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                          Th Invisbl Man 
                            by H.G. Wels 
			      **********
			      Chaptr 1
		      Th Stranje Man's Arival
Th stranjer came erly in Febry one wintry day, thru a biting
wind and a driving sno, th last snofal of th year, over th
down, walkng as it seemd from Bramblehurst railway station and
carrying a litl blak portmanteau in his thikly glovd hand.  He
was rapd up from hed to foot, and th brim of his soft felt hat
hid evry inch of his face but th shiny tip of his nose; th sno
had piled itself against his sholdrs and chest, and add a wite
crest to th burdn he carrid.  He stagrd into th Coach and
Horses, mor ded than alive as it seemd, and flung his portmanteau
down.  "A fire," he cryd, "in th name of human charity!  A room and
a fire!"  He stampd and shook th sno from off himself in th bar,
and folod Mrs. Hal into her gest parlr to strike his bargn.
And with that much introduction, that and a redy aquiesnce to
terms and a cupl of sovrens flung upon th table, he took up his
quartrs in th in.
Mrs. Hal lit th fire and left him ther wile she went to prepare
him a meal with her own hands.  A gest to stop at Iping in th
wintr-time was an unherd-of pece of luk, let alone a gest ho
was no "haggler," and she was resolvd to sho herself worthy of her
good fortune.  As soon as th bacon was wel undr way, and Milli,
her lymphatic aid, had been brisked up a bit by a few deftly chosen
expressions of contemt, she carrid th cloth, plates, and glasses
into th parlr and began to lay them with th utmost clat.
Altho th fire was burnng up briskly, she was surprised to se
that her visitr stil wor his hat and coat, standng with his bak
to her and staring out of th windo at th falng sno in th yard.
His glovd hands wer claspd behind him, and he seemd to be lost in
thot.  She noticed that th meltd sno that stil sprinkld his
sholdrs dripd upon her carpet.  "Can I take yr hat and coat,
sir," she said, "and giv them a good dry in th kichn?"
"No," he said without turnng.
She was not sure she had herd him, and was about to repeat her
question.
He turnd his hed and lookd at her over his sholdr.  "I prefer to
keep them on," he said with emfasis, and she noticed that he wor
big blu spectacls with side-lyts and had a bushy side-wiskr
over his coat-colr that completely hid his face.
"Very wel, sir," she said.  "As u like.  In a bit th room wil be
warmr."
He made no ansr and had turnd his face away from her again; and
Mrs. Hal, feelng that her convrsationl advances wer il- timed,
laid th rest of th table things in a quik stacato and wiskd out
of th room.  Wen she returnd he was stil standng ther like a
man of stone, his bak hunchd, his colr turnd up, his dripng
hat-brim turnd down, hiding his face and ears completely.  She put
down th egs and bacon with considrbl emfasis, and cald rathr
than said to him, "Yr lunch is servd, sir."
"Thank u," he said at th same time, and did not stir until she was
closing th dor.  Then he swung round and aproachd th table.
As she went behind th bar to th kichn she herd a sound repeatd
at regulr intrvls.  Chirk, chirk, chirk, it went, th sound of a
spoon being rapidly wiskd round a basin.  "That girl!"  she said.
"Ther!  I clean forgot it.  It's her being so long!"  And wile she
herself finishd mixng th mustrd, she gave Milli a few verbl
stabs for her exessiv sloness.  She had cookd th ham and egs,
laid th table, and don everything, wile Milli (help indeed!)  had
only succeedd in delayng th mustrd.  And him a new gest and
wantng to stay!  Then she fild th mustrd pot, and, putng it
with a certn stateliness upon a gold and blak te-tray, carrid it
into th parlr.
She rapd and entrd promtly.  As she did so her visitr moved
quikly, so that she got but a glimps of a wite object disapearng
behind th table.  It wud seem he was pikng somthing from th
flor.  She rapd down th mustrd pot on th table, and then she
noticed th overcoat and hat had been taken off and put over a chair
in front of th fire.  A pair of wet boots thretnd rust to her
steel fendr.  She went to these things reslutely.  "I supose I may
hav them to dry now," she said in a voice that brooked no denial.
"Leve th hat," said her visitr in a mufld voice, and turnng she
saw he had rased his hed and was sitng lookng at her.
For a moment she stood gaping at him, too surprised to speak.
He held a wite cloth--it was a serviette he had brot with
him--over th loer/lowr part of his face, so that his mouth and jaws wer
completely hidn, and that was th reasn of his mufld voice.  But
it was not that wich startld Mrs. Hal.  It was th fact that al
his forhed abov his blu glasses was covrd by a wite bandaj,
and that anothr covrd his ears, leving not a scrap of his face
exposed exeptng only his pink, peakd nose.  It was bryt pink,
and shiny just as it had been at first.  He wor a dark-brown velvet
jaket with a hy blak linn lined colr turnd up about his nek.
Th thik blak hair, escaping as it cud belo and between th
cross bandajs, projectd in curius tails and horns, givng him th
stranjest apearnce concevebl.  This mufld and bandajd hed was
so unlike wat she had anticipated, that for a moment she was rijid.
He did not remove th serviette, but remaind holdng it, as she saw
now, with a brown glovd hand, and regardng her with his inscrutabl
blu glasses.  "Leve th hat," he said, speakng very distinctly
thru th wite cloth.
Her nervs began to recovr from th shok they had receved.  She
placed th hat on th chair again by th fire.  "I didnt no, sir,"
she began, "that--" and she stopd embarasd.
"Thank u," he said dryly, glancing from her to th dor and then at
her again.
"I'l hav them nicely dryd, sir, at once," she said, and carrid
his clothes out of th room.  She glanced at his wite-swathed hed
and blu gogls again as she was going out of th dor; but his
napkn was stil in front of his face.  She shivrd a litl as she
closed th dor behind her, and her face was eloquent of her surprise
and perplexity.  "I nevr," she wisprd.  "Ther!"  She went quite
softly to th kichn, and was too preocupyd to ask Milli wat she
was mesng about with now, wen she got ther.
Th visitr sat and lisnd to her retreatng feet.  He glanced
inquiringly at th windo befor he removed his serviette and resumed
his meal.  He took a mouthful, glanced suspiciusly at th windo,
took anothr mouthful, then rose and, taking th serviette in his
hand, walkd across th room and puld th blind down to th top of
th wite musln that obscured th loer/lowr panes.  This left th room
in twilyt.  This don, he returnd with an esir air to th table
and his meal.
"Th poor soul's had an accidnt or an op'ration or somthing," said
Mrs. Hal.  "Wat a turn them bandajs did giv me, to be sure!"
She put on som mor coal, unfoldd th clothes-horse, and extendd
th traveller's coat upon this.  "And they gogls!  Wy, he lookd
mor like a divin' helmet than a human man!"  She hung his muflr on
a cornr of th horse.  "And holdng that hankrchief over his mouth
al th time.  Talkn thru it!...Perhaps his mouth was hurt
too--maybe."
She turnd round, as one ho sudnly remembrs.  "Bless my sol
alive!" she said, going off at a tanjnt; "aint u don them taters
yet, Milli?"
Wen Mrs. Hal went to clear away th stranger's lunch, her idea that
his mouth must also hav been cut or disfigrd in th accidnt she
suposed him to hav sufrd, was confirmd, for he was smoking a
pipe, and al th time that she was in th room he nevr loosnd th
silk muflr he had rapd round th loer/lowr part of his face to put
th mouthpece to his lips.  Yet it was not forgetfulness, for she
saw he glanced at it as it smoldrd out.  He sat in th cornr with
his bak to th windo-blind and spoke now, havng eatn and drunk
and being comfrtbly warmd thru, with less agressiv brevity
than befor.  Th reflection of th fire lent a kind of red anmation
to his big spectacls they had lakd hithrto.
"I hav som lugaj," he said, "at Bramblehurst station," and he
askd her how he cud hav it sent.  He boed/bowd his bandajd hed
quite politely in aknolejmnt of her explnation.  "To-moro!" he
said.  "Ther is no speedir delivry?" and seemd quite disapointd
wen she ansrd "No."  Was she quite sure?  No man with a trap ho
wud go over?
Mrs. Hal, nothing loth, ansrd his questions and developd a
convrsation.  "It's a steep road by th down, sir," she said in
ansr to th question about a trap; and then, snachng at an
openng said, "It was ther a carrij was upsettled, a year ago and
mor.  A jentlman kild, besides his coachman.  Accidnts, sir,
hapn in a moment, dont they?"
But th visitr was not to be drawn so esily.  "They do," he said
thru his muflr, yng her quietly thru his impenetrbl
glasses.
"But they take long enuf to get wel, sir, dont they? ...  Ther
was my sister's son, Tom, jest cut his arm with a sythe, tumbld on
it in th 'ayfield, and, bless me! he was thre months tied up, sir.
U'd hardly beleve it.  It's regulr givn me a dred of a sythe,
sir."
"I can quite undrstand that," said th visitr.
"He was afraid, one time, that he'd hav to hav an op'ration --he
was that bad, sir."
Th visitr lafd abruptly, a bark of a laf that he seemd to
bite and kil in his mouth.  "Was he?" he said.
"He was, sir.  And no lafng matr to them as had th doing for
him, as I had--my sistr being took up with her litl ones so much.
Ther was bandajs to do, sir, and bandajs to undo.  So that if I
may make so bold as to say it, sir--"
"Wil u get me som machs?" said th visitr, quite abruptly.
"My pipe is out."
Mrs. Hal was puld up sudnly.  It was certnly rude of him,
aftr telng him al she had don.  She gaspd at him for a moment,
and remembrd th two sovrens.  She went for th machs.
"Thanks," he said concisely, as she put them down, and turnd his
sholdr upon her and stared out of th windo again.  It was
altogethr too discurajng.  Evidntly he was sensitiv on th topic
of oprations and bandajs.  She did not "make so bold as to say,"
howevr, aftr al.  But his snubbing way had iritated her, and
Milli had a hot time of it that aftrnoon.
Th visitr remaind in th parlr until four oclok, without
givng th gost of an excuse for an intrusion.  For th most part he
was quite stil during that time; it wud seem he sat in th groing
darkns smoking in th firelyt, perhaps dozing.
Once or twice a curius lisnr myt hav herd him at th coals,
and for th space of five minuts he was audbl pacing th room.  He
seemd to be talkng to himself.  Then th armchair creakd as he sat
down again.
			      **********
			      Chaptr 2
		Mr. Teddy Henfrey's First Impressions
At four oclok, wen it was fairly dark and Mrs. Hal was screwng
up her curaj to go in and ask her visitr if he wud take som
te, Teddy Henfrey, th clok-jobber, came into th bar.  "My sakes!
Mrs. Hal," said he, "but this is teribl wethr for thin boots!"
Th sno outside was falng fastr.
Mrs. Hal agreed with him, and then noticed he had his bag and hit
upon a briliant idea.  "Now u'r here, Mr. Teddy," said she, "I'd
be glad if u'd giv th' old clok in th parlr a bit of a look.
'Tis going, and it strikes wel and harty; but th our-hand wont
do nuthin' but point at six."
And leadng/ledng th way, she went across to th parlr dor and rapd
and entrd.
Her visitr, she saw as she opend th dor, was seatd in th
armchair befor th fire, dozing it wud seem, with his bandajd
hed droopng on one side.  Th only lyt in th room was th red
glo from th fire--wich lit his ys like advrse railway signls,
but left his downcast face in darkns--and th scanty vestijs of
th day that came in thru th open dor.  Everything was ruddy,
shadowy, and indistinct to her, th mor so since she had just been
lytng th bar lamp, and her ys wer dazld.  But for a secnd
it seemd to her that th man she lookd at had an enormus mouth
wide open,--a vast and incredbl mouth that swalod th hole of
th loer/lowr portion of his face.  It was th sensation of a moment: th
wite- bound hed, th monstrus gogl ys, and this huje yawn
belo it.  Then he stird, startd up in his chair, put up his hand.
She opend th dor wide, so that th room was lytr, and she saw
him mor clearly, with th muflr held to his face just as she had
seen him hold th serviette befor.  Th shados, she fancid, had
trikd her.
"Wud u mind, sir, this man a-comng to look at th clok, sir?"
she said, recovrng from her momentry shok.
"Look at th clok?" he said, staring round in a drowsy manr and
speakng over his hand, and then getng mor fuly awake,
"certnly."
Mrs. Hal went away to get a lamp, and he rose and strechd himself.
Then came th lyt, and Mr. Teddy Henfrey, entrng, was confrontd
by this bandajd persn.  He was, he says, "taken abak."
"Good-aftrnoon," said th stranjer, regardng him, as Mr.  Henfrey
says with a vivid sense of th dark spectacls, "like a lobstr."
"I hope," said Mr. Henfrey, "that it's no intrusion."
"Non watevr," said th stranjer.  "Tho I undrstand," he said,
turnng to Mrs. Hal, "that this room is realy to be mine for my own
privat use."
"I thot, sir," said Mrs. Hal, "u'd prefer th clok--" She was
going to say "mendd."
"Certnly," said th stranjer, "certnly--but, as a rule, I like to
be alone and undisturbd.
"But I'm realy glad to hav th clok seen to," he said, seing a
certn hesitation in Mr. Henfrey's manr.  "Very glad."  Mr.
Henfrey had intendd to apolojize and withdraw, but this anticipation
reasured him.  Th stranjer stood round with his bak to th
fireplace and put his hands behind his bak.  "And presntly," he
said, "wen th clok-mendng is over, I think I shud like to hav
som te.  But not until th clok-mendng is over."
Mrs. Hal was about to leve th room,--she made no convrsationl
advances this time, because she did not want to be snubd in front
of Mr. Henfrey,--wen her visitr askd her if she had made any
aranjemnts about his boxs at Bramblehurst.  She told him she had
mentiond th matr to th postman, and that th carrir cud bring
them over on th moro.  "U ar certn that is th erliest?" he
said.
She was certn, with a markd coldness.
"I shud explain," he add, "wat I was realy too cold and
fatiged to do befor, that I am an experimentl investigator."
"Indeed, sir," said Mrs. Hal, much impresd.
"And my bagaj contains apratus and aplyances."
"Very useful things indeed they ar, sir," said Mrs. Hal.
"And I'm natrly anxius to get on with my inquiris."
"Of corse, sir."
"My reasn for comng to Iping," he proceedd, with a certn
delibration of manr, "was--a desire for solitude.  I do not wish
to be disturbd in my work.  In adition to my work, an accidnt--"
"I thot as much," said Mrs. Hal to herself.
"--necessitates a certn retiremnt.  My ys--ar somtimes so weak
and painful that I hav to shut myself up in th dark for ours
togethr.  Lok myself up.  Somtimes--now and then.  Not at present/presnt,
certnly.  At such times th slytst disturbnce, th entry of a
stranjer into th room, is a sorce of excruciating anoynce to
me--it is wel these things shud be undrstood."
"Certnly, sir," said Mrs. Hal.  "And if I myt make so bold as to
ask--"
"That, I think, is al," said th stranjer, with that quietly
iresistbl air of finality he cud asume at wil.  Mrs. Hal
reservd her question and sympathy for a betr ocasion.
Aftr Mrs. Hal had left th room, he remaind standng in front of
th fire, glaring, so Mr. Henfrey puts it, at th clok- mendng.
Mr. Henfrey not only took off th hands of th clok, and th face,
but extractd th works; and he tryd to work in as slo and quiet
and unasuming a manr as posbl.  He workd with th lamp close
to him, and th green shade threw a briliant lyt upon his hands,
and upon th frame and weels, and left th rest of th room shadowy.
Wen he lookd up, colord pachs swam in his ys.  Being
constitutionly of a curius natur, he had removed th works--a
quite unecesry proceedng--with th idea of delayng his departur
and perhaps falng into convrsation with th stranjer.  But th
stranjer stood ther, perfectly silent and stil.  So stil, it got
on Henfrey's nervs.  He felt alone in th room and lookd up, and
ther, gray and dim, was th bandajd hed and huje blu lenses
staring fixedly, with a mist of green spots driftng in front of
them.  It was so uncanny-lookng to Henfrey that for a minute/minut they
remaind staring blankly at one anothr.  Then Henfrey lookd down
again.  Very uncomfrtbl position!  One wud like to say
somthing.  Shud he remark that th wethr was very cold for th
time of year?
He lookd up as if to take aim with that introductry shot.  "Th
wethr--" he began.
"Wy dont u finish and go?" said th rijid figr, evidntly in a
state of painfuly supresd raje.  "Al u'v got to do is to fix
th our-hand on its axl.  U'r simply humbugging--"
"Certnly, sir--one minute/minut mor, sir.  I overlookd--" And Mr.
Henfrey finishd and went.
But he went off feelng exessivly anoyd.  "Dam it!" said Mr.
Henfrey to himself, trujng down th vilaj thru th thawng
sno; "a man must do a clok at times, sure-lie."
And again: "Cant a man look at u?--Ugly!"
And yet again: "Seemngly not.  If th police was wantng u u
cudnt be mor wropped and bandajd."
At Gleeson's cornr he saw Hal, ho had recently marrid th
stranger's hostess at th Coach and Horses, and ho now drove th
Iping conveynce, wen ocasionl peple required it, to Sidderbridge
Junction, comng towards him on his return from that place.  Hal had
evidntly been "stopng a bit" at Sidderbridge, to juj by his
driving.  "'Ow do, Teddy?" he said, pasng.
"U got a rum un up home!" said Teddy.
Hal very sociably puld up.  "Wat's that?" he askd.
"Rum-lookng custmr stopng at th Coach and Horses," said Teddy.
"My sakes!"
And he proceedd to giv Hal a vivid description of his grotesq
gest.  "Looks a bit like a disgise, dont it?  I'd like to se a
man's face if I had him stopng in my place," said Henfrey.  "But
women ar that trustful,--wher stranjers ar concernd.  He's took
yr rooms and he aint even givn a name, Hal."
"U dont say so!" said Hal, ho was a man of slugish
aprehension.
"Yes," said Teddy.  "By th week.  Watevr he is, u cant get rid
of him undr th week.  And he's got a lot of lugaj comng
to-moro, so he says.  Let's hope it wont be stones in boxs,
Hal."
He told Hal how his ant at Hastings had been swindld by a stranjer
with emty portmanteaux.  Altogethr he left Hal vagely suspicius.
"Get up, old girl," said Hal.  "I spose I must se 'bout this."
Teddy trujd on his way with his mind considrbly releved.
Insted of "seing 'bout it," howevr, Hal on his return was
severely rated by his wife on th length of time he had spent in
Sidderbridge, and his mild inquiris wer ansrd snappishly and in
a manr not to th point.  But th seed of suspicion Teddy had sown
jermnated in th mind of Mr. Hal in spite of these discouragements.
"U wim' dont no everything," said Mr. Hal, resolvd to
acertain mor about th persnality of his gest at th erliest
posbl oprtunity.  And aftr th stranjer had gon to bed, wich
he did about half-past nine, Mr. Hal went agressivly into th
parlr and lookd very hard at his wife's furnitur, just to sho
that th stranjer wasnt mastr ther, and scrutinized closely and a
litl contemtuusly a sheet of mathmaticl computation th
stranjer had left.  Wen retiring for th nyt he instructd Mrs.
Hal to look very closely at th stranger's lugaj wen it came next
day.
"U mind yr own busness, Hal," said Mrs. Hal, "and I'l mind
mine."
She was al th mor inclined to snap at Hal because th stranjer
was undoutdly an unusuly stranje sort of stranjer, and she was by
no means asured about him in her own mind.  In th midl of th
nyt she woke up dreamng of huje wite heds like turnips, that
came trailng aftr her at th end of intermnbl neks, and with
vast blak ys.  But being a sensbl womn, she subdud her terrs
and turnd over and went to sleep again.
			      **********
			      Chaptr 3
		     Th Thousnd and One Botls
Thus it was that on th ninth day of Febry, at th beginng of
th thaw, this singulr persn fel out of infinity into Iping
Vilaj.  Next day his lugaj arived thru th slush.  And very
remarkbl lugaj it was.  Ther was a cupl of trunks indeed, such
as a rationl man myt need, but in adition ther wer a box of
books,--big, fat books, of wich som wer just in an
incomprehensbl handriting,--and a dozn or mor crates, boxs, and
cases, containng objects pakd in straw, as it seemd to Hal,
tugng with a casul curiosity at th straw--glass botls.  Th
stranjer, mufld in hat, coat, glovs, and rapr, came out
impatiently to meet Fearenside's cart, wile Hal was havng a word
or so of gosip preparatry to helpng bring them in.  Out he came,
not noticing Fearenside's dog, ho was snifng in a diletante
spirit at Hall's legs.  "Com along with those boxs," he said.
"I'v been waitng long enuf."
And he came down th steps towards th tail of th cart as if to lay
hands on th smalr crate.
No soonr had Fearenside's dog caut syt of him, howevr, than it
began to brisl and growl savajly, and wen he rushd down th
steps it gave an undecided hop, and then sprang strait at his hand.
"Whup!" cryd Hal, jumpng bak, for he was no hero with dogs, and
Fearenside howld, "Lie down!" and snachd his wip.
They saw th dog's teeth had slipd th hand, herd a kik, saw th
dog execute a flankng jump and get home on th stranger's leg, and
herd th rip of his trousering.  Then th finer end of Fearenside's
wip reachd his proprty, and th dog, yelpng with dismay,
retreatd undr th weels of th waggon.  It was al th busness of
a half-minute/minut.  No one spoke, evry one shoutd.  Th stranjer
glanced swiftly at his torn glov and at his leg, made as if he wud
stoop to th latr, then turnd and rushd up th steps into th
in.  They herd him go hedlong across th passaj and up th
uncarpetd stairs to his bedroom.
"U brute, u!" said Fearenside, climbng off th waggon with his
wip in his hand, wile th dog wachd him thru th weel.  "Com
here!" said Fearenside--"U'd betr."
Hal had stood gaping.  "He wuz bit," said Hal.  "I'd betr go and
se to en," and he trotd aftr th stranjer.  He met Mrs.  Hal in
th passaj.  "Carrier's darg," he said, "bit en."
He went strait upstairs, and th stranger's dor being ajar, he
pushd it open and was entrng without any ceremny, being of a
natrly sympathetic turn of mind.
Th blind was down and th room dim.  He caut a glimps of a most
singulr thing, wat seemd a handless arm waving towards him, and a
face of thre huje indetermnat spots on wite, very like th face
of a pale pansy.  Then he was struk violently in th chest, hurld
bak, and th dor slamd in his face and lokd, al so rapidly
that he had no time to observ.  A waving of indecyfrbl shapes, a
blo, and a concussion.  Ther he stood on th dark litl landng,
wondrng wat it myt be that he had seen.
Aftr a cupl of minuts he rejoind th litl group that had
formd outside th Coach and Horses.  Ther was Fearenside telng
about it al over again for th secnd time; ther was Mrs. Hal
sayng his dog didnt hav no busness to bite her gests; ther was
Huxter, th jenrl dealr from over th road, interrogative; and
Sandy Wadgers from th forj, judicial; besides women and children,--
al of them sayng fatuities: "Wudnt let en bite me, I nos";
"'Tasn't ryt hav such dargs"; "Whad 'e bite'n for then?" and so
forth.
