After
24:43
Speaker 1: the first collapse, I must tell you. We will work together.
24:46
Speaker 1: But how was it all done? Said Kemp? And how
24:49
Speaker 1: did you get like this? For God's sake, let me
24:51
Speaker 1: smoke in peace for a little while, and then I
24:53
Speaker 1: will begin to tell you. But the story was not
24:57
Speaker 1: told that night. The Invisible Man's wrist was growing pain.
25:00
Speaker 1: He was feverish, exhausted, and his mind came round to
25:03
Speaker 1: brood upon his chase down the hill and the struggle
25:05
Speaker 1: about the inn. He spoke in fragments of marvel. He
25:08
Speaker 1: smoked faster, his voice grew angry. Kemp tried to gather
25:12
Speaker 1: what he could. He was afraid of me. I could
25:15
Speaker 1: see that he was afraid of me, said the invisible man.
25:18
Speaker 1: Many times over he meant to give me the slip.
25:21
Speaker 1: He was always casting about. What a fool I was
25:24
Speaker 1: the cur I should have killed him. Where did you
25:27
Speaker 1: get the money? Asked Kemp abruptly. The invisible man was
25:31
Speaker 1: silent for a space. I can't tell you to night,
25:34
Speaker 1: he said. He groaned suddenly and leant forward, supporting his
25:38
Speaker 1: invisible head on invisible hands. Kemp he said, I've had
25:42
Speaker 1: no sleep for near three days, except a couple of
25:44
Speaker 1: dozes an hour. I must sleep soon. Well have my room?
25:48
Speaker 1: Have this room? But how can I sleep? If I sleep,
25:51
Speaker 1: he will get away? Ugh, what does it matter? What's
25:54
Speaker 1: the shot wound? Asked Kemp abruptly. Nothing scratch and blood?
25:59
Speaker 1: Oh God, how I want sleep? Why not? Invisible man
26:04
Speaker 1: appeared to be regarding Kemp. Because I've a particular objection
26:07
Speaker 1: to being caught by my fellow men, he said slowly.
26:11
Speaker 1: Kemp started fool that I am, said the invisible man,
26:15
Speaker 1: striking the table smartly. I've put the idea into your head.
26:22
Speaker 1: End of Chapter seventeen, read in Nottingham, England, on the
26:26
Speaker 1: fifth of April twenty o six by Alex Foster w
26:29
Speaker 1: w W dot Alex Foster dot me dot yu k