Mr. Hal, staring at them from th steps and lisnng, found it
incredbl that he had seen anything very remarkbl hapn upstairs.
Besides, his vocablry was altogethr too limitd to express his
impressions.
"He dont want no help, he says," he said in ansr to his wife's
inquiry.  "We'd betr be a-takin' of his lugaj in."
"He ot to hav it cauterised at once," said Mr. Huxter;
"especialy if it's at al inflamed."
"I'd shoot en, that's wat I'd do," said a lady in th group.
Sudnly th dog began growlng again.
"Com along," cryd an angry voice in th dorway, and ther stood
th mufld stranjer with his colr turnd up, and his hat-brim bent
down.  "Th soonr u get those things in th betr I'l be
plesed."  It is stated by an anonmus bystandr that his trousrs
and glovs had been chanjed.
"Was u hurt, sir?" said Fearenside.  "I'm rare sorry th darg--"
"Not a bit," said th stranjer.  "Nevr broke th skin.  Hurry up
with those things."
He then swor to himself, so Mr. Hal aserts.
Directly th first crate was carrid into th parlr, in acordnce
with his directions, th stranjer flung himself upon it with
extrordnry eagrness, and began to unpak it, scatrng th straw
with an utr disregard of Mrs. Hall's carpet.  And from it he began
to produce botls--litl fat botls containng powdrs, smal and
slendr botls containng colord and wite fluids, fluted blu
botls labeld Poisn, botls with round bodis and slendr neks,
larj green-glass botls, larj wite-glass botls, botls with
glass stoppers and frostd labels, botls with fine corks, botls
with bungs, botls with woodn caps, wine botls, salad-oil
botls--putng them in rows/ros on th chiffonier, on th mantl, on
th table undr th windo, round th flor, on th book-shelf--
evrywher.  Th chemist's shop in Bramblehurst cud not boast half
so many.  Quite a syt it was.  Crate aftr crate yieldd botls,
until al six wer emty and th table hy with straw; th only
things that came out of these crates besides th botls wer a
numbr/numr of test-tubes and a carefuly pakd balance.
And directly th crates wer unpakd, th stranjer went to th
windo and set to work, not trublng in th least about th litr
of straw, th fire wich had gon out, th box of books outside, nor
for th trunks and othr lugaj that had gon upstairs.
Wen Mrs. Hal took his dinr in to him, he was alredy so absorbd
in his work, porng litl drops out of th botls into test-tubes,
that he did not hear her until she had swept away th bulk of th
straw and put th tray on th table, with som litl emfasis
perhaps, seing th state that th flor was in.  Then he half turnd
his hed and imediatly turnd it away again.  But she saw he had
removed his glasses; they wer beside him on th table, and it seemd
to her that his y sokets wer extrordnrily holo.  He put on
his spectacls again, and then turnd and faced her.  She was about
to complain of th straw on th flor wen he anticipated her.
"I wish u wudnt com in without nokng," he said in th tone
of abnorml exaspration that seemd so caractristic of him.
"I nokd, but seemngly--"
"Perhaps u did.  But in my investigations--my realy very urjnt
and necesry investigations--th slytst disturbnce, th jar of a
dor--I must ask u--"
"Certnly, sir.  U can turn th lok if u'r like that, u
no--any time."
"A very good idea," said th stranjer.
"This stror, sir, if I myt make so bold as to remark--"
"Dont.  If th straw makes trubl put it down in th bil."  And he
mumbld at her--words suspiciusly like curses.
He was so od, standng ther, so agressiv and explosiv, botl in
one hand and test-tube in th othr, that Mrs. Hal was quite
alarmd.  But she was a reslute womn.  "In wich case, I shud
like to no, sir, wat u considr--"
"A shilng.  Put down a shilng.  Surely a shilling's enuf?"
"So be it," said Mrs. Hal, taking up th tablecloth and beginng to
spred it over th table.  "If u'r satisfyd, of corse--"
He turnd and sat down, with his coat-colr towards her.
Al th aftrnoon he workd with th dor lokd and, as Mrs.  Hal
testifys, for th most part in silence.  But once ther was a
concussion and a sound of botls ringng togethr as tho th
table had been hit, and th smash of a botl flung violently down,
and then a rapid pacing athwart th room.  Fearng "somthing was th
matr," she went to th dor and lisnd, not caring to nok.
"I cant go on," he was raving.  "I cant go on.  Thre hundred
thousnd, four hundred thousnd!  Th huje multitude!  Cheatd!  Al
my life it may take me!  Patience!  Patience indeed!  Fool and liar!"
Ther was a noise of hobnails on th briks in th bar, and Mrs. Hal
very reluctntly had to leve th rest of his soliloquy.  Wen she
returnd th room was silent again, save for th faint crepitation of
his chair and th ocasionl clink of a botl.  It was al over.
Th stranjer had resumed work.
Wen she took in his te she saw broken glass in th cornr of th
room undr th concave mirr, and a goldn stain that had been
carelesly wiped.  She cald atention to it.
"Put it down in th bil," snapd her visitr.  "For God's sake
dont worry me.  If ther's damaj don, put it down in th bil";
and he went on tikng a list in th exrcise book befor him.
"I'l tel u somthing," said Fearenside mysteriusly.  It was late
in th aftrnoon, and they wer in th litl beer-shop of Iping
Hangr.
"Wel?" said Teddy Henfrey.
"This chap u'r speakng of, wat my dog bit.  Wel--he's blak.
Leastways, his legs ar.  I seed thru th tear/ter of his glov.
U'd hav expectd a sort of pinky to sho, wudnt u?
Wel--ther wasnt non.  Just blakness.  I tel u, he's as blak
as my hat."
"My sakes!" said Henfrey.  "It's a rummy case altogethr.  Wy, his
nose is as pink as paint!"
"That's tru," said Fearenside.  "I nos that.  And I tel 'ee wat
I'm thinkng.  That marn's a piebald, Teddy.  Blak here and wite
ther--in pachs.  And he's ashamed of it.  He's a kind of
half-breed, and th colour's com off pachy insted of mixng.  I'v
herd of such things befor.  And it's th comn way with horses, as
anyone can se."
			      **********
			      Chaptr 4
		   Mr. Cuss Intrvews th Stranjer
I hav told th circmstnces of th stranger's arival in Iping with
a certn fulness of detail, in ordr that th curius impression he
created may be undrstood by th readr.  But exeptng two od
incidnts, th circmstnces of his stay until th extrordnry day
of th Club Festivl may be pasd over very cursorily.  Ther wer a
numbr/numr of skirmishs with Mrs. Hal on matrs of domestic
disiplin, but in evry case until late in April, wen th first
syns of penury began, he over-rode her by th esy expedient of an
extra paymnt.  Hal did not like him, and wenevr he dared he
talkd of th advisebility of getng rid of him; but he showd his
dislike chiefly by concealng it ostntatiusly, and avoidng his
visitr as much as posbl.  "Wait til th sumr," said Mrs. Hal,
sajely, "wen th artisks ar beginng to com.  Then we'l se.  He
may be a bit overberng, but bils setld punctul is bils setld
punctul, watevr u like to say."
Th stranjer did not go to church, and indeed made no difrnce
between Sunday and th irelijus days, even in costume.  He workd,
as Mrs. Hal thot, very fitfuly.  Som days he wud com down
erly and be continuusly busy.  On othrs he wud rise late, pace
his room, fretng audbly for ours togethr, smoke, sleep in th
armchair by th fire.  Comunication with th world beyond th
vilaj he had non.  His tempr continud very uncertn; for th
most part his manr was that of a man sufrng undr almost
unendurebl provocation, and once or twice things wer snapd, torn,
crushd, or broken in spasmodic gusts of violence.  He seemd undr a
cronic iritation of th gretst intensity.  His habit of talkng
to himself in a lo voice grew stedily upon him, but tho Mrs.
Hal lisnd concientiusly she cud make neithr hed nor tail of
wat she herd.
He rarely went abrod by daylyt, but at twilyt he wud go out
mufld up enormusly, wethr th wethr wer cold or not, and he
chose th loneliest paths and those most overshadod by tres and
banks.  His goglng spectacls and gastly bandajd face undr th
penthouse of his hat, came with a disagreeabl sudness out of th
darkns upon one or two home-going laborrs; and Teddy Henfrey,
tumblng out of th Scarlet Coat one nyt at half-past nine, was
scared shamefuly by th stranger's skul-like hed (he was walkng
hat in hand) lit by th sudn lyt of th opend dor.  Such
children as saw him at nytfal dremt of bogis, and it seemd
doutful wethr he disliked boys mor than they disliked him, or th
reverse--but ther was certnly a vivid enuf dislike on eithr
side.
It was inevitbl that a persn of so remarkbl an apearnce and
berng shud form a frequent topic in such a vilaj as Iping.
Opinion was gretly divided about his ocupation.  Mrs. Hal was
sensitiv on th point.  Wen questiond, she explaind very
carefuly that he was an "experimentl investigator," going jinjrly
over th sylabls as one ho dreds pitfals.  Wen askd wat an
experimentl investigator was, she wud say with a tuch of
superiority that most educated peple new that, and wud then
explain that he "discovrd things."  Her visitr had had an
accidnt, she said, wich temprily discolord his face and hands;
and being of a sensitiv disposition, he was averse to any public
notice of th fact.
Out of her hearng ther was a vew larjly entrtaind that he was a
crimnl tryng to escape from justice by rapng himself up so as
to conceal himself altogethr from th y of th police.  This idea
sprang from th brain of Mr. Teddy Henfrey.  No crime of any
magnitude dating from th midl or end of Febry was nown to hav
ocurd.  Elabrated in th imajnation of Mr. Gould, th
probationry asistnt in th Nationl Scool, this theory took th
form that th stranjer was an Anrchist in disgise, preparing
explosivs, and he resolvd to undrtake such detectiv oprations as
his time permitd.  These consistd for th most part in lookng
very hard at th stranjer wenevr they met, or in askng peple ho
had nevr seen th stranjer leadng/ledng questions about him.  But he
detectd nothing.
Anothr scool of opinion folod Mr. Fearenside, and eithr
acceptd th piebald vew or som modification of it; as, for
instnce, Silas Durgan, ho was herd to asert that "if he choses to
sho enself at fairs he'd make his fortune in no time," and being a
bit of a theolojan, compared th stranjer to th man with th one
talent.  Yet anothr vew explaind th entire matr by regardng
th stranjer as a harmless lunatic.  That had th advantaj of
acountng for everything strait away.
Between these main groups ther wer waverers and compromisers.
Sussex folk hav few superstitions, and it was only aftr th events
of erly April that th thot of th supernatrl was first
wisprd in th vilaj.  Even then it was only creditd among th
women folks.
But watevr they thot of him, peple in Iping on th hole agreed
in disliking him.  His iritbility, tho it myt hav been
comprehensbl to an urbn brain-workr, was an amazing thing to
these quiet Sussex vilajrs.  Th frantic jesticulations they
surprised now and then, th hedlong pace aftr nytfal that swept
him upon them round quiet cornrs, th inhuman bludgeoning of al th
tentativ advances of curiosity, th taste for twilyt that led to
th closing of dors, th pulng down of blinds, th extinction of
candls and lamps--ho cud agree with such goings on?  They drew
aside as he pasd down th vilaj, and wen he had gon by, yung
humorists wud up with coat-colrs and down with hat-brims, and go
pacing nervusly aftr him in imitation of his ocult berng.  Ther
was a song populr at that time cald th "Bogy Man"; Miss
Statchell sang it at th scoolroom concert (in aid of th church
lamps), and theraftr wenevr one or two of th vilajrs wer
gathrd togethr and th stranjer apeard, a bar or so of this
tune, mor or less sharp or flat, was wisld in th midst of them.
Also belated litl children wud cal "Bogy Man!" aftr him, and
make off tremulusly elated.
Cuss, th jenrl practitionr, was devourd by curiosity.  Th
bandajs exited his professionl intrest, th report of th
thousnd and one botls arousd his jelus regard.  Al thru
April and May he covetd an oprtunity of talkng to th stranjer;
and at last, towards Whitsuntide, he cud stand it no longr, and
hit upon th subscription-list for a vilaj nurse as an excuse.  He
was surprised to find that Mr. Hal did not no his guest's name.
"He giv a name," said Mrs. Hal--an asertion wich was quite
unfoundd-- "but I didnt rytly hear it."  She thot it seemd so
silly not to no th man's name.
Cuss rapd at th parlr dor and entrd.  Ther was a fairly
audbl imprecation from within.  "Pardn my intrusion," said Cuss,
and then th dor closed and cut Mrs. Hal off from th rest of th
convrsation.
She cud hear th murmr of voices for th next ten minuts, then a
cry of surprise, a stirng of feet, a chair flung aside, a bark of
laftr, quik steps to th dor, and Cuss apeard, his face wite,
his ys staring over his sholdr.  He left th dor open behind
him, and without lookng at her strode across th hal and went down
th steps, and she herd his feet hurrying along th road.  He
carrid his hat in his hand.  She stood behind th dor, lookng at
th open dor of th parlr.  Then she herd th stranjer lafng
quietly, and then his footsteps came across th room.  She cud not
se his face wher she stood.  Th parlr dor slamd, and th
place was silent again.
Cuss went strait up th vilaj to Buntng th vicr.  "Am I mad?"
Cuss began abruptly, as he entrd th shabby litl study.  "Do I
look like an insane persn?"
"Wat's hapnd?" said th vicr, putng th amnite on th loose
sheets of his forthcomng sermn.
"That chap at th in--"
"Wel?"
"Giv me somthing to drink," said Cuss, and he sat down.
Wen his nervs had been stedid by a glass of cheap sherry-- th
only drink th good vicr had availbl--he told him of th intrvew
he had just had.  "Went in," he gaspd, "and began to demand a
subscription for that Nurse Fund.  He'd stuk his hands in his
pokets as I came in, and he sat down lumpily in his chair.  Snifd.
I told him I'd herd he took an intrest in sientific things.  He
said yes.  Snifd again.  Kept on snifng al th time; evidntly
recently caut an infernl cold.  No wondr, rapd up like that!
I developd th nurse idea, and al th wile kept my ys open.
Botls--chemicls--evrywher.  Balance, test-tubes in stands, and a
smel of--evenng primrose.  Wud he subscribe?  Said he'd considr
it.  Askd him, point-blank, was he reserchng.  Said he was.  A
long reserch?  Got quite cross.  'A damnbl long reserch,' said
he, bloing th cork out, so to speak.  'Oh,' said I.  And out came
th grevence.  Th man was just on th boil, and my question boild
him over.  He had been givn a prescription, most valubl
prescription-- wat for he wudnt say.  Was it medicl?  'Damn u!
Wat ar u fishng aftr?'  I apolojized.  Dignifyd snif and
cof.  He resumed.  He'd read/red it.  Five ingredients.  Put it down;
turnd his hed.  Draft of air from windo liftd th paper.
Swish, rusl.  He was workng in a room with an open fireplace, he
said.  Saw a flikr, and ther was th prescription burnng and
liftng chimneyward.  Rushd towards it just as it wiskd up
chimny.  So!  Just at that point, to ilustrate his story, out came
his arm."
"Wel?"
"No hand--just an emty sleve.  Lord!  I thot, that's a
deformity!  Got a cork arm, I supose, and has taken it off.  Then, I
thot, ther's somthing od in that.  Wat th devl keeps that
sleve up and open, if ther's nothing in it?  Ther was nothing in
it, I tel u.  Nothing down it, ryt down to th joint.  I cud
se ryt down it to th elbo, and ther was a glimr of lyt
shining thru a tear/ter of th cloth.  'Good God!' I said.  Then he
stopd.  Stared at me with those blak gogls of his, and then at
his sleve."
"Wel?"
"That's al.  He nevr said a word; just glared, and put his sleve
bak in his poket quikly.  'I was sayng,' said he, 'that ther was
th prescription burnng, wasnt I?'  Interrogative cof.  'How th
devl,' said I, 'can u move an emty sleve like that?'  'Empty
sleve?'  'Yes,' said I, 'an emty sleve.'
"'It's an emty sleve, is it?  U saw it was an emty sleve?'  He
stood up ryt away.  I stood up too.  He came towards me in thre
very slo steps, and stood quite close.  Snifd venmusly.  I
didnt flinch, tho I'm hangd if that bandajd nob of his, and
those blinkrs, arnt enuf to unnerve any one, comng quietly up
to u.
"'You said it was an emty sleve?' he said.  'Certainly,' I said.
At staring and sayng nothing a barefaced man, unspectacled, starts
scrach.  Then very quietly he puld his sleve out of his poket
again, and rased his arm towards me as tho he wud sho it to me
again.  He did it very, very sloly.  I lookd at it.  Seemd an aje.
'Well?' said I, clearng my throat, 'there's nothing in it.'  Had to
say somthing.  I was beginng to feel frytnd.  I cud se
ryt down it.  He extendd it strait towards me, sloly, sloly
--just like that--until th cuf was six inchs from my face.  Queer
thing to se an emty sleve com at u like that!  And then--"
"Wel?"
"Somthing--exactly like a fingr and thum it felt--nipd my nose."
Buntng began to laf.
"Ther wasnt anything ther!" said Cuss, his voice runng up into a
shriek at th "ther."  "It's al very wel for u to laf, but I
tel u I was so startld, I hit his cuf hard, and turnd round,
and cut out of th room--I left him--"
Cuss stopd.  Ther was no mistaking th sincerity of his panic.  He
turnd round in a helpless way and took a secnd glass of th
exlnt vicar's very inferir sherry.  "Wen I hit his cuf," said
Cuss, "I tel u, it felt exactly like hitng an arm.  And ther
wasnt an arm!  Ther wasnt th gost of an arm!"
Mr. Buntng thot it over.  He lookd suspiciusly at Cuss.  "It's
a most remarkbl story," he said.  He lookd very wise and grave
indeed.  "It's realy," said Mr. Buntng with judicial emfasis, "a
most remarkbl story."
			      **********
			      Chaptr 5
		     Th Burglry at th Vicraj
Th facts of th burlgary at th vicraj came to us chiefly thru
th medium of th vicr and his wife.  It ocurd in th smal ours
of Wit-Monday--th day devoted in Iping to th Club festivitis.
Mrs. Buntng, it seems, woke up sudnly in th stilness that coms
befor th dawn, with th strong impression that th dor of ther
bedroom had opend and closed.  She did not arouse her husbnd at
first, but sat up in bed lisnng.  She then distinctly herd th
pad, pad, pad of bare feet comng out of th ajoinng dresng-room
and walkng along th passaj towards th staircase.  As soon as she
felt asured of this, she arousd th Rev.  Mr. Buntng as quietly as
posbl.  He did not strike a lyt, but putng on his spectacls,
her dresng-gown, and his bath sliprs, he went out on th landng
to lisn.  He herd quite distinctly a fumblng going on at his
study desk downstairs, and then a violent sneze.
At that he returnd to his bedroom, armd himself with th most
obvius wepn, th poker, and desendd th staircase as noislesly
as posbl.  Mrs. Buntng came out on th landng.
Th our was about four, and th ultmat darkns of th nyt was
past.  Ther was a faint shimr of lyt in th hal, but th study
dorway yawnd impenetrably blak.  Everything was stil exept th
faint creakng of th stairs undr Mr. Bunting's tred, and th
slyt movemnts in th study.  Then somthing snapd, th drawr
was opend, and ther was a rusl of papers.  Then came an
imprecation, and a mach was struk and th study was flodd with
yelo lyt.  Mr. Buntng was now in th hal, and thru th crak
of th dor he cud se th desk and th open drawr and a candl
burnng on th desk.  But th robr he cud not se.  He stood
ther in th hal undecided wat to do, and Mrs. Buntng, her face
wite and intent, crept sloly downstairs aftr him.  One thing kept
up Mr.  Bunting's curaj: th persuasion that this burglr was a
residnt in th vilaj.
They herd th chink of mony, and realized that th robr had found
th houskeepng reserv of gold--two pounds ten in half- sovrens
altogethr.  At that sound Mr. Buntng was nervd to abrupt action.
Gripng th poker firmly, he rushd into th room, closely folod
by Mrs. Buntng.  "Surendr!" cryd Mr. Buntng, fiercely, and then
stopd amazed.  Aparently th room was perfectly emty.
Yet ther conviction that they had, that very moment, herd sombody
moving in th room had amountd to a certnty.  For half a minute/minut,
perhaps, they stood gaping, then Mrs. Buntng went across th room
and lookd behind th screen, wile Mr. Buntng, by a kindred
impulse, peerd undr th desk.  Then Mrs. Buntng turnd bak th
windo-curtns, and Mr. Buntng lookd up th chimny and probed it
with th poker.  Then Mrs. Buntng scrutinized th waste-paper basket
and Mr. Buntng opend th lid of th coal-scutl.  Then they came
to a stop and stood with ys interogating each othr.
"I cud hav sworn--" said Mr. Buntng.
"Th candl!" said Mr. Buntng.  "Ho lit th candl?"
"Th drawr!" said Mrs. Buntng.  "And th money's gon!"
She went hastily to th dorway.
"Of al th extrordnry ocurences--"
Ther was a violent sneze in th passaj.  They rushd out, and as
they did so th kichn dor slamd.  "Bring th candl," said Mr.
Buntng, and led th way.  They both herd a sound of bolts being
hastily shot bak.
As he opend th kichn dor he saw thru th sculry that th
bak dor was just openng, and th faint lyt of erly dawn
displayd th dark masses of th gardn beyond.  He is certn that
nothing went out of th dor.  It opend, stood open for a moment,
and then closed with a slam.  As it did so, th candl Mrs. Buntng
was carrying from th study flikrd and flared.  It was a minute/minut or
mor befor they entrd th kichn.
Th place was emty.  They refastened th bak dor, examnd th
kichn, pantry, and sculry thoroly, and at last went down into
th celr.  Ther was not a sol to be found in th house, serch as
they wud.
Daylyt found th vicr and his wife, a quaintly-costumed litl
cupl, stil marvlng about on ther own ground flor by th
unecesry lyt of a gutrng candl.
			      **********
			      Chaptr 6
		     Th Furnitur That Went Mad
Now it hapnd that in th erly ours of Wit-Monday, befor Milli
was huntd out for th day, Mr. Hal and Mrs. Hal both rose and went
noislesly down into th celr.  Ther busness ther was of a
privat natur, and had somthing to do with th specific gravity of
ther beer.  They had hardly entrd th celr wen Mrs. Hal found
she had forgotn to bring down a botl of sarsaparilla from ther
joint-room.  As she was th expert and principl oprator in this
afair, Hal very proprly went upstairs for it.
On th landng he was surprised to se that th stranger's dor was
ajar.  He went on into his own room and found th botl as he had
been directd.
But returng with th botl, he noticed that th bolts of th front
dor had been shot bak, that th dor was in fact simply on th
lach.  And with a flash of inspration he conectd this with th
stranger's room upstairs and th sujestions of Mr. Teddy Henfrey.
He distinctly remembrd holdng th candl wile Mrs. Hal shot
those bolts overnyt.  At th syt he stopd, gaping, then with
th botl stil in his hand went upstairs again.  He rapd at th
stranger's dor.  Ther was no ansr.  He rapd again; then pushd
th dor wide open and entrd.
It was as he expectd.  Th bed, th room also, was emty.  And wat
was stranjer, even to his hevy intelijnce, on th bedroom chair
and along th rail of th bed wer scatrd th garmnts, th only
garmnts so far as he new, and th bandajs of ther gest.  His big
slouch hat even was cokd jauntily over th bed-post.
As Hal stood ther he herd his wife's voice comng out of th depth
of th celr, with that rapid telescoping of th sylabls and
interrogative cokng up of th final words to a hy note, by wich
th West Sussex vilajr is wont to indicate a brisk impatience.
"Gearge!  U gart wat a wand?"
At that he turnd and hurrid down to her.  "Janny," he said, over
th rail of th celr steps, "'tas th truth wat Henfrey sez.  'E's
not in uz room, 'e ent.  And th front door's unbolted."
At first Mrs. Hal did not undrstand, and as soon as she did she
resolvd to se th emty room for herself.  Hal, stil holdng th
botl, went first.  "If 'e ent ther," he said, "his close ar.  And
wat's 'e doin' without his close, then?  'Tas a most curius
basness."
As they came up th celr steps, they both, it was aftrwrds
acertaind, fancid they herd th front dor open and shut, but
seing it closed and nothing ther, neithr said a word to th othr
about it at th time.  Mrs. Hal pasd her husbnd in th passaj
and ran on first upstairs.  Som one snezed on th staircase.  Hal,
foloing six steps behind, thot that he herd her sneze.  She,
going on first, was undr th impression that Hal was snezing.  She
flung open th dor and stood regardng th room.  "Of al th
curius!" she said.
She herd a snif close behind her hed as it seemd, and, turnng,
was surprised to se Hal a dozn feet off on th top-most stair.
But in anothr moment he was beside her.  She bent forwrd and put
her hand on th pilo and then undr th clothes.
"Cold," she said.  "He's been up this our or mor."
As she did so, a most extrordnry thing hapnd--th bed- clothes
gathrd themselvs togethr, lept up sudnly into a sort of peak,
and then jumpd hedlong over th botm rail.  It was exactly as if
a hand had cluchd them in th centr and flung them aside.
Imediatly aftr, th stranger's hat hopd off th bed-post,
describing a wirlng flyt in th air thru th betr part of a
circl, and then dashd strait at Mrs. Hall's face.  Then as
swiftly came th sponj from th washstand; and then th chair,
flingng th stranger's coat and trousrs carelesly aside, and
lafng dryly in a voice singulrly like th stranger's, turnd
itself up with its four legs at Mrs. Hal, seemd to take aim at her
for a moment, and charjd at her.  She screamd and turnd, and then
th chair legs came jently but firmly against her bak and impeld
her and Hal out of th room.  Th dor slamd violently and was
lokd.  Th chair and bed seemd to be executing a dance of triumf
for a moment, and then abruptly everything was stil.
Mrs. Hal was left almost in a faintng condition in Mr.  Hall's arms
on th landng.  It was with th gretst dificlty that Mr. Hal
and Milli, ho had been rousd by her scream of alarm, succeedd in
getng her downstairs, and aplyng th restoratives custmry in
these cases.
"'Tas sperrits," said Mrs. Hal.  "I no 'tas sperrits.  I'v read/red
in papers of en.  Tables and chairs leapng and dancing--!"
"Take a drop mor, Janny," said Hal.  "'Twill stedy ye."
"Lok him out," said Mrs. Hal.  "Dont let him com in again.  I
half gesd--I myt ha' nown.  With them goglng ys and
bandajd hed, and nevr going to church of a Sunday.  And al they
botls--more'n it's ryt for any one to hav.  He's put th
sperrits into th furnitur.  My good old furnitur!  'Twas in that
very chair my poor dear mothr used to sit wen I was a litl girl.
To think it shud rise up against me now!"
"Just a drop mor, Janny," said Hal.  "Yr nervs is al upset."
They sent Milli across th street thru th goldn five oclok
sunshine to rouse up Mr. Sandy Wadgers, th blaksmith.  Mr.  Hall's
complmnts and th furnitur upstairs was behaving most
extrordnry.  Wud Mr. Wadgers com round?  He was a noing man,
was Mr. Wadgers, and very resorceful.  He took quite a grave vew of
th case.  "Arm darmed ef thet ent wichcraft," was th vew of Mr.
Sandy Wadgers.  "U warnt horsshoes for such jentry as he."
He came round gretly concernd.  They wantd him to lead/led th way
upstairs to th room, but he didnt seem to be in any hurry.  He
preferd to talk in th passaj.  Over th way Huxter's aprentice
came out and began taking down th shutrs of th tobaco windo.
He was cald over to join th discussion.  Mr. Huxter natrly
folod in th corse of a few minuts.  Th Anglo-Saxn jenius for
parlamentry govrnmnt asertd itself; ther was a gret deal of
talk and no decisiv action.  "Let's hav th facts first," insistd
Mr. Sandy Wadgers.  "Let's be sure we'd be actng perfectly ryt in
bustin' that ther dor open.  A dor onbust is always open to
bustin', but ye cant onbust a dor once u'v bustd en."
And sudnly and most wondrfuly th dor of th room upstairs
opend of its own acord, and as they lookd up in amazemnt, they
saw desendng th stairs th mufld figr of th stranjer staring
mor blakly and blankly than evr with those unreasnbly larj blu
glass ys of his.  He came down stifly and sloly, staring al th
time; he walkd across th passaj staring, then stopd.
"Look ther!" he said, and ther ys folod th direction of his
glovd fingr and saw a botl of sarsaparilla hard by th celr
dor.  Then he entrd th parlr, and sudnly, swiftly, viciusly
slamd th dor in ther faces.
Not a word was spoken until th last ecos of th slam had died
away.  They stared at one anothr.  "Wel, if that dont lik
everything!" said Mr. Wadgers, and left th alternativ unsaid.
"I'd go in and ask'n 'bout it," said Wadgers, to Mr. Hal.  "I'd
d'mand an explnation."
It took som time to bring th landlady's husbnd up to that pich.
At last he rapd, opend th dor, and got as far as, "Excuse me--"
"Go to th devl!" said th stranjer in a tremendus voice, and "Shut
that dor aftr u."  So that brief intrvew termnated.
			      **********
			      Chaptr 7
		    Th Unveilng of th Stranjer
Th stranjer went into th litl parlr of th Coach and Horses
about half-past five in th mornng, and ther he remaind until near
miday, th blinds down, th dor shut, and non, aftr Hall's
repulse, venturng near him.
Al that time he must hav fasted.  Thrice he rang his bel, th
third time furiusly and continuusly, but no one ansrd him.  "Him
and his 'go to th devil' indeed!" said Mrs. Hal.  Presntly came an
imperfect rumor of th burglry at th vicraj, and two and two
wer put togethr.  Hal, asistd by Wadgers, went off to find Mr.
Shuckleforth, th majistrate, and take his advice.  No one venturd
upstairs.  How th stranjer ocupyd himself is unown.  Now and
then he wud stride violently up and down, and twice came an
outburst of curses, a terng of paper, and a violent smashng of
botls.
Th litl group of scared but curius peple incresed.  Mrs.
Huxter came over; som gay yung felos resplendnt in blak redy-
made jakets and piqu paper ties, for it was Wit-Monday, joind th
group with confused interogations.  Yung Archi Harker
distinguishd himself by going up th yard and tryng to peep undr
th windo-blinds.  He cud se nothing, but gave reasn for
suposing that he did, and othrs of th Iping yuth presntly joind
him.
It was th finest of al posbl Wit-Mondays, and down th vilaj
street stood a ro of nearly a dozn booths and a shootng galry,
and on th grass by th forj wer thre yelo and choclat waggons
and som picturesq stranjers of both sexs putng up a cocoanut
shy.  Th jentlmen wor blu jersis, th ladis wite aprons and
quite fashnbl hats with hevy plumes.  Wodger of th Purpl Fawn
and Mr. Jaggers th coblr, ho also sold secnd-hand ordnry
bicycls, wer strechng a string of union-jaks and royl ensyns
(wich had orijnly celebrated th Jubilee) across th road...
And inside, in th artificial darkns of th parlr, into wich
only one thin jet of sunlyt penetrated, th stranjer, hungry we
must supose, and fearful, hidn in his uncomfrtbl hot rapngs,
pord thru his dark glasses upon his paper or chinked his dirty
litl botls, and ocasionly swor savajly at th boys, audbl
if invisbl, outside th windos.  In th cornr by th fireplace
lay th fragments/fragmnts of half a dozn smashd botls, and a punjnt tang
of clorine taintd th air.  So much we no from wat was herd at
th time and from wat was subsequently seen in th room.
About noon he sudnly opend his parlr dor and stood glaring
fixedly at th thre or four peple in th bar.  "Mrs. Hal," he
said.  Sombody went sheepishly and cald for Mrs. Hal.
Mrs. Hal apeard aftr an intrvl, a litl short of breth, but
al th fiercer for that.  Hal was stil out.  She had delibrated
over th sene, and she came holdng a litl tray with an unsetld
bil upon it.  "Is it yr bil u'r wantng, sir?" she said.
"Wy wasnt my brekfast laid?  Wy havnt u prepared my meals and
ansrd my bel?  Do u think I live/liv without eatng?"
"Wy isnt my bil paid?" said Mrs. Hal.  "That's wat I want to
no."
"I told u thre days ago I was awaitng a remitnce--"
"I told u two days ago I wasnt going to await no remittances.  U
cant grumbl if yr brekfast waits a bit, if my bill's been
waitng these five days, can u?"
Th stranjer swor briefly but vividly.
"Nar, nar!" from th bar.
"And I'd thank u kindly, sir, if u'd keep yr swerng to
yrself, sir," said Mrs. Hal.
Th stranjer stood lookng mor like an angry diving-helmet than
evr.  It was universly felt in th bar that Mrs. Hal had th
betr of him.  His next words showd as much.
"Look here, my good womn--" he began.
"Dont good womn me," said Mrs. Hal.
"I'v told u my remitnce hasnt com--"
"Remitnce indeed!" said Mrs. Hal.
"Stil, I daresay in my poket--"
"U told me two days ago that u hadnt anything but a sovereign's
worth of silvr upon u--"
"Wel, I'v found som mor--"
"'Ul-lo!" from th bar.
"I wondr wher u found it!" said Mrs. Hal.
That seemd to anoy th stranjer very much.  He stampd his foot.
"Wat do u mean?" he said.
"That I wondr wher u found it," said Mrs. Hal.  "And befor I
take any bils or get any brekfasts, or do any such things
watsoevr, u got to tel me one or two things I dont undrstand,
and wat nobody dont undrstand, and wat evrybody is very anxius
to undrstand.  I want no wat u been doing t' my chair upstairs,
and I want no how 'tis yr room was emty, and how u got in
again.  Them as stops in this house coms in by th dors--that's th
rule of th house, and that u didnt do, and wat I want no is
how u did com in.  And I want no--"
Sudnly th stranjer rased his glovd hands clenchd, stampd his
foot, and said, "Stop!" with such extrordnry violence that he
silenced her instntly.
"U dont undrstand," he said, "ho I am or wat I am.  I'l sho
u.  By Hevn!  I'l sho u."  Then he put his open palm over his
face and withdrew it.  Th centr of his face became a blak cavity.
"Here," he said.  He stepd forwrd and handd Mrs. Hal somthing
wich she, staring at his metamorfosed face, acceptd autmaticly.
Then, wen she saw wat it was, she screamd loudly, dropd it, and
stagrd bak.  Th nose--it was th stranger's nose!  pink and
shining--rold on th flor.
Then he removed his spectacls, and evry one in th bar gaspd.  He
took off his hat, and with a violent jestur tor at his wiskrs and
bandajs.  For a moment they resistd him.  A flash of horibl
anticipation pasd thru th bar.  "O, my Gard!" said som one.
Then off they came.
It was worse than anything.  Mrs. Hal, standng open-mouthd and
horr-struk, shriekd at wat she saw, and made for th dor of th
house.  Evry one began to move.  They wer prepared for scars,
disfigurements, tanjbl horrs, but nothing!  Th bandajs and
false hair flew across th passaj into th bar, making a hobbledehoy
jump to avoid them.  Evry one tumbld on evry one else down th
steps.  For th man ho stood ther shoutng som incoherent
explnation, was a solid jesticulating figr up to th coat-colr
of him, and then--nothingness, no visbl thing at al!
Peple down th vilaj herd shouts and shrieks, and lookng up th
street saw th Coach and Horses violently firing out its humanity.
They saw Mrs. Hal fal down and Mr. Teddy Henfrey jump to avoid
tumblng over her, and then they herd th frytful screams of
Milli, ho, emerjng sudnly from th kichn at th noise of th
tumult, had com upon th hedless stranjer from behind.
Forthwith evry one al down th street, th sweet-stuf selr,
cocoanut shy proprietr and his asistnt, th swing man, litl boys
and girls, rustic dandis, smart wenchs, smocked eldrs and aproned
jipsis, began runng towards th in; and in a miraculusly short
space of time a crowd of perhaps forty peple, and rapidly
incresing, swayd and hootd and inquired and exclaimd and
sujestd, in front of Mrs. Hall's establishmnt.  Evry one seemd
eagr to talk at once, and th result was babel.  A smal group
suportd Mrs. Hal, ho was pikd up in a state of colaps.  Ther
was a confrnce, and th incredbl evidnce of a vocifrus
ywitness.  "O'Bogey!"  "Wat's he been doin', then?"  "Aint hurt
th girl, 'as 'e?"  "Run at en with a nife, I beleve."  "No 'ed, I
tel ye.  I dont mean no manr of speakng, I mean marn 'without a'
ed!"  "Narnsense! 'tas som conjrng trik."  "Fechd off 'is
wrappin's, 'e did--"
In its strugls to se in thru th open dor, th crowd formd
itself into a straglng wej, with th mor adventurus apex
nearst th in.  "He stood for a moment, I heerd th gal scream, and
he turnd.  I saw her skirts wisk, and he went aftr her.  Didnt
take ten seconds/secnds.  Bak he coms with a nife in uz hand and a loaf;
stood just as if he was staring.  Not a moment ago.  Went in that
ther dor.  I tel 'e, 'e aint gart no 'ed 't al.  U just misd
en--"
Ther was a disturbnce behind, and th speakr stopd to step aside
for a litl procession that was marchng very reslutely towards th
house--first Mr. Hal, very red and determnd, then Mr.  Bobby
Jaffers, th vilaj constbl, and then th wary Mr. Wadgers.  They
had com now armd with a warant.
Peple shoutd conflictng infrmation of th recent circmstnces.
"'Ed or no 'ed," said Jaffers, "I got to 'rest en, and 'rest en I
wil."
Mr. Hal marchd up th steps, marchd strait to th dor of th
parlr and flung it open.  "Constbl," he said, "do yr duty."
Jaffers marchd in, Hal next, Wadgers last.  They saw in th dim
lyt th hedless figr facing them, with a nawd crust of bred
in one glovd hand and a chunk of chese in th othr.
"That's him!" said Hal.
"Wat th devil's this?" came in a tone of angry expostulation from
abov th colr of th figr.
"U'r a damd rum custmr, mistr," said Mr. Jaffers.  "But 'ed
or no 'ed, th warant says 'body,' and duty's duty--"
"Keep off!" said th figr, startng bak.
Abruptly he wipd down th bred and chese, and Mr. Hal just
graspd th nife on th table in time to save it.  Off came th
stranger's left glov and was slapd in Jaffers' face.  In anothr
moment Jaffers, cutng short som statemnt concernng a warant,
had gripd him by th handless rist and caut his invisbl
throat.  He got a soundng kik on th shin that made him shout, but
he kept his grip.  Hal sent th nife sliding along th table to
Wadgers, ho actd as goal-keepr for th ofensiv, so to speak, and
then stepd forwrd as Jaffers and th stranjer swayd and stagrd
towards him, cluchng and hitng in.  A chair stood in th way, and
went aside with a crash as they came down togethr.
"Get th feet," said Jaffers between his teeth.
Mr. Hal, endeavoring to act on instructions, receving a soundng
kik in th ribs that disposed of him for a moment, and Mr.  Wadgers,
seing th decapitated stranjer had rold over and got th upr
side of Jaffers, retreatd towards th dor, nife in hand, and so
colided with Mr. Huxter and th Siddermorton cartr comng to th
rescu of law and ordr.  At th same moment down came thre or four
botls from th chiffonier and shot a web of punjncy into th air
of th room.
"I'l surendr," cryd th stranjer, tho he had Jaffers down, and
in anothr moment he stood up pantng, a stranje figr, hedless and
handless--for he had puld off his ryt glov now as wel as his
left.  "It's no good," he said, as if sobng for breth.
It was th stranjest thing in th world to hear that voice comng as
if out of emty space, but th Sussex pesnts ar perhaps th most
matr-of-fact peple undr th sun.  Jaffers got up also and
produced a pair of handcufs.  Then he startd.
"I say!" said Jaffers, brot up short by a dim realization of th
incongruity of th hole busness.  "Darm it!  Cant use 'em as I can
se."
Th stranjer ran his arm down his waistcoat, and as if by a miracl
th butns to wich his emty sleve pointd became undon.  Then he
said somthing about his shin, and stoopd down.  He seemd to be
fumblng with his shoes and soks.
"Wy!" said Huxter, sudnly, "that's not a man at al.  It's just
emty clothes.  Look!  U can se down his colr and th linings of
his clothes.  I cud put my arm--"
He extendd his hand; it seemd to meet somthing in mid-air, and he
drew it bak with a sharp exclmation.  "I wish u'd keep yr
fingrs out of my y," said th aerial voice, in a tone of savaj
expostulation.  "Th fact is, I'm al here: hed, hands, legs, and
al th rest of it, but it hapns I'm invisbl.  It's a confoundd
nusance, but I am.  That's no reasn wy I shud be poked to peces
by evry stupid bumpkin in Iping, is it?"
Th suit of clothes, now al unbutnd and hangng loosly upon its
unseen suports, stood up, arms akimbo.
Sevrl othr of th men folks had now entrd th room, so that it
was closely crowdd.  "Invisbl, eigh?" said Huxter, ignorng th
stranger's abuse.  "Ho evr herd th likes of that?"
"It's stranje, perhaps, but it's not a crime.  Wy am I asaltd by
a policeman in this fashn?"
"Ah! that's a difrnt matr," said Jaffers.  "No dout u ar a
bit dificlt to se in this lyt, but I got a warant, and it's al
corect.  Wat I'm aftr aint no invisbility--it's burglry.
Ther's a house been broken into and mony took."
"Wel?"
"And circmstnces certnly point--"
"Stuf and nonsnse!" said th Invisbl Man.
"I hope so, sir; but I'v got my instructions."
"Wel," said th stranjer, "I'l com.  I'l com.  But no
handcufs."
"It's th regulr thing," said Jaffers.
"No handcufs," stipulated th stranjer.
"Pardn me," said Jaffers.
Abruptly th figr sat down, and befor any one cud realize wat
was being don, th sliprs, soks, and trousrs had been kikd off
undr th table.  Then he sprang up again and flung off his coat.
"Here, stop that," said Jaffers, sudnly realizing wat was
hapnng.  He gripd th waist-coat; it strugld, and th shirt
slipd out of it and left it limp and emty in his hand.  "Hold
him!"  said Jaffers loudly.  "Once he gets they things off--!"
"Hold him!" cryd evry one, and ther was a rush at th flutrng
wite shirt wich was now al that was visbl of th stranjer.
Th shirt-sleve plantd a shrewd blo in Hall's face that stopd
his open-armd advance, and sent him bakwrd into old Toothsome th
sextn, and in anothr moment th garmnt was liftd up and became
convulsd and vacantly flapng about th arms, even as a shirt that
is being thrust over a man's hed.  Jaffers cluchd at it, and only
helpd to pul it off; he was struk in th mouth out of th air, and
incontinently drew his trunchn and smote Teddy Henfrey savajly
upon th crown of his hed.
"Look out!" said evrybody, fencing at randm and hitng at nothing.
"Hold him!  Shut th dor!  Dont let him loose!  I got somthing!
Here he is!"  A perfect babel of noises they made.  Evrybody, it
seemd, was being hit al at once, and Sandy Wadgers, noing as evr
and his wits sharpnd by a frytful blo in th nose, reopend th
dor and led th rout.  Th othrs, foloing incontinently, wer
jamd for a moment in th cornr by th dorway.  Th hitng
continud.  Phipps, th Unitarian, had a front tooth broken, and
Henfrey was injrd in th cartlaj of his ear.  Jaffers was struk
undr th jaw, and, turnng, caut at somthing that intrvened
between him and Huxter in th mle, and preventd ther comng
togethr.  He felt a musculr chest, and in anothr moment th hole
mass of struglng, exited men shot out into th crowdd hal.
"I got him!" shoutd Jaffers, choking and reelng thru them al,
and reslng with purpl face and swelng veins against his unseen
enmy.
Men stagrd ryt and left as th extrordnry conflict swayd
swiftly towards th house dor, and went spinng down th half-dozn
steps of th in.  Jaffers cryd in a strangld voice-- holdng
tyt, nevrthless, and making play with his ne--spun round, and
fel hevily undermost with his hed on th gravl.  Only then did
his fingrs relax.
Ther wer exited crys of "Hold him!"  "Invisbl!"  and so forth,
and a yung felo, a stranjer in th place hos name did not com
to lyt, rushd in at once, caut somthing, misd his hold, and
fel over th constable's prostrate body.  Halfway across th road, a
womn screamd as somthing pushd by her; a dog, kikd aparently,
yelped and ran howlng into Huxter's yard, and with that th transit
of th Invisbl Man was acomplishd.  For a space peple stood
amazed and jesticulating, and then came Panic, and scatrd them
abrod thru th vilaj as a gust scatters ded leavs/leves.
But Jaffers lay quite stil, face upwrd and nes bent.
			      **********
			      Chaptr 8
			      In Transit
Th eith chaptr is exeedngly brief, and relates that Gibbins,
th amatr natrlist of th district, wile lyng out on th
spacius open downs without a sol within a cupl of miles of him,
as he thot, and almost dozing, herd close to him th sound as of
a man cofng, snezing, and then swerng savajly to himself; and
lookng, beheld nothing.  Yet th voice was indisputebl.  It
continud to swer with that bredth and variety that distinguishs
th swerng of a cultivated man.  It grew to a climax, diminishd
again, and died away in th distnce, going as it seemd to him in
th direction of Adderdean.  It liftd to a spasmodic sneze and
endd.  Gibbins had herd nothing of th morning's ocurences, but
th fenomnn was so striking and disturbng that his filosoficl
tranquility vanishd; he got up hastily, and hurrid down th
steepness of th hil towards th vilaj, as fast as he cud go.
			      **********
			      Chaptr 9
			  Mr. Tomas Marvl
U must pictur Mr. Tomas Marvl as a persn of copius, flexbl
visaj, a nose of cylindricl protrusion, a liquorish, ampl,
fluctuating mouth, and a beard of brislng eccentricity.  His figr
inclined to embonpoint; his short lims accentuated this inclnation.
He wor a furry silk hat, and th frequent substitution of twine and
shoe-laces for butns, aparent at criticl points of his costume,
markd a man esentialy bachlr.
Mr. Tomas Marvl was sitng with his feet in a dich by th
roadside over th down toward Adderdean, about a mile and a half out
of Iping.  His feet, save for soks of iregulr openwork, wer bare,
his big toes wer brod, and prikd like th ears of a wachful dog.
In a lesurly manr--he did everything in a lesurly manr--he
was contmplating tryng on a pair of boots.  They wer th soundest
boots he had com across for a long time, but too larj for him;
wheras th ones he had wer, in dry wethr, a very comfrtbl fit,
but too thin-soled for damp.  Mr. Tomas Marvl hated roomy boots,
but then he hated damp.  He had nevr proprly thot out wich he
hated most, and it was a plesnt day, and ther was nothing betr
to do.  So he put th four boots in a graceful group on th turf and
lookd at them.  And seing them ther among th grass and springng
agrimony, it sudnly ocurd to him that both pairs wer
exeedngly ugly to se.  He was not at al startld by a voice
behind him.
"They'r boots, anyhow," said th voice.
"They ar--charity boots," said Mr. Tomas Marvl, with his hed on
one side regardng them distastefully; "and wich is th ugliest pair
in th hole blesd universe, I'm darnd if I no!"
"H'm," said th voice.
"I'v worn worse--in fact, I'v worn non.  But non so owdacious
ugly--if u'l alow th expression.  I'v been cajng boots--in
particulr--for days.  Because I was sik of them.  They'r sound
enuf, of corse.  But a jentlman on tramp ses such a thundrng
lot of his boots.  And if u'l beleve me, I'v rased nothing in
th hole blesd county, try as I wud, but Them.  Look at 'em!
And a good county for boots, too, in a jenrl way.  But it's just my
promiscuus luk.  I'v got my boots in this county ten years or
mor.  And then they treat u like this."
"It's a beast of a county," said th voice.  "And pigs for peple."
"Aint it?" said Mr. Tomas Marvl.  "Lord!  But them boots!  It
beats it."
He turnd his hed over his sholdr to th ryt, to look at th
boots of his intrlocutor with a vew to comparisns, and lo!  wher
th boots of his intrlocutor shud hav been wer neithr legs nor
boots.  He turnd his hed over his sholdr to th left, and ther
also wer neithr legs nor boots.  He was irradiated by th dawn of a
gret amazemnt.  "Wher ar yar?"  said Mr. Tomas Marvl over his
sholdr and comng round on al fours.  He saw a strech of emty
downs with th wind swayng and remote green-pointd furze bushs.
"Am I drunk?" said Mr. Marvl.  "Hav I had visions?  Was I talkng
to myself?  Wat th--"
"Dont be alarmd," said a voice.
"Non of yr ventriloquising me," said Mr. Tomas Marvl, rising
sharply to his feet.  "Wher ar yer?  Alarmd, indeed!"
"Dont be alarmd," repeatd th voice.
"U'l be alarmd in a minute/minut, u silly fool," said Mr.  Tomas
Marvl.  "Wher ar yer?  Lemme get my mark on yer--
"Ar u burid?" said Mr. Tomas Marvl, aftr an intrvl.
Ther was no ansr.  Mr. Tomas Marvl stood bootless and amazed,
his jaket nearly thrown off.
"Peewit," said a peewit, very remote.
"Peewit, indeed!" said Mr. Tomas Marvl.  "This aint no time for
foolry."  Th down was deslat, east and west, north and south; th
road with its shalo dichs and wite bordrng stakes, ran smooth
and emty north and south, and, save for that peewit, th blu sky
was emty too.  "So help me," said Mr. Tomas Marvl, shuflng his
coat on to his sholdrs again.  "It's th drink!  I myt ha'
nown."
"It's not th drink," said th voice.  "U keep yr nervs stedy."
"Ow!" said Mr. Marvl, and his face grew wite amidst its pachs.
"It's th drink," his lips repeatd noislesly.  He remaind staring
about him, rotating sloly bakwrds.  "I cud hav swor I herd a
voice," he wisprd.
"Of corse u did."
"It's ther again," said Mr. Marvl, closing his ys and claspng
his hand on his brow with a trajic jestur.  He was sudnly taken by
th colr and shaken violently and left mor dazed than evr.
"Dont be a fool," said th voice.
"I'm--off--my--bloomng--chump," said Mr. Marvl.  "It's no good.
It's fretng about them blarsted boots.  I'm off my blesd bloomng
chump.  Or it's spirits."
"Neithr one thing nor th othr," said th voice.  "Lisn!"
"Chump," said Mr. Marvl.
"One minute/minut," said th voice penetratingly,--tremulus with
self-control.
"Wel?" said Mr. Tomas Marvl, with a stranje feelng of havng been
dug in th chest by a fingr.
"U think I'm just imajnation?  Just imajnation?"
"Wat else can u be?" said Mr. Tomas Marvl, rubng th bak of
his nek.
"Very wel," said th voice, in a tone of relief.  "Then I'm going to
thro flints at u til u think difrntly."
"But wher ar yer?"
Th voice made no ansr.  Wiz came a flint, aparently out of th
air, and misd Mr. Marvel's sholdr by a hair's bredth.  Mr.
Marvl, turnng, saw a flint jerk up into th air, trace a
complicated path, hang for a moment, and then fling at his feet with
almost invisbl rapidity.  He was too amazed to doj.  Wiz it
came, and ricocheted from a bare toe into th dich.  Mr. Tomas
Marvl jumpd a foot and howld aloud.  Then he startd to run,
tripd over an unseen obstacl, and came hed over heels into a
sitng position.
"Now," said th voice, as a third stone curvd upwrd and hung in th
air abov th tramp.  "Am I imajnation?"
Mr. Marvl by way of reply strugld to his feet, and was imediatly
rold over again.  He lay quiet for a moment.  "If u strugl any
mor," said th voice, "I shal thro th flint at yr hed."
"It's a fair do," said Mr. Tomas Marvl, sitng up, taking his
woundd toe in hand and fixng his y on th third missle.  "I dont
undrstand it.  Stones flingng themselvs.  Stones talkng.  Put
yrself down.  Rot away.  I'm don."
Th third flint fel.
"It's very simpl," said th voice.  "I'm an invisbl man."
"Tel us somthing I dont no," said Mr. Marvl, gaspng with pain.
"Wher u'v hid--how u do it--I dont no, I'm beat."
"That's al," said th voice.  "I'm invisbl.  That's wat I want
u to undrstand."
"Any one cud se that.  Ther is no need for u to be so
confoundd impatient, mistr.  Now then.  Giv us a notion.  How ar
u hid?"
"I'm invisbl.  That's th gret point.  And wat I want u to
undrstand is this--"
"But wherabouts?" intruptd Mr. Marvl.
"Here!  Six yards in front of u."
"O, com!  I aint blind.  U'l be telng me next u'r just
thin air.  I'm not one of yr ignrnt tramps--"
"Yes, I am--thin air.  U'r lookng thru me."
"Wat!  Aint ther any stuf to u?  Vox et--wat is it?-- jabr.
Is it that?
"I am just a human being--solid, needng food and drink, needng
covrng too--But I'm invisbl.  U se?  Invisbl.  Simpl idea.
Invisbl."
"Wat, real like?"
"Yes, real."
"Let's hav a hand of u," said Marvl, "if u ar real.  It wont
be so darn out-of-th-way like, then--Lord!" he said, "how u made
me jump!--gripng me like that!"
He felt th hand that had closed round his rist with his disngajed
fingrs, and his tuch went timorously up th arm, patd a musculr
chest, and explord a beardd face.  Marvel's face was astonishmnt.
"I'm dashd!" he said.  "If this dont beat cok-fytng!  Most
remarkbl!--And ther I can se a rabit clean thru u, 'arf a
mile away!  Not a bit of u visbl--exept--"
He scrutinized th aparently emty space keenly.  "U 'aven't been
eatin' bred and chese?" he askd, holdng th invisbl arm.
"U'r quite ryt, and it's not quite asimlated into th systm."
"Ah!" said Mr. Marvl.  "Sort of gostly, tho."
"Of corse, al this isnt so wondrful as u think."
"It's quite wondrful enuf for my modest wants," said Mr.  Tomas
Marvl.  "Howjer manaj it?  How th dooce is it don?"
"It's too long a story.  And besides--"
"I tel u, th hole busness fair beats me," said Mr.  Marvl.
"Wat I want to say at present/presnt is this: I need help.  I hav com to
that--I came upon u sudnly.  I was wandrng, mad with raje,
naked, impotnt.  I cud hav murdrd.  And I saw u--"
"Lord!" said Mr. Marvl.
"I came up behind u--hesitated--went on--"
Mr. Marvel's expression was eloquent.
"--then stopd.  'Here,' I said, 'is an outcast like myself.  This
is th man for me.'  So I turnd bak and came to u--u.  And--"
"Lord!" said Mr. Marvl.  "But I'm al in a dizzy.  May I ask--How is
it?  And wat u may be requiring in th way of help?-- Invisbl!"
"I want u to help me get clothes--and sheltr--and then, with othr
things.  I'v left them long enuf.  If u wont--wel!  But u
wil--must."
"Look here," said Mr. Marvl.  "I'm too flabrgastd.  Dont nok
me about any mor.  And leve me go.  I must get stedy a bit.  And
u'v pretty near broken my toe.  It's al so unreasnbl.  Emty
downs, emty sky.  Nothing visbl for miles exept th bosm of
Natur.  And then coms a voice.  A voice out of hevn!  And stones!
And a fist--Lord!"
"Pul yrself togethr," said th voice, "for u hav to do th job
I'v chosen for u."
Mr. Marvl blew out his cheeks, and his ys wer round.
"I'v chosen u," said th voice.  "U ar th only man, exept
som of those fools down ther, ho nos ther is such a thing as an
invisbl man.  U hav to be my helpr.  Help me--and I wil do
gret things for u.  An invisbl man is a man of powr."  He
stopd for a moment to sneze violently.
"But if u betray me," he said, "if u fail to do as I direct
u--"
He pausd and tapd Mr. Marvel's sholdr smartly.  Mr.  Marvl gave
a yelp of terr at th tuch.  "I dont want to betray u," said
Mr. Marvl, ejng away from th direction of th fingrs.  "Dont
u go a-thinkng that, watevr u do.  Al I want to do is to help
u--just tel me wat I got to do.  (Lord!)  Watevr u want don,
that I'm most wilng to do."
			      **********
			      Chaptr 10
		     Mr. Marvel's Visit to Iping
Aftr th first gusty panic had spent itself Iping became
argumentativ.  Skepticism sudnly reard its hed--rathr nervus
skepticism, not at al asured of its bak, but skepticism neverthe-
less.  It is so much esir not to beleve in an invisbl man; and
those ho had actuly seen him disolv into air, or felt th
strength of his arm, cud be countd on th fingrs of two hands.
And of these witnesses Mr. Wadgers was presntly misng, havng
retired impregnably behind th bolts and bars of his own house, and
Jaffers was lyng stund in th parlr of th Coach and Horses.
Gret and stranje ideas transendng experience ofn hav less
efect upon men and women than smalr, mor tanjbl considrations.
Iping was gay with buntng, and evrybody was in gala dress.
Wit-Monday had been lookd forwrd to for a month or mor.  By th
aftrnoon even those ho beleved in th Unseen wer beginng to
resume ther litl amusemnts in a tentativ fashn, on th
suposition that he had quite gon away, and with th skeptics he was
alredy a jest.  But peple, skeptics and belevers alike, wer
remarkbly sociabl al that day.
Haysman's medo was gay with a tent, in wich Mrs. Buntng and othr
ladis wer preparing te, wile, without, th Sunday-scool children
ran races and playd games undr th noisy gidance of th curat and
th Misses Cuss and Sackbut.  No dout ther was a slyt unesiness
in th air, but peple for th most part had th sense to conceal
watevr imajnativ qualms they experienced.  On th vilaj green
an inclined string, down wich, clingng th wile to a pully- swung
handl, one cud be hurld violently against a sak at th othr
end, came in for considrbl favor among th adlesnt.  Ther
wer swings and cocoanut shys and promenading, and th steam orgn
atachd to th swings fild th air with a punjnt flavor of oil
and with equaly punjnt music.  Membrs of th Club, ho had
atendd church in th mornng, wer splendid in bajs of pink and
green, and som of th gayer-mindd had also adornd ther bolr
hats with briliant-colord favors of ribn.  Old Fletcher, hos
conceptions of holiday-making wer severe, was visbl thru th
jasmn about his windo or thru th open dor (wichevr way u
chose to look), poisd delicatly on a plank suportd on two chairs,
and whitewashing th celing of his front room.
About four oclok a stranjer entrd th vilaj from th direction
of th downs.  He was a short, stout persn in an extraorindarily
shabby top hat, and he apeard to be very much out of breth.  His
cheeks wer alternatly limp and tytly pufd.  His motld face
was apprenhensive, and he moved with a sort of reluctnt alacrity.
He turnd th cornr by th church, and directd his way to th Coach
and Horses.  Among othrs old Fletcher remembrs seing him, and
indeed th old jentlman was so struk by his peculir ajitation that
he inadvertntly alowd a quantity of witewash to run down th
brush into th sleve of his coat wile regardng him.
This stranjer, to th perceptions of th proprietr of th cocoanut
shy, apeard to be talkng to himself, and Mr. Huxter remarkd th
same thing.  He stopd at th foot of th Coach and Horses steps,
and, acordng to Mr. Huxter, apeard to undrgo a severe internl
strugl befor he cud induce himself to entr th house.  Finaly
he marchd up th steps, and was seen by Mr. Huxter to turn to th
left and open th dor of th parlr.  Mr. Huxter herd voices from
within th room and from th bar apprising th man of his err.
"That room's privat!" said Hal, and th stranjer shut th dor
clumsily and went into th bar.
In th corse of a few minuts he reapeard, wiping his lips with
th bak of his hand with an air of quiet satisfaction that somhow
impresd Mr. Huxter as asumed.  He stood lookng about him for som
moments, and then Mr. Huxter saw him walk in an odly furtiv manr
towards th gates of th yard, upon wich th parlr windo opend.
Th stranjer, aftr som hesitation, lent against one of th
gate-posts, produced a short clay pipe, and prepared to fil it.  His
fingrs trembld wile doing so.  He lit it clumsily, and foldng his
arms began to smoke in a languid atitude, an atitude wich his
ocasionl quik glances up th yard altogethr belied.
Al this Mr. Huxter saw over th canistrs of th tobaco windo, and
th singularity of th man's behavir promtd him to maintain his
obsrvation.
Presntly th stranjer stood up abruptly and put his pipe in his
poket.  Then he vanishd into th yard.  Forthwith Mr. Huxter,
conceving he was witness of som petty larceny, lept round his
countr and ran out into th road to intrcept th thief.  As he did
so, Mr. Marvl reapeard, his hat askew, a big bundl in a blu
table-cloth in one hand, and thre books tied togethr--as it proved
aftrwrds with th Vicar's braces--in th othr.  Directly he saw
Huxter he gave a sort of gasp, and turnng sharply to th left, began
to run.  "Stop thief!" cryd Huxter, and set off aftr him.  Mr.
Huxter's sensations wer vivid but brief.  He saw th man just befor
him and spurtng briskly for th church cornr and th hil road.  He
saw th vilaj flags and festivitis beyond, and a face or so turnd
towards him.  He bawld, "Stop!" again.  He had hardly gon ten
strides befor his shin was caut in som mysterius fashn, and he
was no longr runng, but flyng with inconcevebl rapidity thru
th air.  He saw th ground sudnly close to his face.  Th world
seemd to splash into a milion wirlng speks of lyt, and
subsequent proceedngs intrestd him no mor.
			      **********
			      Chaptr 11
		       In th Coach and Horses
Now in ordr clearly to undrstand wat had hapnd in th in, it
is necesry to go bak to th moment wen Mr. Marvl first came into
vew of Mr. Huxter's windo.  At that precise moment Mr.  Cuss and
Mr. Buntng wer in th parlr.  They wer seriusly investigating
th stranje ocurences of th mornng, and wer, with Mr. Hall's
permission, making a thoro examnation of th Invisbl Man's
belongngs.  Jaffers had partialy recovrd from his fal and had
gon home in th charj of his sympathetic frends.  Th stranger's
scatrd garmnts had been removed by Mrs. Hal and th room tidid
up.  And on th table undr th windo wher th stranjer had been
wont to work, Cuss had hit almost at once on thre big books in
manuscript labeld "Diary."
"Diary!" said Cuss, putng th thre books on th table.  "Now, at
any rate, we shal lern somthing."  Th Vicr stood with his hands
on th table.
"Diary," repeatd Cuss, sitng down, putng two volumes to suport
th third, and openng it.  "H'm--no name on th fly-leaf.
Bothr!--cyfr.  And figrs."
Th Vicr came round to look over his sholdr.
Cuss turnd th pajes over with a face sudnly disapointd.
"I'm--dear me!  It's al cyfr, Buntng."
"Ther ar no diagrams?" askd Mr. Buntng.  "No ilustrations
throing lyt--"
"Se for yrself," said Mr. Cuss.  "Som of it's mathmaticl and
som of it's Russian or som such languaj (to juj by th letrs),
and som of it's Greek.  Now th Greek I thot u--"
"Of corse," said Mr. Buntng, taking out and wiping his spectacls
and feelng sudnly very uncomfrtbl,--for he had no Greek left in
his mind worth talkng about; "yes--th Greek, of corse, may furnish
a clu."
"I'l find u a place."
"I'd rathr glance thru th volumes first," said Mr.  Buntng,
stil wiping.  "A jenrl impression first, Cuss, and then, u no,
we can go lookng for clus."
He cofd, put on his glasses, aranjed them fastidiusly, cofd
again, and wishd somthing wud hapn to avert th seemngly
inevitbl exposur.  Then he took th volume Cuss handd him in a
lesurly manr.  And then somthing did hapn.
Th dor opend sudnly.
Both jentlmen startd violently, lookd around, and wer releved to
se a sporadicly rosy face beneath a furry silk hat.  "Tap?" askd
th face, and stood staring.
"No," said both jentlmen at once.
"Over th othr side, my man," said Mr. Buntng.  And "Plese shut
that dor," said Mr. Cuss iritbly.
"Al ryt," said th intruder, as it seemd, in a lo voice
curiusly difrnt from th huskiness of its first inquiry.  "Ryt
u ar," said th intruder in th formr voice.  "Stand clear!" and
he vanishd and closed th dor.
"A sailr, I shud juj," said Mr. Buntng.  "Amusing felos they
ar.  Stand clear! indeed.  A nauticl term referng to his getng
bak out of th room, I supose."
"I daresay so," said Cuss.  "My nervs ar al loose to-day.  It
quite made me jump--th dor openng like that."
Mr. Buntng smiled as if he had not jumpd.  "And now," he said with
a sy, "these books."
"One minute/minut," said Cuss, and went and lokd th dor.  "Now I think
we ar safe from intruption."
Som one snifd as he did so.
"One thing is indisputebl," said Buntng, drawng up a chair next to
that of Cuss.  "Ther certnly hav been very stranje things hapn
in Iping during th last few days--very stranje.  I canot of corse
beleve in this absurd invisbility story--"
"It's incredbl," said Cuss, "--incredbl.  But th fact remains
that I saw--I certnly saw ryt down his sleve--"
"But did u--ar u sure?  Supose a mirr, for instnce,--
halucinations ar so esily produced.  I dont no if u hav evr
seen a realy good conjrr--"
"I wont argu again," said Cuss.  "We'v thrashd that out, Buntng.
And just now ther's these books--Ah! here's som of wat I take to
be Greek!  Greek letrs certnly."
He pointd to th midl of th paje.  Mr. Buntng flushd slytly
and brot his face nearr, aparently findng som dificlty with
his glasses.  Sudnly he became aware of a stranje feelng at th
nape of his nek.  He tryd to rase his hed, and encountrd an
imovebl resistnce.  Th feelng was a curius pressur, th grip
of a hevy, firm hand, and it bor his chin iresistbly to th
table.  "Dont move, litl men," wisprd a voice, "or I'l brain
u both!"  He lookd into th face of Cuss, close to his own, and
each saw a horifyd reflection of his own sikly astonishmnt.
"I'm sorry to handl u rufly," said th Voice, "but it's
unavoidbl.
"Since wen did u lern to pry into an investigator's privat
memranda?" said th Voice; and two chins struk th table
simltaneusly and two sets of teeth ratld.
"Since wen did u lern to invade th privat rooms of a man in
misfortune?" and th concussion was repeatd.
"Wher hav they put my clothes?
"Lisn," said th Voice.  "Th windos ar fasnd and I'v taken
th ke out of th dor.  I am a fairly strong man, and I hav th
poker handy--besides being invisbl.  Ther's not th slytst
dout that I cud kil u both and get away quite esily if I
wantd to--do u undrstand?  Very wel.  If I let u go wil u
promis not to try any nonsnse and do wat I tel u?"
Th Vicr and th Doctr lookd at one anothr, and th Doctr puld
a face.  "Yes," said Mr. Buntng, and th Doctr repeatd it.  Then
th pressur on th neks relaxd, and th Doctr and th Vicr sat
up, both very red in th face and riglng ther heds.
"Plese keep sitng wher u ar," said th Invisbl Man.  "Here's
th poker, u se.
"Wen I came into this room," continud th Invisbl Man, aftr
presentng th poker to th tip of th nose of each of his visitrs,
"I did not expect to find it ocupyd, and I expectd to find, in
adition to my books of memranda, an outfit of clothing.  Wher is
it?  No,--dont rise.  I can se it's gon.  Now, just at present/presnt,
tho th days ar quite warm enuf for an invisbl man to run
about stark, th evenngs ar chilly.  I want clothing--and othr
acomodation; and I must also hav those thre books."
			      **********
			      Chaptr 12
		  Th Invisbl Man Loses His Tempr
It is unavoidbl that at this point th narativ shud brek off
again, for a certn very painful reasn that wil presntly be
aparent.  Wile these things wer going on in th parlr, and wile
Mr. Huxter was wachng Mr. Marvl smoking his pipe against th gate,
not a dozn yards away wer Mr. Hal and Teddy Henfrey discusng in
a state of cloudy puzlmnt th one Iping topic.
Sudnly ther came a violent thud against th dor of th parlr, a
sharp cry, and then--silence.
"Hul--lo!" said Teddy Henfrey.
"Hul--lo!" from th Tap.
Mr. Hal took things in sloly but surely.  "That aint ryt," he
said, and came round from behind th bar towards th parlr dor.
He and Teddy aproachd th dor togethr, with intent faces.  Ther
ys considrd.  "Sumat rong," said Hal, and Henfrey nodd
agreemnt.  Whiffs of an unplesnt chemicl odor met them, and
ther was a mufld sound of convrsation, very rapid and subdud.
"U al raight thur?" askd Hal, rapng.
Th mutrd convrsation cesed abruptly, for a moment silence, then
th convrsation was resumed in hisng wisprs, then a sharp cry of
"No! no, u dont!"  Ther came a sudn motion and th oversetting
of a chair, a brief strugl.  Silence again.
"Wat th dooce?" exclaimd Henfrey, soto voce.
"U--al--raight--thur?" askd Mr. Hal sharply, again.
Th Vicar's voice ansrd with a curius jerkng intnation: "Quite
ri--ight.  Plese dont--intrupt."
"Od!" said Mr. Henfrey.
"Od!" said Mr. Hal.
"Says, 'Don't intrupt,'" said Henfrey.
"I heerd'n," said Hal.
"And a snif," said Henfrey.
They remaind lisnng.  Th convrsation was rapid and subdud.  "I
cant," said Mr. Buntng, his voice rising; "I tel u, sir, I wil
not."
"Wat was that?" askd Henfrey.
"Says he wi' nart," said Hal.  "Warn't speakin' to us, wuz he?"
"Disgraceful!" said Mr. Buntng, within.
"'Disgraceful,'" said Mr. Henfrey.  "I herd it--distinct.
"Ho's that speakng now?" askd Henfrey.
"Mr. Cuss, I spose," said Hal.  "Can u hear--anything?"
Silence.  Th sounds within indistinct and perplexng.
"Sounds like throing th table-cloth about," said Hal.
Mrs. Hal apeard behind th bar.  Hal made jesturs of silence and
invitation.  This rousd Mrs. Hall's wifely oposition.  "Wat yer
listenin' ther for, Hal?" she askd.  "Aint u nothin' betr to
do--busy day like this?"
Hal tryd to convey everything by grimaces and dum sho, but Mrs.
Hal was obdurat.  She rased her voice.  So Hal and Henfrey,
rathr crestfalen, tip-toed bak to th bar, jesticulating to
explain to her.
At first she refused to se anything in wat they had herd at al.
Then she insistd on Hal keepng silence, wile Henfrey told her his
story.  She was inclined to think th hole busness nonsnse
--perhaps they wer just moving th furnitur about.  "I heerd'n say
'disgraceful'; that I did," said Hal.
"I heerd that, Mis' Hal," said Henfrey.
"Like as not--" began Mrs. Hal.
"Hsh!" said Mr. Teddy Henfrey.  "Didnt I hear th windo?"
"Wat windo?" askd Mrs. Hal.
"Parlr windo," said Henfrey.
Evry one stood lisnng intently.  Mrs. Hall's ys, directd
strait befor her, saw without seing th briliant oblong of th
in dor, th road wite and vivid, and Huxter's shop-front
blistrng in th June sun.  Abruptly Huxter's dor opend and Huxter
apeard, ys staring with exitemnt, arms jesticulating.  "Yap!"
cryd Huxter.  "Stop thief!" and he ran obliqely across th oblong
towards th yard gates, and vanishd.
Simltaneusly came a tumult from th parlr, and a sound of windos
being closed.
Hal, Henfrey, and th human contents of th Tap rushd out at once
pel-mel into th street.  They saw som one wisk round th cornr
towards th down road, and Mr. Huxter executing a complicated leap in
th air that endd on his face and sholdr.  Down th street peple
wer standng astonishd or runng towards them.
Mr. Huxter was stund.  Henfrey stopd to discovr this, but Hal
and th two laborrs from th Tap rushd at once to th cornr,
shoutng incoherent things, and saw Mr. Marvl vanishng by th
cornr of th church wal.  They apear to hav jumpd to th
imposbl conclusion that this was th Invisbl Man sudnly becom
visbl, and set off at once along th lane in pursuit.  But Hal had
hardly run a dozn yards befor he gave a loud shout of astonishmnt
and went flyng hedlong sideways, cluchng one of th laborrs and
bringng him to th ground.  He had been charjd just as one charjs
a man at footbal.  Th secnd laborr came round in a circl,
stared, and conceving that Hal had tumbld over of his own acord,
turnd to resume th pursuit, only to be tripd by th ankl just as
Huxter had been.  Then, as th first laborr strugld to his feet,
he was kikd sideways by a blo that myt hav feld an ox.
As he went down, th rush from th direction of th vilaj green
came round th cornr.  Th first to apear was th proprietr of th
cocoanut shy, a burly man in a blu jersy.  He was astonishd to se
th lane emty save for thre men sprawlng absurdly on th ground.
And then somthing hapnd to his rear-most foot, and he went
hedlong and rold sideways just in time to graze th feet of his
brothr and partnr, foloing hedlong.  Th two wer then kikd,
nelt on, falen over, and cursd by quite a numbr/numr of over- hasty
peple.
Now wen Hal and Henfrey and th laborrs ran out of th house,
Mrs. Hal, ho had been disiplind by years of experience, remaind
in th bar next th til.  And sudnly th parlr dor was opend,
and Mr. Cuss apeard, and without glancing at her rushd at once
down th steps towards th cornr.  "Hold him!" he cryd.  "Dont let
him drop that parcel!  U can se him so long as he holds th
parcel."  He new nothing of th existnce of Marvl.  For th
Invisbl Man had handd over th books and bundl in th yard.  Th
face of Mr. Cuss was angry and reslute, but his costume was
defectiv, a sort of limp wite kilt that cud only hav pasd
mustr in Grece.  "Hold him!" he bawld.  "He's got my trousrs!
And evry stich of th Vicar's clothes!
"'Tend to him in a minute/minut!" he cryd to Henfrey as he pasd th
prostrate Huxter, and comng round th cornr to join th tumult, was
promtly nokd off his feet into an indecorous sprawl.  Sombody in
ful flyt trod hevily on his fingr.  He yeld, strugld to
regain his feet, was nokd against and thrown on al fours again,
and became aware that he was involvd not in a captur, but a rout.
Evry one was runng bak to th vilaj.  He rose again and was hit
severely behind th ear.  He stagrd and set off bak to th Coach
and Horses forthwith, leapng over th desertd Huxter, ho was now
sitng up, on his way.
Behind him as he was halfway up th in steps he herd a sudn yel
of raje, rising sharply out of th confusion of crys, and a soundng
smak in som one's face.  He recognized th voice as that of th
Invisbl Man, and th note was that of a man sudnly infuriated by
a painful blo.
In anothr moment Mr. Cuss was bak in th parlr.  "He's comng
bak, Buntng!" he said, rushng in.  "Save yrself!  He's gon
mad!"
Mr. Buntng was standng in th windo engajed in an atemt to
clothe himself in th harth-rug and a West Surry Gazet.  "Ho's
comng?" he said, so startld that his costume naroly escaped
disintegration.
"Invisbl Man," said Cuss, and rushd to th windo.  "We'd betr
clear out from here!  He's fytng mad!  Mad!"
In anothr moment he was out in th yard.
"Good hevns!" said Mr. Buntng, hesitating between two horibl
alternativs.  He herd a frytful strugl in th passaj of th
in, and his decision was made.  He clambrd out of th windo,
ajustd his costume hastily, and fled up th vilaj as fast as his
fat litl legs wud carry him.
From th moment wen th Invisbl Man screamd with raje and Mr.
Buntng made his memrbl flyt up th vilaj, it became
imposbl to giv a consecutiv acount of afairs in Iping.
Posbly th Invisbl Man's orijnl intention was simply to covr
Marvel's retreat with th clothes and books.  But his tempr, at no
time very good, seems to hav gon completely at som chance blo,
and forthwith he set to smiting and overthrowing, for th mere
satisfaction of hurtng.
U must figr th street ful of runng figrs, of dors slamng
and fyts for hiding-places.  U must figr th tumult sudnly
striking on th unstable equilibrium of old Fletcher's planks and two
chairs,--with cataclysmal results.  U must figr an apald
cupl caut dismly in a swing.  And then th hole tumultuus
rush has pasd and th Iping streets with its gauds and flags is
desertd save for th stil rajing Unseen, and litrd with
cocoanuts, overthrown canvas screens, and th scatrd stok in
trade of a sweetstuff stal.  Evrywher ther is a sound of closing
shutrs and shovng bolts, and th only visbl humanity is an
ocasionl flitng y undr a rased ybrow in th cornr of a
windo pane.
Th Invisbl Man amused himself for a litl wile by brekng al
th windos in th Coach and Horses, and then he thrust a street lamp
thru th parlr windo of Mrs. Gribble.  He it must hav been ho
cut th telegraf wire to Adderdean just beyond Higgins' cotaj on
th Adderdean road.  And aftr that, as his peculir qualitis
alowd, he pasd out of human perceptions altogethr, and he was
neithr herd, seen, nor felt in Iping any mor.  He vanishd
abslutely.
But it was th best part of two ours befor any human being venturd
out again into th deslation of Iping Street.
			      **********
			      Chaptr 13
		 Mr. Marvl Discusses His Resignation
Wen th dusk was gathrng and Iping was just beginng to peep
timorously forth again upon th shatrd rekaj of its Bank
Holiday, a short, thik-set man in a shabby silk hat was marchng
painfuly thru th twilyt behind th beechwoods on th road to
Bramblehurst.  He carrid thre books bound togethr by som sort of
ornmentl elastic ligature, and a bundl rapd in a blu
tablecloth.  His rubicund face expresd constrnation and fatige;
he apeard to be in a spasmodic sort of hurry.  He was acompnid
by a Voice othr than his own, and evr and again he winced undr th
tuch of unseen hands.
"If u giv me th slip again," said th Voice; "if u atemt to
giv me th slip again--"
"Lord!" said Mr. Marvl.  "That shoulder's a mass of bruses as it
is."
"--on my onr," said th Voice, "I wil kil u."
"I didnt try to giv u th slip," said Marvl, in a voice that was
not far remote from tears/ters.  "I swer I didnt.  I didnt no th
blesd turnng, that was al!  How th devl was I to no th
blesd turnng?  As it is, I'v been nokd about--"
"U'l get nokd about a gret deal mor if u dont mind," said
th Voice, and Mr. Marvl abruptly became silent.  He blew out his
cheeks, and his ys wer eloquent of despair.
"It's bad enuf to let these floundrng yokels explode my litl
secret, without yr cutng off with my books.  It's lucky for som
of them they cut and ran wen they did!  Here am I--No one new I was
invisbl!  And now wat am I to do?"
"Wat am I to do?" askd Marvl, soto voce.
"It's al about.  It wil be in th papers!  Evrybody wil be
lookng for me; evryone on ther gard--" Th Voice broke off into
vivid curses and cesed.
Th despair of Mr. Marvel's face deepnd, and his pace slacked.
"Go on!" said th Voice.
Mr. Marvel's face asumed a grayish tint between th ruddier pachs.
"Dont drop those books, stupid," said th Voice, sharply--
overtaking him.
"Th fact is," said th Voice, "I shal hav to make use of u.
U'r a poor tool, but I must."
"I'm a misrbl tool," said Marvl.
"U ar," said th Voice.
"I'm th worst posbl tool u cud hav," said Marvl.
"I'm not strong," he said aftr a discurajng silence.
"I'm not over strong," he repeatd.
"No?"
"And my heart's weak.  That litl busness--I puld it thru, of
corse--but bless u!  I cud hav dropd."
"Wel?"
"I havnt th nerv and strength for th sort of thing u want."
"I'l stimulate u."
"I wish u wudnt.  I wudnt like to mess up yr plans, u
no.  But I myt,--out of sheer funk and misry."
"U'd betr not," said th Voice, with quiet emfasis.
"I wish I was ded," said Marvl.
"It aint justice," he said; "u must admit--It seems to me I'v a
perfect ryt--"
"Get on!" said th Voice.
Mr. Marvl mendd his pace, and for a time they went in silence
again.
"It's devlish hard," said Mr. Marvl.
This was quite inefectul.  He tryd anothr tak.
"Wat do I make by it?" he began again in a tone of unendurebl
rong.
"O! shut up!" said th Voice, with sudn amazing vigr.  "I'l se
to u al ryt.  U do wat u'r told.  U'l do it al ryt.
U'r a fool and al that, but u'l do--"
"I tel u, sir, I'm not th man for it.  Respectfuly--but it is
so--"
"If u dont shut up I shal twist yr rist again," said th
Invisbl Man.  "I want to think."
Presntly two oblongs of yelo lyt apeard thru th tres, and
th square towr of a church loomd thru th gloamng.  "I shal
keep my hand on yr sholdr," said th Voice, "al thru th
vilaj.  Go strait thru and try no foolry.  It wil be th
worse for u if u do."
"I no that," syd Mr. Marvl, "I no al that."
Th unhappy-lookng figr in th obslete silk hat pasd up th
street of th litl vilaj with his burdns, and vanishd into th
gathrng darkns beyond th lyts of th windos.
			      **********
			      Chaptr 14
			    At Port Sto
Ten oclok th next mornng found Mr. Marvl, unshaven, dirty, and
travl-staind, sitng with th books beside him and his hands deep
in his pokets, lookng very weary, nervus, and uncomfrtbl, and
inflating his cheeks at frequent intrvls, on th bench outside a
litl in on th outskirts of Port Sto.  Beside him wer th
books, but now they wer tied with string.  Th bundl had been
abandnd in th pinewoods beyond Bramblehurst, in acordnce with a
chanje in th plans of th Invisbl Man.  Mr. Marvl sat on th
bench, and altho no one took th slytst notice of him, his
ajitation remaind at fever heat.  His hands wud go evr and again
to his varius pokets with a curius nervus fumblng.
Wen he had been sitng for th best part of an our, howevr, an
eldrly marinr, carrying a newspaper, came out of th in and sat
down beside him.  "Plesnt day," said th marinr.
Mr. Marvl glanced about him with somthing very like terr.
"Very," he said.
"Just seasonable wethr for th time of year," said th marinr,
taking no denial.
"Quite," said Mr. Marvl.
Th marinr produced a toothpik, and (saving his regard) was
engrosd therby for som minuts.  His ys meanwile wer at
librty to examn Mr. Marvel's dusty figr and th books beside
him.  As he had aproachd Mr. Marvl he had herd a sound like th
dropng of coins into a poket.  He was struk by th contrast of
Mr. Marvel's apearnce with this sujestion of opulence.  Thence his
mind wandrd bak again to a topic that had taken a curiusly firm
hold of his imajnation.
"Books?" he said sudnly, noisily finishng with th toothpik.
Mr. Marvl startd and lookd at them.  "O, yes," he said.  "Yes,
they'r books."
"Ther's som extra-ordnry things in books," said th marinr.
"I beleve u," said Mr. Marvl.
"And som extra-ordnry things out of 'em," said th marinr.
"Tru likewise," said Mr. Marvl.  He yd his intrlocutor, and then
glanced about him.
"Ther's som extra-ordnry things in newspapers, for exampl," said
th marinr.
"Ther ar."
"In this newspaper," said th marinr.
"Ah!" said Mr. Marvl.
"Ther's a story," said th marinr, fixng Mr. Marvl with an y
that was firm and delibrate/delibrat; "ther's a story about an Invisbl
Man, for instnce."
Mr. Marvl puld his mouth askew and scrachd his cheek and felt
his ears gloing.  "Wat wil they be riting next?" he askd
faintly.  "Ostria, or America?"
"Neithr," said th marinr.  "Here!"
"Lord!" said Mr. Marvl, startng.
"Wen I say here," said th marinr, to Mr. Marvel's intense relief,
"I dont of corse mean here in this place, I mean hereabouts."
"An Invisbl Man!" said Mr. Marvl.  "And wat's he been up to?"
"Everything," said th marinr, controlng Marvl with his y, and
then amplifyng: "Evry Blesd Thing."
"I aint seen a paper these four days," said Marvl.
"Iping's th place he startd at," said th marinr.
"In-deed!" said Mr. Marvl.
"He startd ther.  And wher he came from, nobody dont seem to
no.  Here it is: Pe Culiar Story from Iping.  And it says in this
paper that th evidnce is extra-ordnry strong--extra-ordnry."
"Lord!" said Mr. Marvl.
"But then, it's a extra-ordnry story.  Ther is a clerjyman and a
medicl jent witnesses,--saw 'im al ryt and propr--or leastways,
didnt se 'im.  He was stayng, it says, at th Coach an' Horses,
and no one dont seem to hav been aware of his misfortune, it says,
aware of his misfortune, until in an Altration in th in, it says,
his bandajs on his hed was torn off.  It was then ob-servd that
his hed was invisbl.  Atemts wer At Once made to secure him,
but castng off his garmnts, it says, he succeedd in escaping, but
not until aftr a desprat strugl, In Wich he had inflictd
serius injris, it says, on our worthy and able constbl, Mr. J.A.
Jaffers.  Pretty strait story, eigh?  Names and everything."
"Lord!" said Mr. Marvl, lookng nervusly about him, tryng to count
th mony in his pokets by his unaidd sense of tuch, and ful of a
stranje and novl idea.  "It sounds most astonishng."
"Dont it?  Extra-ordnry, I cal it.  Nevr herd tel of Invisbl
Men befor, I havnt, but nowadays one hears such a lot of
extra-ordnry things--that--"
"That al he did?" askd Marvl, tryng to seem at his ese.
"It's enuf, aint it?" said th marinr.
"Didnt go Bak by any chance?" askd Marvl.  "Just escaped and
that's al, eh?"
"Al!" said th marinr.  "Wy!--aint it enuf?"
"Quite enuf," said Marvl.
"I shud think it was enuf," said th marinr.  "I shud think it
was enuf."
"He didnt hav any pals--it dont say he had any pals, does/dos it?"
askd Mr. Marvl, anxius.
"Aint one of a sort enuf for u?" askd th marinr.  "No, thank
Hevn, as one myt say, he didnt."
He nodd his hed sloly.  "It makes me regulr uncomfrtbl, th
bare thot of that chap runng about th cuntry!  He is at
present/presnt At Larj, and from certn evidnce it is suposed that he
has--taken--took, I supose they mean--th road to Port Sto.  U
se we'r ryt in it!  Non of yr Americn wondrs, this time.
And just think of th things he myt do!  Wher'd u be, if he took
a drop over and abov, and had a fancy to go for u?  Supose he
wants to rob--ho can prevent him?  He can trespas, he can burgle,
he cud walk thru a cordn of policemen as esy as me or u
cud giv th slip to a blind man!  Esir!  For these here blind
chaps hear uncomn sharp, I'm told.  And wherevr ther was liqr
he fancid--"
"He's got a tremenjous advantaj, certnly," said Marvl.
"And--wel."
"U'r ryt," said th marinr.  "He has."
Al this time Mr. Marvl had been glancing about him intently,
lisnng for faint footfals, tryng to detect imperceptbl
movemnts.  He seemd on th point of som gret reslution.  He
cofd behind his hand.
He lookd about him again, lisnd, bent towards to th marinr, and
loerd/lowrd his voice: "Th fact of it is--I hapn--to no just a thing
or two about this Invisbl Man.  From privat sorces."
"O!" said th marinr, intrestd.  "U?"
"Yes," said Mr. Marvl.  "Me."
"Indeed!" said th marinr.  "And may I ask--"
"U'l be astonishd," said Mr. Marvl behind his hand.  "It's
tremenjous."
"Indeed!" said th marinr.
"Th fact is," began Mr. Marvl eagrly in a confidential undrtone.
Sudnly his expression chanjed marvlusly.  "Ow!" he said.  He
rose stifly in his seat.  His face was eloquent of fysicl
sufrng.  "Wow!" he said.
"Wat's up?" said th marinr, concernd.
"Toothache," said Mr. Marvl, and put his hand to his ear.  He caut
hold of his books.  "I must be getng on, I think," he said.  He
ejd in a curius way along th seat away from his intrlocutor.
"But u was just agoing to tel me about this here Invisbl Man!"
protestd th marinr.  Mr. Marvl seemd to consult with himself.
"Hoax," said a voice.  "It's a hoax," said Mr. Marvl.
"But it's in th paper," said th marinr.
"Hoax al th same," said Marvl.  "I no th chap that startd th
lie.  Ther aint no Invisbl Man watsoevr--Blimy."
"But how 'bout this paper?  D'u mean to say--?"
"Not a word of it," said Marvl, stoutly.
Th marinr stared, paper in hand.  Mr. Marvl jerkily faced about.
"Wait a bit," said th marinr, rising and speakng sloly.  "D'u
mean to say--?"
"I do," said Mr. Marvl.
"Then wy did u let me go on and tel u al this blarsted stuf,
then?  Wat d'yer mean by letng a man make a fool of himself like
that for?  Eigh?"
Mr. Marvl blew out his cheeks.  Th marinr was sudnly very red
indeed; he clenchd his hands.  "I been talkng here this ten
minuts," he said; "and u, u litl pot-bellied, lethry-faced
son of an old boot, cudnt hav th elementry manrs--"
"Dont u com bandying words with me," said Mr. Marvl.
"Bandying words!  I'm a jolly good mind--"
"Com up," said a voice, and Mr. Marvl was sudnly wirld about
and startd marchng off in a curius spasmodic manr.  "U'd
betr move on," said th marinr.  "Ho's moving on?" said Mr.
Marvl.  He was receding obliqely with a curius hurrying gait, with
ocasionl violent jerks forwrd.  Som way along th road he began a
mutrd monlog, protests and recrimnations.
"Silly devl!" said th marinr, legs wide apart, elbos akimbo,
wachng th receding figr.  "I'l sho u, u silly
ass,--hoaxing me!  It's here--on th paper!"
Mr. Marvl retortd incoherently and, receding, was hidn by a bend
in th road, but th marinr stil stood magnificent in th midst of
th way, until th aproach of a butcher's cart dislojd him.  Then
he turnd himself towards Port Sto.  "Ful of extra- ordnry
asses," he said softly to himself.  "Just to take me down a bit--that
was his silly game--It's on th paper!"
And ther was anothr extrordnry thing he was presntly to hear,
that had hapnd quite close to him.  And that was a vision of a
"fist ful of mony" (no less) travlng without visbl ajency,
along by th wal at th cornr of St. Michael's Lane.  A brothr
marinr had seen this wondrful syt that very mornng.  He had
snachd at th mony forthwith and had been nokd hedlong, and
wen he had got to his feet th butrfly mony had vanishd.  Our
marinr was in th mood to beleve anything, he declared, but that
was a bit too stif.  Aftrwrds, howevr, he began to think things
over.
Th story of th flyng mony was tru.  And al about that
neibrhood, even from th august Londn and Cuntry Bankng
Compny, from th tills of shops and ins--dors standng that sunny
wethr entirely open--mony had been quietly and dexterously making
off that day in handfuls and rouleaux, floatng quietly along by
wals and shady places, dojng quikly from th aproachng ys of
men.  And it had, tho no man had traced it, invaribly endd its
mysterius flyt in th poket of that ajitated jentlman in th
obslete silk hat, sitng outside th litl in on th outskirts of
Port Sto.
			      **********
			      Chaptr 15
		       Th Man Ho Was Runng
In th erly evenng time Doctr Kemp was sitng in his study in th
belvedere on th hil overlookng Burdok.  It was a plesnt litl
room, with thre windos, north, west, and south, and bookshelvs
crowdd with books and sientific publications, and a brod
riting-table, and, undr th north windo, a microscope, glass
slips, minute/minut instrumnts, som culturs, and scatrd botls of
reagents.  Doctr Kemp's solar lamp was lit, albeit th sky was stil
bryt with th sunset lyt, and his blinds wer up because ther
was no ofense of peerng outsiders to require them puld down.
Doctr Kemp was a tal and slendr yung man, with flaxen hair and a
mustach almost wite, and th work he was upon wud ern him, he
hoped, th feloship of th Royl Society, so hyly did he think of
it.
And his y presntly wandrng from his work caut th sunset
blazing at th bak of th hil that is over against his own.  For a
minute/minut perhaps he sat, pen in mouth, admiring th rich goldn color
abov th crest, and then his atention was atractd by th litl
figr of a man, inky blak, runng over th hil-brow towards him.
He was a shortish litl man, and he wor a hy hat, and he was
runng so fast that his legs verily twinkld.
"Anothr of those fools," said Doctr Kemp.  "Like that ass ho ran
into me this mornng round a cornr, with his ''Visible Man a-comng,
sir!'  I cant imajn wat posesses peple.  One myt think we
wer in th thirteenth century."
He got up, went to th windo, and stared at th dusky hilside and
th dark litl figr terng down it.  "He seems in a confoundd
hurry," said Doctr Kemp, "but he dosnt seem to be getng on.  If
his pokets wer ful of lead/led, he cudnt run hevir.
"Spurtd, sir," said Doctr Kemp.
In anothr moment th hyr of th vilas that had clambrd up th
hil from Burdok had occulted th runng figr.  He was visbl
again for a moment, and again, and then again, thre times between
th thre detachd houses that came next, and then th terace hid
him.
"Asses!" said Doctr Kemp, swingng round on his heel and walkng
bak to his riting-table.
But those ho saw th fujitiv nearr, and perceved th abject
terr on his perspiring face, being themselvs in th open roadway,
did not share in th doctor's contemt.  By th man poundd, and as
he ran he chinked like a wel-fild purse that is tosd to and fro.
He lookd neithr to th ryt nor th left, but his dilated ys
stared strait downhil to wher th lamps wer being lit, and th
peple wer crowdd in th street.  And his il-shaped mouth fel
apart, and a glairy foam lay on his lips, and his breth came horse
and noisy.  Al he pasd stopd and began staring up th road and
down, and interogating one anothr with an inklng of discomfrt for
th reasn of his haste.
And then presntly, far up th hil, a dog playng in th road yelped
and ran undr a gate, and as they stil wondrd somthing--a wind--a
pad, pad, pad,--a sound like a pantng brething,--rushd by.
Peple screamd.  Peple sprang off th pavemnt.  It pasd in
shouts, it pasd by instinct down th hil.  They wer shoutng in
th street befor Marvl was halfway ther.  They wer boltng into
houses and slamng th dors behind them, with th news.  He herd
it and made one last desprat spurt.  Fear came striding by, rushd
ahed of him, and in a moment had sezed th town.
"Th Invisbl Man is comng!  Th Invisbl Man."
			      **********
			      Chaptr 16
		       In th Jolly Criketrs
Th Jolly Criketrs is just at th botm of th hil, wher th
tram-lines begin.  Th barman lent his fat red arms on th countr
and talkd of horses with an anemic cabman, wile a blak- beardd
man in gray snapd up biscuit and chese, drank Burtn, and
conversd in Americn with a policeman off duty.
"Wat's th shoutng about?" said th anemic cabman going off at a
tanjnt, tryng to se up th hil over th dirty yelo blind in th
lo windo of th in.  Sombody ran by outside.  "Fire, perhaps,"
said th barman.
Footsteps aproachd, runng hevily, th dor was pushd open
violently, and Marvl, weepng and dishevld, his hat gon, th
nek of his coat torn open, rushd in, made a convulsiv turn, and
atemtd to shut th dor.  It was held half open by a strap.
"Comng!" he bawld, his voice shriekng with terr.  "He's comng.
Th 'Visible Man!  Aftr me!  For Gawd's sake!  Elp!  Elp!  Elp!"
"Shut th dors," said th policeman.  "Ho's comng?  Wat's th
ro?"  He went to th dor, relesed th strap, and it slamd.  Th
Americn closed th othr dor.
"Lemme go inside," said Marvl, stagrng and weepng, but stil
cluchng th books.  "Lemme go inside.  Lok me in--somwher.  I
tel u he's aftr me.  I giv him th slip.  He said he'd kil me
and he wil."
"U'r safe," said th man with th blak beard.  "Th door's shut.
Wat's it al about?"
"Lemme go inside," said Marvl, and shriekd aloud as a blo sudnly
made th fasnd dor shivr and was folod by a hurrid rapng
and a shoutng outside.  "Helo," cryd th policeman, "ho's ther?"
Mr. Marvl began to make frantic dives at panls that lookd like
dors.  "He'l kil me--he's got a nife or somthing.  For Gawd's
sake!"
"Here u ar," said th barman.  "Com in here."  And he held up th
flap of th bar.
Mr. Marvl rushd behind th bar as th sumns outside was repeatd.
"Dont open th dor," he screamd.  "Plese dont open th dor.
Wher shal I hide?"
"This, this Invisbl Man, then?" askd th man with th blak beard,
with one hand behind him.  "I gess it's about time we saw him."
Th windo of th in was sudnly smashd in, and ther was a
screamng and runng to and fro in th street.  Th policeman had
been standng on th setee staring out, craning to se ho was at
th dor.  He got down with rased ybrows.  "It's that," he said.
Th barman stood in front of th bar-parlr dor wich was now
lokd on Mr. Marvl, stared at th smashd windo and came round to
th two othr men.
Everything was sudnly quiet.  "I wish I had my trunchn," said th
policeman, going irresolutely to th dor.  "Once we open, in he
coms.  Ther's no stopng him."
"Dont u be in too much hurry about that dor," said th anemic
cabman, anxiusly.
"Draw th bolts," said th man with th blak beard, "and if he
coms--" He showd a revolvr in his hand.
"That wont do," said th policeman; "that's murdr."
"I no wat cuntry I'm in," said th man with th beard.  "I'm
going to let off at his legs.  Draw th bolts."
"Not with that thing going off behind me," said th barman, craning
over th blind.
"Very wel," said th man with th blak beard, and stoopng down,
revolvr redy, drew them himself.  Barman, cabman, and police- man
faced about.
"Com in," said th beardd man in an undrtone, standng bak and
facing th unbolted dors with his pistl behind him.  No one came
in, th dor remaind closed.  Five minuts aftrwrds wen a secnd
cabman pushd his hed in cautiusly, they wer stil waitng, and an
anxius face peerd out of th bar-parlr and suplyd infrmation.
"Ar al th dors of th house shut?" askd Marvl.  "He's going
round--prowlng round.  He's as artful as th devl."
"Good Lord!" said th burly barman.  "Ther's th bak!  Just wach
them dors!  I say!--" He lookd about him helplesly.  Th
bar-parlr dor slamd and they herd th ke turn.  "Ther's th
yard dor and th privat dor.  Th yard dor--"
He rushd out of th bar.
In a minute/minut he reapeard with a carvng-nife in his hand.  "Th
yard dor was open!" he said, and his fat undrlip dropd.
"He may be in th house now!" said th first cabman.
"He's not in th kichn," said th barman.  "Ther's two women
ther, and I'v stabd evry inch of it with this litl beef
slicer.  And they dont think he's com in.  They havnt noticed--"
"Hav u fasnd it?" askd th first cabman.
"I'm out of froks," said th barman.
Th man with th beard replaced his revolvr.  And even as he did so
th flap of th bar was shut down and th bolt clikd, and then with
a tremendus thud th cach of th dor snapd and th bar- parlr
dor burst open.  They herd Marvl squeal like a caut leveret, and
forthwith they wer clambrng over th bar to his rescu.  Th
beardd man's revolvr crakd and th lookng-glass at th bak of
th parlr was stard brytly and came smashng and tinklng down.
As th barman entrd th room he saw Marvl, curiusly crumpld up
and struglng against th dor that led to th yard and kichn.
Th dor flew open wile th barman hesitated, and Marvl was dragd
into th kichn.  Ther was a scream and a clatr of pans.  Marvl,
hed down, and lugng bak obstnatly, was forced to th kichn
dor, and th bolts wer drawn.
Then th policeman, ho had been tryng to pass th barman, rushd
in, folod by one of th cabmen, gripd th rist of th invisbl
hand that colrd Marvl, was hit in th face and went reelng bak.
Th dor opend, and Marvl made a frantic efrt to obtain a
lodgment behind it.  Then th cabman cluchd somthing.  "I got
him," said th cabman.  Th barman's red hands came clawng at th
unseen.  "Here he is!" said th barman.
Mr. Marvl, relesed, sudnly dropd to th ground and made an
atemt to crawl behind th legs of th fytng men.  Th strugl
blundrd round th ej of th dor.  Th voice of th Invisbl Man
was herd for th first time, yelng out sharply, as th policeman
trod on his foot.  Then he cryd out passionatly and his fists flew
round like flails.  Th cabman sudnly whooped and dubld up,
kikd undr th diafram.  Th dor into th bar-parlr from th
kichn slamd and covrd Mr. Marvel's retreat.  Th men in th
kichn found themselvs cluchng at and struglng with emty air.
"Wher's he gon?" cryd th man with th beard.  "Out?"
"This way," said th policeman, stepng into th yard and stopng.
A pece of tile wizd by his hed and smashd among th crokry on
th kichn table.
"I'l sho him," shoutd th man with th blak beard, and sudnly a
steel barel shon over th policeman's sholdr, and five bulets
had folod one anothr into th twilyt wence th missle had
com.  As he fired, th man with th beard moved his hand in a
horizontl curv, so that his shots radiated out into th naro yard
like spokes from a weel.
A silence folod.  "Five cartrijs," said th man with th blak
beard.  "That's th best of al.  Four aces and th joker.  Get a
lantrn, som one, and com and feel about for his body."
			      **********
			      Chaptr 17
			Doctr Kemp's Visitr
Doctr Kemp had continud riting in his study until th shots
arousd him.  Crak, crak, crak, they came one aftr th othr.
"Helo!" said Doctr Kemp, putng his pen into his mouth again and
lisnng.  "Ho's letng off revolvrs in Burdok?  Wat ar th
asses at now?"
He went to th south windo, threw it up, and leanng out stared down
on th network of windos, beadd gas-lamps and shops with blak
interstices of roof and yard that made up th town at nyt.  "Looks
like a crowd down th hil," he said, "by th Criketrs," and
remaind wachng.  Thence his ys wandrd over th town to far
away wher th ships' lyts shon, and th pier gloed, a litl
iluminated pavilion like a jem of yelo lyt.  Th moon in its
first quartr hung over th westrn hil, and th stars wer clear
and almost tropically bryt.
Aftr five minuts, during wich his mind had travld into a remote
speculation of social conditions of th futur, and lost itself at
last over th time dimension, Doctr Kemp rousd himself with a sy,
puld down th windo again, and returnd to his riting-desk.
It must hav been about an our aftr this that th front-dor bel
rang.  He had been riting slackly and with intrvls of abstraction,
since th shots.  He sat lisnng.  He herd th servnt ansr th
dor, and waitd for her feet on th staircase, but she did not com.
"Wondr wat that was," said Doctr Kemp.
He tryd to resume his work, faild, got up, went downstairs from his
study to th landng, rang, and cald over th balustrade to th
housmaid as she apeard in th hal belo.  "Was that a letr?"
he askd.
"Only a runaway ring, sir," she ansrd.
"I'm restless to-nyt," he said to himself.  He went bak to his
study, and this time atakd his work reslutely.  In a litl wile
he was hard at work again, and th only sounds in th room wer th
tikng of th clok and th subdud shrillness of his quil,
hurrying in th very centr of th circl of lyt his lamp-shade
threw on his table.
It was two oclok befor Doctr Kemp had finishd his work for th
nyt.  He rose, yawnd, and went downstairs to bed.  He had alredy
removed his coat and vest, wen he noticed that he was thirsty.  He
took a candl and went down to th dining-room in serch of a syfn
and wisky.
Doctr Kemp's sientific pursuits had made him a very observnt man,
and as he recrossed th hal, he noticed a dark spot on th linoleum
near th mat at th foot of th stairs.  He went on upstairs, and
then it sudnly ocurd to him to ask himself wat th spot on th
linoleum myt be.  Aparently som subconcius elemnt was at work.
At any rate, he turnd with his burdn, went bak to th hal, put
down th syfn and wisky, and bendng down, tuchd th spot.
Without any gret surprise he found it had th stikiness and color
of dryng blod.
He took up his burdn again, and returnd upstairs, lookng about him
and tryng to acount for th blod-spot.  On th landng he saw
somthing and stopd astonishd.  Th dor-handl of his own room
was blod-staind.
He lookd at his own hand.  It was quite clean, and then he
remembrd that th dor of his room had been open wen he came down
from his study, and that consequently he had not tuchd th handl
at al.  He went strait into his room, his face quite calm--perhaps
a trifle mor reslute that usul.  His glance, wandrng
inquisitively, fel on th bed.  On th countrpane was a mess of
blod, and th sheet had been torn.  He had not noticed this befor
because he had walkd strait to th dresng-table.  On th furthr
side th bed- clothes wer depresd as if som one had been recently
sitng ther.
Then he had an od impression that he had herd a loud voice say,
"Good Hevns!--Kemp!"  But Doctr Kemp was no belever in Voices.
He stood staring at th tumbld sheets.  Was that realy a voice?  He
lookd about again, but noticed nothing furthr than th disordrd
and blod-staind bed.  Then he distinctly herd a movemnt across
th room, near th wash-hand stand.  Al men, howevr hyly
educated, retain som superstitius inklings.  Th feelng that is
cald "eeri" came upon him.  He closed th dor of th room, came
forwrd to th dresng-table, and put down his burdns.  Sudnly,
with a start, he perceved a coild and blod-staind bandaj of
linn rag hangng in mid-air, between him and th wash-hand stand.
He stared at this in amazemnt.  It was an emty bandaj, a bandaj
proprly tied but quite emty.  He wud hav advanced to grasp it,
but a tuch arestd him, and a voice speakng quite close to him.
"Kemp!" said th Voice.
"Eigh?" said Kemp, with his mouth open.
"Keep yr nerv," said th Voice.  "I'm an Invisbl Man."
Kemp made no ansr for a space, simply stared at th bandaj.
"Invisbl Man," he said.
"I'm an Invisbl Man," repeatd th Voice.
Th story he had been activ to ridicul only that mornng rushd
thru Kemp's brain.  He does/dos not apear to hav been eithr very
much frytnd or very gretly surprised at th moment.  Realization
came later.
"I thot it was al a lie," he said.  Th thot uprmost in his
mind was th reitrated argumnts of th mornng.  "Hav u a
bandaj on?" he askd.
"Yes," said th Invisbl Man.
"O!" said Kemp, and then rousd himself.  "I say!" he said.  "But
this is nonsnse.  It's som trik."  He stepd forwrd sudnly,
and his hand, extendd towards th bandaj, met invisbl fingrs.
He recoild at th tuch and his color chanjed.
"Keep stedy, Kemp, for God's sake!  I want help badly.  Stop!"
Th hand gripd his arm.  He struk at it.
"Kemp!" cryd th Voice.  "Kemp!  Keep stedy!" and th grip
tytnd.
A frantic desire to fre himself took posession of Kemp.  Th hand
of th bandajd arm gripd his sholdr, and he was sudnly tripd
and flung bakwrds upon th bed.  He opend his mouth to shout, and
th cornr of th sheet was thrust between his teeth.  Th Invisbl
Man had him down grimly, but his arms wer fre and he struk and
tryd to kik savajly.
"Lisn to reasn, wil u?" said th Invisbl Man, stikng to him
in spite of a poundng in th ribs.  "By Hevn! u'l madn me in
a minute/minut!
"Lie stil, u fool!" bawld th Invisbl Man in Kemp's ear.
Kemp strugld for anothr moment and then lay stil.
"If u shout I'l smash yr face," said th Invisbl Man,
releving his mouth.
"I'm an Invisbl Man.  It's no foolishness, and no majic.  I realy
am an Invisbl Man.  And I want yr help.  I dont want to hurt
u, but if u behave like a frantic rustic, I must.  Dont u
remembr me, Kemp?--Grifn, of University Colej?"
"Let me get up," said Kemp.  "I'l stop wher I am.  And let me sit
quiet for a minute/minut."
He sat up and felt his nek.
"I am Grifn, of University Colej, and I hav made myself
invisbl.  I am just an ordnry man--a man u hav nown--made
invisbl."
"Grifn?" said Kemp.
"Grifn," ansrd th Voice--"a yungr student, almost an albino,
six feet hy, and brod, with a pink and wite face and red
ys--ho won th medl for chemistry."
"I am confused," said Kemp.  "My brain is riotng.  Wat has this to
do with Grifn?"
"I am Grifn."
Kempt thot.  "It's horibl," he said.  "But wat devilry must
hapn to make a man invisbl?"
"It's no devilry.  It's a process, sane and intelijbl enuf--"
"It's horibl!" said Kemp.  "How on erth--?"
"It's horibl enuf.  But I'm woundd an in pain, and tired --Gret
God!  Kemp, u ar a man.  Take it stedy.  Giv me som food and
drink, and let me sit down here."
Kemp stared at th bandaj as it moved across th room, then saw a
basket chair dragd across th flor and com to rest near th bed.
It creakd, and th seat was depresd th quartr of an inch or so.
He rubd his ys and felt his nek again.  "This beats gosts," he
said, and lafd stupidly.
"That's betr.  Thank Hevn, u'r getng sensbl!"
"Or silly," said Kemp, and knuckled his ys.
"Giv me som wisky.  I'm near ded."
"It didnt feel so.  Wher ar u?  If I get up shal I run into
u?  Ther! al ryt.  Wisky?  Here.  Wher shal I giv it u?"
Th chair creakd and Kemp felt th glass drawn away from him.  He
let go by an efrt; his instinct was al against it.  It came to
rest poisd twenty inchs abov th front ej of th seat of th
chair.  He stared at it in infnit perplexity.  "This is--this must
be--hypnotism.  U must hav sujestd u ar invisbl."
"Nonsnse," said th Voice.
"It's frantic."
"Lisn to me."
"I demnstrated conclusivly this mornng," began Kemp, "that
invisbility--"
"Nevr mind wat u'v demnstrated!--I'm starvng," said th Voice,
"and th nyt is--chilly to a man without clothes."
"Food!" said Kemp.
Th tumblr of wisky tiltd itself.  "Yes," said th Invisbl Man,
rapng it down.  "Hav u got a dresng gown?"
Kemp made som exclmation in an undrtone.  He walkd to a wardrobe
and produced a robe of dinjy scarlet.  "This do?" he askd.  It was
taken from him.  It hung limp for a moment in mid-air, flutrd
weirdly, stood ful and decrus butnng itself, and sat down in
his chair.  "Drawrs, soks, sliprs wud be a comfrt," said th
Unseen, curtly.  "And food."
"Anything.  But this is th insanest thing I evr was in, in my
life!"
He turnd out his drawrs for th articls, and then went downstairs
to ransak his lardr.  He came bak with som cold cutlets and
bred, puld up a lyt table, and placed them befor his gest.
"Nevr mind nives," said his visitr, and a cutlet hung in mid-air,
with a sound of nawng.
"Invisbl!" said Kemp, and sat down on a bedroom chair.
"I always like to get somthing about me befor I eat," said th
Invisbl Man, with a ful mouth, eatng greedily.  "Queer fancy!"
"I supose that rist is al ryt," said Kemp.
"Trust me," said th Invisbl Man.
"Of al th stranje and wondrful--"
"Exactly.  But it's od I shud blundr into yr house to get my
bandajng.  My first stroke of luk.  Anyhow I ment to sleep in this
house to-nyt.  U must stand that!  It's a filthy nusance, my
blod shoing, isnt it?  Quite a clot over ther.  Gets visbl as
it coagulates, I se.  I'v been in th house thre ours."
"But how's it don?" began Kemp, in a tone of exaspration.
"Confound it!  Th hole busness--it's unreasnbl from beginng
to end."
"Quite reasnbl," said th Invisbl Man.  "Perfectly reasnbl."
He reachd over and secured th wisky botl.  Kemp stared at th
devourng dresng-gown.  A ray of candl-lyt penetrating a torn
pach in th ryt sholdr, made a triangl of lyt undr th left
ribs.  "Wat wer th shots?" he askd.  "How did th shootng
begin?"
"Ther was a fool of a man--a sort of confedrat of mine-- curse
him!--ho tryd to steal my mony.  Has don so."
"Is he invisbl too?"
"No."
"Wel?"
"Cant I hav som mor to eat befor I tel u al that?  I'm
hungry--in pain.  And u want me to tel storis!"
Kemp got up.  "U didnt do any shootng?" he askd.
"Not me," said his visitr.  "Som fool I'd nevr seen fired at
randm.  A lot of them got scared.  They al got scared at me.  Curse
them!--I say--I want mor to eat than this, Kemp."
"I'l se wat ther is mor to eat downstairs," said Kemp.  "Not
much, I'm afraid."
Aftr he had don eatng, and he made a hevy meal, th Invisbl Man
demandd a cigar.  He bit th end savajly befor Kemp cud find a
nife, and cursd wen th outr leaf loosnd.  It was stranje to
se him smoking; his mouth and throat, pharynx and nares, became
visbl as a sort of wirlng smoke cast.
"This blesd gift of smoking!" he said, and pufd vigrusly.  "I'm
lucky to hav falen upon u, Kemp.  U must help me.  Fancy
tumblng on u just now!  I'm in a devlish scrape.  I'v been mad,
I think.  Th things I hav been thru!  But we wil do things yet.
Let me tel u--"
He helpd himself to mor wisky and soda.  Kemp got up, lookd about
him, and fechd himself a glass from his spare room.  "It's
wild--but I supose I may drink."
"U havnt chanjed much, Kemp, these dozn years.  U fair men
dont.  Cool and methodicl--aftr th first colaps.  I must tel
u.  We wil work togethr!"
"But how was it al don?" said Kemp, "and how did u get like
this?"
"For God's sake, let me smoke in pece for a litl wile!  And then
I wil begin to tel u."
But th story was not told that nyt.  Th Invisbl Man's rist was
groing painful, he was feverish, exaustd, and his mind came round
to brood upon his chase down th hil and th strugl about th in.
He spoke in fragments/fragmnts of Marvl, he smoked fastr, his voice grew
angry.  Kemp tryd to gathr wat he cud.
"He was afraid of me, I cud se he was afraid of me," said th
Invisbl Man many times over.  "He ment to giv me th slip--he was
always castng about!  Wat a fool I was!
"Th cur!
"I shud hav kild him--"
"Wher did u get th mony?" askd Kemp, abruptly.
Th Invisbl Man was silent for a space.  "I cant tel u
to-nyt," he said.
He groand sudnly and lent forwrd, suportng his invisbl hed
on invisbl hands.  "Kemp," he said, "I'v had no sleep for near
thre days--exept a cupl of dozes of an our or so.  I must sleep
soon."
"Wel, hav my room--hav this room."
"But how can I sleep?  If I sleep--he wil get away.  Ugh!  Wat does/dos
it matr?"
"Wat's th shot-wound?" askd Kemp, abruptly.
"Nothing--scrach and blod.  O, God!  How I want sleep!"
"Wy not?"
Th Invisbl Man apeard to be regardng Kemp.  "Because I'v a
particulr objection to being caut by my felo-men," he said
sloly.
Kemp startd.
"Fool that I am!" said th Invisbl Man, striking th table smartly.
"I'v put th idea into yr hed."
			      **********
			      Chaptr 18
		       Th Invisbl Man Sleeps
Exaustd and woundd as th Invisbl Man was, he refused to accept
Kemp's word that his fredm shud be respectd.  He examnd th
two windos of th bedroom, drew up th blinds, and opend th sashs
to confirm Kemp's statemnt that a retreat by them wud be posbl.
Outside th nyt was very quiet and stil, and th new moon was
setng over th down.  Then he examnd th kes of th bedroom and
th two dresng-room dors, to satisfy himself that these also cud
be made an asurance of fredm.  Finaly he expresd himself
satisfyd.  He stood on th harth-rug and Kemp herd th sound of a
yawn.
"I'm sorry," said th Invisbl Man, "if I canot tel u al that I
hav don to-nyt.  But I am worn out.  It's grotesq, no dout.
It's horibl!  But beleve me, Kemp, it is quite a posbl thing.
I hav made a discovry.  I ment to keep it to myself.  I cant.  I
must hav a partnr.  And u--We can do such things--But to-moro.
Now, Kemp, I feel as tho I must sleep or perish."
Kemp stood in th midl of th room staring at th hedless garmnt.
"I supose I must leve u," he said.  "It's--incredbl.  Thre
things hapnng like this, overturnng al my preconceptions, wud
make me insane.  But it's real!  Is ther anything mor that I can
get u?"
"Only bid me good-nyt," said Grifn.
"Good-nyt," said Kemp, and shook an invisbl hand.  He walkd
sideways to th dor.  Sudnly th dresng-gown walkd quikly
towards him.  "Undrstand me!" said th dresng-gown.  "No atemts
to hampr me, or captur me!  Or--"
Kemp's face chanjed a litl.  "I thot I gave u my word," he
said.
Kemp closed th dor softly behind him, and th ke was turnd upon
him forthwith.  Then, as he stood with an expression of passiv
amazemnt on his face, th rapid feet came to th dor of th
dresng-room and that too was lokd.  Kemp slapd his brow with
his hand.  "Am I dreamng?  Has th world gon mad--or hav I?"
He lafd, and put his hand to th lokd dor.  "Bard out of my
own bedroom, by a flagrant absurdity!" he said.
He walkd to th hed of th staircase, turnd, and stared at th
lokd dors.  "It's fact," he said.  He put his fingrs to his
slytly brused nek.  "Undenyabl fact!
"But--"
He shook his hed hopelesly, turnd, and went downstairs.
He lit th dining-room lamp, got out a cigar, and began pacing th
room, ejaculating.  Now and then he wud argu with himself.
"Invisbl!" he said.
"Is ther such a thing as an invisbl anml?  In th se, yes.
Thousnds!  milions!  Al th larvae, al th litl nauplii and
tornarias, al th microscopic things, th jelly-fish.  In th se
ther ar mor things invisbl than visbl!  I nevr thot of
that befor.  And in th ponds too!  Al those litl pond-life
things-- speks of colorless translucent jelly!  But in air?  No!
"It cant be.
"But aftr al--wy not?
"If a man was made of glass he wud stil be visbl."
His meditation became profound.  Th bulk of thre cigars had pasd
into th invisbl or difused as a wite ash over th carpet befor
he spoke again.  Then it was merely an exclmation.  He turnd aside,
walkd out of th room, and went into his litl consultng- room and
lit th gas ther.  It was a litl room, because Dr. Kemp did not
live/liv by practis, and in it wer th day's newspapers.  Th morning's
paper lay carelesly opend and thrown aside.  He caut it up,
turnd it over, and read/red th acount of a "Stranje Story from Iping"
that th Marinr at Port Sto had spelt over so painfuly to Mr.
Marvl.  Kemp read/red it swiftly.
"Rapd up!" said Kemp.  "Disgised!  Hiding it!  'No one seems to
hav been aware of his misfortune.'  Wat th devl is his game?"
He dropd th paper, and his y went seekng.  "Ah!" he said, and
caut up th St. James' Gazet, lyng foldd up as it arived.
"Now we shal get at th truth," said Dr. Kemp.  He rent th paper
open; a cupl of colums confrontd him.  "An Entire Vilaj in
Sussex gos Mad" was th hedng.
"Good Hevns!" said Kemp, readng/redng eagrly an incredulus acount of
th events in Iping th previus aftrnoon, that hav alredy been
described.  Over th leaf th report in th mornng paper had been
reprintd.
He re-read/red it.  "Ran thru th streets striking ryt and left.
Jaffers insensbl.  Mr. Huxter in gret pain--stil unable to
describe wat he saw.  Painful humiliation--vicr.  Women il with
terr!  Windos smashd.  This extrordnry story probbly a
fabrication.  Too good not to print--cum grano!"
He dropd th paper and stared blankly in front of him.  "Probbly a
fabrication!"
He caut up th paper again, and re-read/red th hole busness.  "But
wher does/dos th Tramp com in?  Wy th duce was he chasing a Tramp?"
He sat down abruptly on th surjicl couch.  "He's not only
invisbl," he said, "but he's mad!  Homicidal!"
Wen dawn came to mingl its palr with th lamp-lyt and cigar
smoke of th dining-room, Kemp was stil pacing up and down, tryng
to grasp th incredbl.
He was altogethr too exited to sleep.  His servnts, desendng
sleepily, discovrd him, and wer inclined to think that overstudy
had workd this il on him.  He gave them extrordnry but quite
explicit instructions to lay brekfast for two in th belvedere
study--and then to confine themselvs to th basemnt and ground-
flor.  Then he continud to pace th dining-room until th morning's
paper came.  That had much to say and litl to tel, beyond th
confrmation of th evenng befor and a very baldly ritn acount
of anothr remarkbl tale from Port Burdok.  This gave Kemp th
esnce of th hapnngs at th Jolly Criketrs, and th name of
Marvl.  "He has made me keep with him twenty-four ours," Marvl
testifyd.  Certn minor facts wer add to th Iping story,
notebly th cutng of th vilaj telegraf-wire.  But ther was
nothing to thro lyt on th conection between th Invisbl Man
and th Tramp; for Mr. Marvl had suplyd no infrmation about th
thre books, or th mony with wich he was lined.  Th incredulus
tone had vanishd and a shoal of reportrs and inquirers wer alredy
at work elabrating th matr.
Kemp read/red evry scrap of th report and sent his housmaid out to get
evry one of th mornng papers she cud.  These also he devourd.
"He is invisbl!" he said.  "And it reads like raje groing to
mania!  Th things he may do!  Th things he may do!  And he's
upstairs fre as th air.  Wat on erth ot I to do?
"For instnce, wud it be a breach of faith if--?  No."
He went to a litl untidy desk in th cornr, and began a note.  He
tor this up half ritn, and rote anothr.  He read/red it over and
considrd it.  Then he took an envlope and adresd it to "Colnl
Adye, Port Burdok."
Th Invisbl Man awoke even as Kemp was doing this.  He awoke in an
evil tempr, and Kemp, alert for evry sound, herd his patrng
feet rush sudnly across th bedroom overhed.  Then a chair was
flung over and th wash-hand stand tumblr smashd.  Kemp hurrid
upstairs and rapd eagrly.
			      **********
			      Chaptr 19
		       Certn First Principls
"Wat's th matr?" askd Kemp, wen th Invisbl Man admitd him.
"Nothing," was th ansr.
"But, confound it!  Th smash?"
"Fit of tempr," said th Invisbl Man.  "Forgot this arm; and it's
sor."
"U'r rathr liabl to that sort of thing."
"I am."
Kemp walkd across th room and pikd up th fragments/fragmnts of broken
glass.  "Al th facts ar out about u," said Kemp, standng up
with th glass in his hand; "al that hapnd in Iping, and down th
hil.  Th world has becom aware of its invisbl citizn.  But no
one nos u ar here."
Th Invisbl Man swor.
"Th secret's out.  I gathr it was a secret.  I dont no wat yr
plans ar, but of corse I'm anxius to help u."
Th Invisbl Man sat down on th bed.
"Ther's brekfast upstairs," said Kemp, speakng as esily as
posbl, and he was delytd to find his stranje gest rose
wilngly.  Kemp led th way up th naro staircase to th
belvedere.
"Befor we can do anything else," said Kemp, "I must undrstand a
litl mor about this invisbility of yrs."  He had sat down,
aftr one nervus glance out of th windo, with th air of a man ho
has talkng to do.  His douts of th sanity of th entire busness
flashd and vanishd again as he lookd across to wher Grifn sat
at th brekfast-table,--a hedless, handless dresng- gown, wiping
unseen lips on a miraculusly held serviette.
"It's simpl enuf--and credbl enuf," said Grifn, putng th
serviette aside and leanng th invisbl hed on an invisbl hand.
"No dout, to u, but--" Kemp lafd.
"Wel, yes; to me it seemd wondrful at first, no dout.  But now,
gret God!--But we wil do gret things yet!  I came on th stuf
first at Chesilstowe."
"Chesilstowe?"
"I went ther aftr I left Londn.  U no I dropd medcin and
took up fysics?  No?--wel, I did.  Lyt--fasnated me."
"Ah!"
"Opticl density!  Th hole subject is a network of ridls --a
network with solutions glimrng elusively thru.  And being but
two-and-twenty and ful of enthusiasm, I said, 'I wil devote my life
to this.  This is worth wile.'  U no wat fools we ar at
two-and-twenty?"
"Fools then or fools now," said Kemp.
"As tho Noing cud be any satisfaction to a man!
"But I went to work--like a nigr.  And I had hardly workd and
thot about th matr six months befor lyt came thru one of
th meshes sudnly--blindngly!  I found a jenrl principl of
pigmnts and refraction,--a formula, a jeometricl expression
involvng four dimensions.  Fools, comn men, even comn
mathmaticians, do not no anything of wat som jenrl expression
may mean to th student of moleculr fysics.  In th books--th
books that Tramp has hidn--ther ar marvls, miracls!  But this
was not a method, it was an idea that myt lead/led to a method by wich
it wud be posbl, without chanjing any othr proprty of
matr,--exept, in som instnces, colors,--to loer/lowr th refractive
index of a substnce, solid or liquid, to that of air--so far as al
practicl purposes ar concernd."
"Fhew!" said Kemp.  "That's od!  But stil I dont se quite --I can
undrstand that therby u cud spoil a valubl stone, but
persnl invisbility is a far cry."
"Precisely," said Grifn.  "But considr: Visbility depends on th
action of th visbl bodis on lyt.  Eithr a body absorbs lyt,
or it reflects or refracts it, or does/dos al these things.  If it
neithr reflects nor refracts nor absorbs lyt, it canot of itself
be visbl.  U se an opaqe red box, for instnce, because th
color absorbs som of th lyt and reflects th rest, al th red
part of th lyt, to u.  If it did not absorb any particulr part
of th lyt, but reflectd it al, then it wud be a shining wite
box.  Silvr!  A diamnd box wud neithr absorb much of th lyt
nor reflect much from th jenrl surface, but just here and ther
wher th surfaces wer favorabl th lyt wud be reflectd and
refractd, so that u wud get a briliant apearnce of flashng
reflections and translucencies,--a sort of skeletn of lyt.  A
glass box wud not be so briliant, not so clearly visbl, as a
diamnd box, because ther wud be less refraction and reflection.
Se that?  From certn points of vew u wud se quite clearly
thru it.  Som kinds of glass wud be mor visbl than othrs, a
box of flint glass wud be brytr than a box of ordnry windo
glass.  A box of very thin comn glass wud be hard to se in a bad
lyt, because it wud absorb hardly any lyt and refract and
reflect very litl.  And if u put a sheet of comn wite glass in
watr, stil mor if u put it in som densr liquid than watr, it
wud vanish almost altogethr, because lyt pasng from watr to
glass is only slytly refractd or reflectd or indeed afectd in
any way.  It is almost as invisbl as a jet of coal gas or hydrojn
is in air.  And for precisely th same reasn!"
"Yes," said Kemp, "that is pretty plan sailng."
"And here is anothr fact u wil no to be tru.  If a sheet of
glass is smashd, Kemp, and beatn into a powdr, it becoms much
mor visbl wile it is in th air; it becoms at last an opaqe
wite powdr.  This is because th powdrng multiplys th surfaces
of th glass at wich refraction and reflection ocur.  In th sheet
of glass ther ar only two surfaces; in th powdr th lyt is
reflectd or refractd by each grain it passes thru, and very
litl gets ryt thru th powdr.  But if th wite powdrd
glass is put into watr, it forthwith vanishs.  Th powdrd glass
and watr hav much th same refractive index; that is, th lyt
undrgos very litl refraction or reflection in pasng from one to
th othr.
"U make th glass invisbl by putng it into a liquid of nearly
th same refractive index; a transparent thing becoms invisbl if
it is put in any medium of almost th same refractive index.  And if
u wil considr only a secnd, u wil se also that th powdr of
glass myt be made to vanish in air, if its refractive index cud
be made th same as that of air; for then ther wud be no
refraction or reflection as th lyt pasd from glass to air."
"Yes, yes," said Kemp.  "But a man's not powdrd glass!"
"No," said Grifn.  "He's mor transparent!"
"Nonsnse!"
"That from a doctr!  How one forgets!  Hav u alredy forgotn
yr fysics, in ten years?  Just think of al th things that ar
transparent and seem not to be so.  Paper, for instnce, is made up
of transparent fibers, and it is wite and opaqe only for th same
reasn that a powdr of glass is wite and opaqe.  Oil wite paper,
fil up th interstices between th particls with oil so that ther
is no longr refraction or reflection exept at th surfaces, and it
becoms as transparent as glass.  And not only paper, but cotn
fiber, linn fiber, wool fiber, woody fiber, and bone, Kemp, flesh,
hair, nails and nervs, Kemp, in fact th hole fabric of a man
exept th red of his blod and th blak pigmnt of hair, ar al
made up of transparent, colorless tissu.  So litl sufices to
make us visbl one to th othr.  For th most part th fibers of a
livng creatur ar no mor opaqe than watr."
"Gret Hevns!" cryd Kemp.  "Of corse, of corse!  I was thinkng
only last nyt of th se larvae and al jelly-fish!"
"Now u hav me!  And al that I new and had in mind a year aftr I
left Londn--six years ago.  But I kept it to myself.  I had to do my
work undr frytful disadvantajs.  Olivr, my profesr, was a
sientific bounder, a jurnlist by instinct, a thief of ideas,--he
was always pryng!  And u no th knavish systm of th sientific
world.  I simply wud not publish, and let him share my credit.  I
went on workng.  I got nearr and nearr making my formula into an
experimnt, a reality.  I told no livng sol, because I ment to
flash my work upon th world with crushng efect,--to becom famus
at a blo.  I took up th question of pigmnts to fil up certn
gaps.  And sudnly, not by desyn but by accidnt, I made a
discovry in fysiolojy."
"Yes?"
"U no th red colorng matr of blod; it can be made
wite--colorless--and remain with al th functions it has now!"
Kemp gave a cry of incredulus amazemnt.
Th Invisbl Man rose and began pacing th litl study.  "U may
wel exclaim.  I remembr that nyt.  It was late at nyt, --in th
daytime one was bothrd with th gaping, silly students,-- and I
workd then somtimes til dawn.  It came sudnly, splendid and
complete into my mind.  I was alone; th labratry was stil, with
th tal lyts burnng brytly and silently.  In al my gret
moments I hav been alone.  'One cud make an anml--a tissu--
transparent!  One cud make it invisbl!  Al exept th pigmnts.
I cud be invisbl!'  I said, sudnly realizing wat it ment to
be an albino with such nolej.  It was overwelmng.  I left th
filtrng I was doing, and went and stared out of th gret windo at
th stars.  'I cud be invisbl!' I repeatd.
"To do such a thing wud be to transend majic.  And I beheld,
unclouded by dout, a magnificent vision of al that invisbility
myt mean to a man,--th mystry, th powr, th fredm.  Drawbaks
I saw non.  U hav only to think!  And I, a shabby,
povrty-struk, hemd-in demnstrator, teachng fools in a
provincial colej, myt sudnly becom--this.  I ask u, Kemp, if
u--Any one, I tel u, wud hav flung himself upon that
reserch.  And I workd thre years, and evry mountn of dificlty
I toild over showd anothr from its sumit.  Th infnit details!
And th exaspration,--a profesr, a provincial profesr, always
pryng.  'When ar u going to publish this work of yrs?' was his
evrlastng question.  And th students, th crampd means!  Thre
years I had of it--
"And aftr thre years of secrecy and exaspration, I found that to
complete it was imposbl,--imposbl."
"How?" askd Kemp.
"Mony," said th Invisbl Man, and went again to stare out of th
windo.
He turnd round abruptly.  "I robd th old man--robd my fathr.
"Th mony was not his, and he shot himself."
			      **********
			      Chaptr 20
		At th House in Gret Portland Street
For a moment Kemp sat in silence, staring at th bak of th hedless
figr at th windo.  Then he startd, struk by a thot, rose,
took th Invisbl Man's arm, and turnd him away from th outlook.
"U ar tired," he said, "and wile I sit, u walk about.  Hav my
chair."
He placed himself between Grifn and th nearst windo.
For a space Grifn sat silent, and then he resumed abruptly:
"I had left th Chesilstowe cotaj alredy," he said, "wen that
hapnd.  It was last Decembr.  I had taken a room in Londn, a
larj unfurnishd room in a big il-manajd lojng-house in a slum
near Gret Portland Street.  Th room was soon ful of th aplyances
I had bot with his mony; th work was going on stedily,
succesfuly, drawng near an end.  I was like a man emerjng from a
thiket, and sudnly comng on som unmeaning trajedy.  I went to
bury him.  My mind was stil on this reserch, and I did not lift a
fingr to save his caractr.  I remembr th funeral, th cheap
herse, th scant ceremny, th windy frost-bitn hilside, and th
old colej frend of his ho read/red th service over him,--a shabby,
blak, bent old man with a snivlng cold.
"I remembr walkng bak to th emty home, thru th place that
had once been a vilaj and was now pachd and tinkrd by th jerry
bildrs into th ugly likeness of a town.  Evry way th roads ran
out at last into th desecrated fields and endd in rubl heaps and
rank wet weeds.  I remembr myself as a gaunt blak figr, going
along th slipry, shiny pavemnt, and th stranje sense of
detachmnt I felt from th squalid respectbility, th sordid
comercialism of th place.
"I did not feel a bit sorry for my fathr.  He seemd to me to be th
victm of his own foolish sentmntality.  Th curent cant required
my atendnce at his funeral, but it was realy not my afair.
"But going along th Hy Street, my old life came bak to me for a
space, for I met th girl I had nown ten years since.  Our ys met.
"Somthing moved me to turn bak and talk to her.  She was a very
ordnry persn.
"It was al like a dream, that visit to th old places.  I did not
feel then that I was lonely, that I had com out from th world into
a deslat place.  I apreciated my loss of sympathy, but I put it
down to th jenrl inanity of things.  Re-entrng my room seemd
like th recovry of reality.  Ther wer th things I new and
lovd.  Ther stood th apratus, th experimnts aranjed and
waitng.  And now ther was scarcely a dificlty left, beyond th
planng of details.
"I wil tel u, Kemp, soonr or later, al th complicated
processes.  We need not go into that now.  For th most part, saving
certn gaps I chose to remembr, they ar ritn in cyfr in those
books that tramp has hidn.  We must hunt him down.  We must get
those books again.  But th esential fase was to place th
transparent object hos refractive index was to be loerd/lowrd between
two radiating centrs of a sort of ethereal vibration, of wich I
wil tel u mor fuly later.  No, not these Rntgen vibrations--I
dont no that these othrs of mine hav been described.  Yet they
ar obvius enuf.  I needd two litl dynmos, and these I workd
with a cheap gas enjn.  My first experimnt was with a bit of wite
wool fabric.  I was th stranjest thing in th world to se it in th
flikr of th flashs soft and wite, and then to wach it fade like
a reath of smoke and vanish.
"I cud scarcely beleve I had don it.  I put my hand into th
emtiness, and ther was th thing as solid as evr.  I felt it
awkwrdly, and threw it on th flor.  I had a litl trubl findng
it again.
"And then came a curius experience.  I herd a miaow behind me, and
turnng, saw a lean wite cat, very dirty, on th cistrn covr
outside th windo.  A thot came into my hed.  'Everything redy
for u,' I said, and went to th windo, opend it, and cald
softly.  She came in, purng,--th poor beast was starvng,--and I
gave her som milk.  Al my food was in a cubrd in th cornr of
th room.  Aftr that she went smelng round th room,--evidntly
with th idea of making herself at home.  Th invisbl rag upset her
a bit; u shud hav seen her spit at it!  But I made her
comfrtbl on th pilo of my trukl-bed.  And I gave her butr
to get her to wash."
"And u procesd her?"
"I procesd her.  But givng drugs to a cat is no joke, Kemp!  And
th process faild."
"Faild!"
"In two particulrs.  These wer th claws and th pigmnt
stuf--wat is it?--at th bak of th y in a cat.  U no?"
"Tapetum."
"Yes, th tapetum.  It didnt go.  Aftr I'd givn th stuf to
bleach th blod and don certn othr things to her, I gave th
beast opium, and put her and th pilo she was sleepng on, on th
apratus.  And aftr al th rest had faded and vanishd, ther
remaind two litl gosts of her ys."
"Od!"
"I cant explain it.  She was bandajd and clampd, of corse, --so I
had her safe; but she woke wile she was stil misty, and miaowed
dismly, and som one came nokng.  It was an old womn from
downstairs, ho suspectd me of vivisecting,--a drink-sodn old
creatur, with only a wite cat to care for in al th world.  I
wipd out som cloroform, and aplyd it, and ansrd th dor.
'Did I hear a cat?' she askd.  'My cat?'  'Not here,' said I, very
politely.  She was a litl doutful and tryd to peer past me into
th room; stranje enuf to her no dout,--bare wals, uncurtnd
windos, trukl-bed, with th gas enjn vibrating, and th sethe
of th radiant points, and that faint gastly stingng of cloroform
in th air.  She had to be satisfyd at last and went away again."
"How long did it take?" askd Kemp.
"Thre or four ours--th cat.  Th bones and sinews and th fat wer
th last to go, and th tips of th colord hairs.  And, as I say,
th bak part of th y, tuf iridesnt stuf it is, wudnt go
at al.
"It was nyt outside long befor th busness was over, and nothing
was to be seen but th dim ys and th claws.  I stopd th gas
enjn, felt for and stroked th beast, wich was stil insensbl,
and then, being tired, left it sleepng on th invisbl pilo and
went to bed.  I found it hard to sleep.  I lay awake thinkng weak
aimless stuf, going over th experimnt over and over again, or
dreamng feverishly of things groing misty and vanishng about me,
until everything, th ground I stood on, vanishd, and so I came to
that sikly falng nytmare one gets.  About two, th cat began
miaowing about th room.  I tryd to hush it by talkng to it, and
then I decided to turn it out.  I remembr th shok I had wen
striking a lyt--ther wer just th round ys shining green--and
nothing round them.  I wud hav givn it milk, but I hadnt any.
It wudnt be quiet, it just sat down and miaowed at th dor.  I
tryd to cach it, with an idea of putng it out of th windo, but
it wudnt be caut, it vanishd.  Then it began miaowing in
difrnt parts of th room.  At last I opend th windo and made a
busl.  I supose it went out at last.  I nevr saw any mor of it.
"Then--Hevn nos wy--I fel thinkng of my father's funeral
again, and th disml windy hilside, until th day had com.  I
found sleepng was hopeless, and, lokng my dor aftr me, wandrd
out into th mornng streets."
"U dont mean to say ther's an invisbl cat at larj!"  said
Kemp.
"If it hasnt been kild," said th Invisbl Man.  "Wy not?"
"Wy not?" said Kemp.  "I didnt mean to intrupt."
"It's very probbly been kild," said th Invisbl Man.  "It was
alive four days aftr, I no, and down a grating in Gret Titchfield
Street; because I saw a crowd round th place, tryng to se wence
th miaowing came."
He was silent for th best part of a minute/minut.  Then he resumed
abruptly:
"I remembr that mornng befor th chanje very vividly.  I must hav
gon up Gret Portland Street.  I remembr th baraks in Albany
Street, and th horse soldirs comng out, and at last I found myself
sitng in th sunshine and feelng very il and stranje, on th
sumit of Primrose Hil.  It was a sunny day in Janury,--one of
those sunny, frosty days that came befor th sno this year.  My
weary brain tryd to formulate th position, to plot out a plan of
action.
"I was surprised to find, now that my prize was within my grasp, how
inconclusiv its atainmnt seemd.  As a matr of fact I was workd
out; th intense stress of nearly four years' continuus work left me
incapabl of any strength of feelng.  I was apathetic, and I tryd
in vain to recovr th enthusiasm of my first inquiris, th passion
of discovry that had enabled me to compas even th downfal of my
father's gray hairs.  Nothing seemd to matr.  I saw pretty clearly
this was a transient mood, du to overwork and want of sleep, and
that eithr by drugs or rest it wud be posbl to recovr my
enrjis.
"Al I cud think clearly was that th thing had to be carrid
thru; th fixd idea stil ruled me.  And soon, for th mony I
had was almost exaustd.  I lookd about me at th hilside, with
children playng and girls wachng them, and tryd to think of al
th fantastic advantajs an invisbl man wud hav in th world.
Aftr a time I crawld home, took som food and a strong dose of
strycnine, and went to sleep in my clothes on my unmade bed.
Strycnine is a grand tonic, Kemp, to take th flabbiness out of a
man."
"It's th devl," said Kemp.  "It's th paleolithic in a botl."
"I awoke vastly invigorated and rathr iritbl.  U no?"
"I no th stuf."
"And ther was som one rapng at th dor.  It was my landlord with
threts and inquiris, an old Polish Jew in a long gray coat and
gresy sliprs.  I had been tormentng a cat in th nyt he was
sure,--th old woman's tong had been busy.  He insistd on noing
al about it.  Th laws of this cuntry against vivisection wer very
severe,--he myt be liabl.  I denyd th cat.  Then th vibration
of th litl gas enjn cud be felt al over th house, he said.
That was tru, certnly.  He ejd round me into th room, peerng
about over his Jermn-silvr spectacls, and a sudn dred came into
my mind that he myt carry away somthing of my secret.  I tryd to
keep between him and th concentrating apratus I had aranjed, and
that only made him mor curius.  Wat was I doing?  Wy was I always
alone and secretiv?  Was it legal?  Was it danjerus?  I paid
nothing but th usul rent.  His had always been a most respectbl
house--in a disreputbl neibrhood.  Sudnly my tempr gave way.
I told him to get out.  He began to protest, to jabr of his ryt
of entry.  In a moment I had him by th colr; somthing ripd, and
he went spinng out into his own passaj.  I slamd and lokd th
dor and sat down quivrng.
"He made a fuss outside, wich I disregardd, and aftr a time he
went away.
"But this brot matrs to a crisis.  I did not no wat he wud
do, nor even wat he had powr to do.  To move to fresh apartmnts
wud hav ment delay; altogethr I had barely twenty pounds left in
th world,--for th most part in th bank,--and I cud not aford
that.  Vanish!  It was iresistbl.  Then ther wud be an inquiry,
th sakng of my room--
"At th thot of th posbility of my work being exposed or
intruptd at its very climax, I became angry and activ.  I hurrid
out with my thre books of notes, my chek-book,--th tramp has them
now,--and directd them from th nearst Post Ofice to a house of
cal for letrs and parcels in Gret Portland Street.  I tryd to go
out noislesly.  Comng in, I found my landlord going quietly
upstairs; he had herd th dor close, I supose.  U wud hav
lafd to se him jump aside on th landng as I came terng aftr
him.  He glared at me as I went by him, and I made th house quivr
with th slamng of my dor.  I herd him com shuflng up to my
flor, hesitate, and go down.  I set to work upon my preprations
forthwith.
"It was al don that evenng and nyt.  Wile I was stil sitng
undr th sikly, drowsy influence of th drugs that decolourise
blod, ther came a repeatd nokng at th dor.  It cesed,
footsteps went away and returnd, and th nokng was resumed.
Ther was an atemt to push somthing undr th dor--a blu paper.
Then in a fit of iritation I rose and went and flung th dor wide
open.  'Now then?' said I.
"It was my landlord, with a notice of ejectment or somthing.  He
held it out to me, saw somthing od about my hands, I expect, and
liftd his ys to my face.
"For a moment he gaped.  Then he gave a sort of inarticulat cry,
dropd candl and rit togethr, and went blundrng down th dark
passaj to th stairs.  I shut th dor, lokd it, and went to th
lookng-glass.  Then I undrstood his terr.  My face was wite
--like wite stone.
"But it was al horibl.  I had not expectd th sufrng.  A nyt
of rakng anguish, sikness and faintng.  I set my teeth, tho my
skin was presntly afire; al my body afire; but I lay ther like
grim deth.  I undrstood now how it was th cat had howld until I
chloroformed it.  Lucky it was I livd alone and untendd in my room.
Ther wer times wen I sobd and groand and talkd.  But I stuk
to it.  I became insensbl and woke languid in th darkns.
"Th pain had pasd.  I thot I was kilng myself and I did not
care.  I shal nevr forget that dawn, and th stranje horr of
seing that my hands had becom as cloudd glass, and wachng them
gro clearr and thinr as th day went by, until at last I cud
se th sikly disordr of my room thru them, tho I closed my
transparent ylids.  My lims became glassy, th bones and artris
faded, vanishd, and th litl wite nervs went last.  I ground my
teeth and stayd ther to th end.  At last only th ded tips of th
fingr-nails remaind, palid and wite, and th brown stain of som
acid upon my fingrs.
"I strugld up.  At first I was as incapabl as a swathed
infnt,--stepng with lims I cud not se.  I was weak and very
hungry.  I went and stared at nothing in my shaving-glass, at nothing
save wher an atenuated pigmnt stil remaind behind th retna of
my ys, faintr than mist.  I had to hang on to th table and press
my forhed to th glass.
"It was only by a frantic efrt of wil that I dragd myself bak
to th apratus and completed th process.
"I slept during th forenoon, pulng th sheet over my ys to shut
out th lyt, and about miday I was awakend again by a nokng.
My strength had returnd.  I sat up and lisnd and herd a
wisprng.  I sprang to my feet and as noislesly as posbl began
to detach th conections of my apratus, and to distribute it about
th room, so as to destroy th sujestions of its aranjemnt.
Presntly th nokng was renewd and voices cald, first my
landlord's, and then two othrs.  To gain time I ansrd them.  Th
invisbl rag and pilo came to hand and I opend th windo and
pichd them out on to th cistrn covr.  As th windo opend, a
hevy crash came at th dor.  Som one had charjd it with th idea
of smashng th lok.  But th stout bolts I had screwd up som days
befor stopd him.  That startld me, made me angry.  I began to
trembl and do things hurridly.
"I tosd togethr som loose paper, straw, pakng paper and so
forth, in th midl of th room, and turnd on th gas.  Hevy blos
began to rain upon th dor.  I cud not find th machs.  I beat
my hands on th wal with raje.  I turnd down th gas again, stepd
out of th windo on th cistrn covr, very softly loerd/lowrd th sash,
and sat down, secure and invisbl, but quivrng with angr, to
wach events.  They split a panl, I saw, and in anothr moment they
had broken away th staples of th bolts and stood in th open
dorway.  It was th landlord and his two step-sons, sturdy yung men
of thre or four and twenty.  Behind them flutrd th old hag of a
womn from downstairs.
"U may imajn ther astonishmnt on findng th room emty.  One
of th yungr men rushd to th windo at once, flung it up and
stared out.  His staring ys and thik-lipped beardd face came a
foot from my face.  I was half mindd to hit his silly countnnce,
but I arestd my dubld fist.  He stared ryt thru me.  So did
th othrs as they joind him.  Th old man went and peerd undr th
bed, and then they al made a rush for th cubrd.  They had to
argu about it at length in Yidish and Cokny English.  They
concluded I had not ansrd them, that ther imajnation had
deceved them.  A feelng of extrordnry elation took th place of
my angr as I sat outside th windo and wachd these four
peple--for th old lady came in, glancing suspiciusly about her
like a cat, tryng to undrstand th ridl of my behavir.
"Th old man, so far as I cud undrstand his patoi, agreed with
th old lady that I was a vivisectionist.  Th sons protestd in
garbld English that I was an electrician, and apeald to th
dynmos and radiators.  They wer al nervus against my arival,
altho I found subsequently that they had boltd th front dor.
Th old lady peerd into th cubrd and undr th bed, and one of
th yung men pushd up th rejistr and stared up th chimny.  One
of my felo lojrs, a costermonger ho shared th oposit room
with a buchr, apeard on th landng, and he was cald in and
told incoherent things.
"It ocurd to me that th radiators, if they fel into th hands of
som acute wel-educated persn, wud giv me away too much, and
wachng my oprtunity, I came into th room and tiltd one of th
litl dynmos off its felo on wich it was standng, and smashd
both apratus.  Then, wile they wer tryng to explain th smash, I
dojd out of th room and went softly downstairs.
"I went into one of th sitng-rooms and waitd until they came
down, stil speculating and argumentativ, al a litl disapointd
at findng no 'horrors,' and al a litl puzld how they stood with
regard to me.  Then I slipd up again with a box of machs, fired
my heap of paper and rubish, put th chairs and bedng therby, led
th gas to th afair, by means of an india- rubr tube, and waving
a farewel to th room left it for th last time."
"U fired th house!" exclaimd Kemp.
"Fired th house.  It was th only way to covr my trail--and no
dout it was insured.  I slipd th bolts of th front dor quietly
and went out into th street.  I was invisbl, and I was only just
beginng to realize th extrordnry advantaj my invisbility gave
me.  My hed was alredy teemng with plans of al th wild and
wondrful things I had now impunity to do."
			      **********
			      Chaptr 21
			   In Oxfrd Street
"In going downstairs th first time I found an unexpectd dificlty
because I cud not se my feet; indeed I stumbld twice, and ther
was an unacustmd clumsiness in gripng th bolt.  By not lookng
down, howevr, I manajd to walk on th levl passably wel.
"My mood, I say, was one of exltation.  I felt as a seing man myt
do, with padd feet and noisless clothes, in a city of th blind.
I experienced a wild impulse to jest, to startl peple, to clap men
on th bak, fling people's hats astray, and jenrly revl in my
extrordnry advantaj.
"But hardly had I emerjd upon Gret Portland Street, howevr (my
lojngs was close to th big draper's shop ther), wen I herd a
clashng concussion and was hit violently behind, and turnng saw a
man carrying a basket of soda-watr siphons, and lookng in amazemnt
at his burdn.  Altho th blo had realy hurt me, I found
somthing so iresistbl in his astonishmnt that I lafd aloud.
'The devil's in th basket,' I said, and sudnly twistd it out of
his hand.  He let go incontinently, and I swung th hole weit into
th air.
"But a fool of a cabman, standng outside a public house, made a
sudn rush for this, and his extendng fingrs took me with
excruciating violence undr th ear.  I let th hole down with a
smash on th cabman, and then, with shouts and th clatr of feet
about me, peple comng out of shops, vehicls pulng up, I realized
wat I had don for myself, and cursng my folly, bakd against a
shop windo and prepared to doj out of th confusion.  In a moment
I shud be wejd into a crowd and inevitbly discovrd.  I pushd
by th buchr boy, ho luckily did not turn to se th nothingness
that shovd him aside, and dojd behind th cabman's four-weelr.
I do not no how they setld th busness.  I hurrid strait
across th road, wich was happily clear, and hardly heedng wich
way I went, in th fryt of detection th incidnt had givn,
plunjd into th aftrnoon throng of Oxfrd Street.
"I tryd to get into th stream of peple, but they wer too thik
for me, and in a moment my heels wer being trodn upon.  I took to
th gutr, th rufness of wich I found painful to my feet, and
forthwith th shaft of a crawlng hansom dug me forcibly undr th
sholdr blade, remindng me that I was alredy brused severely.  I
stagrd out of th way of th cab, avoidd a perambulator by a
convulsiv movemnt, and found myself behind th hansom.  A happy
thot saved me, and as this drove sloly along I folod in its
imediat wake, tremblng and astonishd at th turn of my adventur.
And not only tremblng, but shivrng.  It was a bryt day in
Janury and I was stark naked and th thin slime of mud that covrd
th road was frezing.  Foolish as it seems to me now, I had not
reknd that, transparent or not, I was stil amenabl to th
wethr and al its consequences.
"Then sudnly a bryt idea came into my hed.  I ran round and got
into th cab.  And so, shivrng, scared, and snifng with th first
intmations of a cold, and with th bruses in th smal of my bak
groing upon my atention.  I drove sloly along Oxfrd Street and
past Totnm Cort Road.  My mood was as difrnt from that in
wich I had sallied forth ten minuts ago as it is posbl to
imajn.  This invisbility indeed!  Th one thot that posesd
me was--how was I to get out of th scrape I was in.
"We crawld past Mudie's, and ther a tal womn with five or six
yelo-labeld books haild my cab, and I sprang out just in time to
escape her, shaving a railway van naroly in my flyt.  I made off
up th roadway to Bloomsbury Square, intendng to strike north past
th Museum and so get into th quiet district.  I was not cruely
chilld, and th stranjeness of my situation so unervd me that I
wimprd as I ran.  At th northwrd cornr of th Square a litl
wite dog ran out of th Farmacuticl Society's ofices, and
incontinently made for me, nose down.
"I had nevr realized it befor, but th nose is to th mind of a dog
wat th y is to th mind of a seing man.  Dogs perceve th sent
of a man moving as men perceve his vision.  This brute began barkng
and leapng, shoing, as it seemd to me, only too plainly that he
was aware of me.  I crosd Gret Russell Street, glancing over my
sholdr as I did so, and went som way along Montague Street befor
I realized wat I was runng towards.
"Then I became aware of a blare of music, and lookng along th
street saw a numbr/numr of peple advancing out of Russell Square, red
shirts, and th banr of th Salvation Army to th for.  Such a
crowd, chantng in th roadway and scofng on th pavemnt, I cud
not hope to penetrate, and dredng to go bak and farthr from home
again, and deciding on th spur of th moment, I ran up th wite
steps of a house facing th Museum railngs, and stood ther until
th crowd shud hav pasd.  Happily th dog stopd at th noise
of th band too, hesitated, and turnd tail, runng bak to
Bloomsbury Square again.
"On came th band, bawlng with unconcius irony som hym about
'When shal we se his Face?' and it seemd an intermnbl time to
me befor th tide of th crowd washd along th pavemnt by me.
Thud, thud, thud, came th drum with a vibrating resnnce, and for
th moment I did not notice two urchns stopng at th railngs by
me.  'See 'em,' said one.  'See wat?' said th othr.  'Why--them
footmarks--bare.  Like wat u makes in mud.'
"I lookd down and saw th yungstrs had stopd and wer gaping at
th muddy footmarks I had left behind me up th newly witend steps.
Th pasng peple elbod and josld them, but ther confoundd
intelijnce was arestd.  'Thud, thud, thud, Wen, thud, shal we
se, thud, his face, thud, thud.'  'There's a barefoot man gon up
them steps, or I dont no nothing,' said one.  'And he aint nevr
com down again.  And his foot was a-bleedng.'
"Th thik of th crowd had alredy pasd.  'Looky ther, Ted,'
quoth th yungr of th detectivs, with th sharpness of surprise
in his voice, and pointd strait to my feet.  I lookd down and saw
at once th dim sujestion of ther outline skechd in splashs of
mud.  For a moment I was paralyzd.
"'Why, that's rum,' said th eldr.  'Dashed rum!  It's just like th
gost of a foot, aint it?'  He hesitated and advanced with
outstrechd hand.  A man puld up short to se wat he was
cachng, and then a girl.  In anothr moment he wud hav tuchd
me.  Then I saw wat to do.  I made a step, th boy startd bak with
an exclmation, and with a rapid movemnt I swung myself over into
th portico of th next house.  But th smalr boy was sharp-yd
enuf to folo th movemnt and befor I was wel down th steps
and upon th pavemnt, he had recovrd from his momentry
astonishmnt and was shoutng out that th feet had gon over th
wal.
"They rushd round and saw my new footmarks flash into being on th
loer/lowr step and upon th pavemnt.  'What's up?' askd som one.
'Feet!  Look!  Feet runng!'  Evrybody in th road, exept my thre
pursurs, was porng along aftr th Salvation Army, and this not
only impeded me but them.  Ther was an eddy of surprise and
interogation.  At th cost of bolng over one yung felo I got
thru, and in anothr moment I was rushng hedlong round th
circuit of Russell Square, with six or sevn astonishd peple
foloing my footmarks.  Ther was no time for explnation, or else
th hole host wud hav been aftr me.
"Twice I dubld round cornrs, thrice I crosd th road and came
bak on my traks, and then, as my feet grew hot and dry, th damp
impressions began to fade.  At last I had a brething space and
rubd my feet clean with my hands, and so got away altogethr.  Th
last I saw of th chase was a litl group of a dozn peple perhaps,
studying with infnit perplexity a sloly dryng footprint that had
resultd from a pudl in Travistock Square--a footprint as isolated
and incomprehensbl to them as Crusoe's solitry discovry.
"This runng warmd me to a certn extent, and I went on with a
betr curaj thru th maze of less frequentd roads that runs
hereabouts.  My bak had now becom very stif and sor, my tonsls
wer painful from th cabman's fingrs, and th skin of my nek had
been scrachd by his nails; my feet hurt exeedngly and I was lame
from a litl cut on one foot.  I saw in time a blind man aproachng
me, and fled limpng, for I feard his sutl intuitions.  Once or
twice accidentl colisions ocurd and I left peple amazed, with
unacountbl curses ringng in ther ears.  Then came somthing
silent and quiet against my face, and across th Square fel a thin
veil of sloly falng flakes of sno.  I had caut a cold, and do
as I wud I cud not avoid an ocasionl sneze.  And evry dog
that came in syt, with its pointng nose and curius snifng, was
a terr to me.
"Then came men and boys runng, first one and then othrs, and
shoutng as they ran.  It was a fire.  They ran in th direction of
my lojng, and lookng bak down a street I saw a mass of blak
smoke streamng up abov th roofs and telefone wires.  It was my
lojng burnng; my clothes, my apratus, al my resorces indeed,
exept my chek-book and th thre volumes of memranda that awaitd
me in Gret Portland Street, wer ther.  Burnng!  I had burnt my
boats--if evr a man did!  Th place was blazing."
Th Invisbl Man pausd and thot.  Kemp glanced nervusly out of
th windo.  "Yes?" he said.  "Go on."
			      **********
			      Chaptr 22
			   In th Emporium
"So last Janury, with th beginng of a snostorm in th air about
me--and if it setld on me it wud betray me!--weary, cold,
painful, inexpressibly reched, and stil but half convinced of my
invisbl quality, I began this new life to wich I am comitd.  I
had no refuje, no aplyances, no human being in th world in hom I
cud confide.  To hav told my secret wud hav givn me away--made
a mere sho and rarity of me.  Nevrthless, I was half mindd to
acost som pasr-by and thro myself upon his mercy.  But I new
too clearly th terr and brutal cruelty my advances wud evoke.  I
made no plans in th street.  My sole object was to get sheltr from
th sno, to get myself covrd and warm; then I myt hope to plan.
But even to me, an Invisbl Man, th rows/ros of Londn houses stood
lachd, bard, and boltd impregnably.
"Only one thing cud I se clearly befor me, th cold exposur and
misry of th snostorm and th nyt.
"And then I had a briliant idea.  I turnd down one of th roads
leadng/ledng from Gower Street to Totnm Cort Road, and found myself
outside Omniums, th big establishmnt wher everything is to be
bot--u no th place--meat, grocery, linn, furnitur,
clothing, oil paintngs even--a huje meandrng colection of shops
rathr than a shop.  I had thot I shud find th dors open, but
they wer closed, and as I stood in th wide entrance/entrnce a carrij
stopd outside, and a man in uniform--u no th kind of persnaj
with 'Omnium' on his cap--flung open th dor.  I contrived to entr,
and walkng down th shop--it was a departmnt wher they wer
selng ribns and glovs and stokngs and that kind of thing--came
to a mor spacius rejon devoted to picnic baskets and wikr
furnitur.
"I did not feel safe ther, howevr; peple wer going to and fro,
and I prowld restlesly about until I came upon a huje section in an
upr flor containng scors and hundreds of bedsteds, and beyond
these I found a restng-place at last among a huje pile of foldd
flok matresses.  Th place was alredy lit up and aggreeably warm,
and I decided to remain wher I was, keepng a cautius y on th
two or thre sets of shopmen and custmrs ho wer meandrng
thru th place until closing time came.  Then I shud be able, I
thot, to rob th place for food and clothing, and disgised, prowl
thru it and examn its resorces, perhaps sleep on som of th
bedng.  That seemd an acceptbl plan.  My idea was to procure
clothing to make myself a mufld but acceptbl figr, to get
mony, and then to recovr my books and parcels wher they awaitd
me, take a lojng somwher and elabrate/elabrat plans for th complete
realization of th advantajs my invisbility gave me (as I stil
imajnd) over my felo-men.
"Closing time arived quikly enuf; it cud not hav been mor
than an our aftr I took up my position on th matresses befor I
noticed th blinds of th windos being drawn, and custmrs being
marchd doorward.  And then a numbr/numr of brisk yung men began with
remarkbl alacrity to tidy up th goods that remaind disturbd.  I
left my lair as th crowds diminishd, and prowld cautiusly out
into th less deslat parts of th shop.  I was realy surprised to
observ how rapidly th yung men and women wipd away th goods
displayd for sale during th day.  Al th boxs of goods, th
hangng fabrics, th festoons of lace, th boxs of sweets in th
grocery section, th displays of this and that, wer being wipd
down, foldd up, slapd into tidy receptacls, and everything that
cud not be taken down and put away had sheets of som corse stuf
like sakng flung over it.  Finaly al th chairs wer turnd up on
to th countrs, leving th flor clear.  Directly each of these
yung peple had don, he or she made promtly for th dor with such
an expression of anmation as I hav rarely observd in a shop
asistnt befor.  Then came a lot of yungstrs scatrng sawdust
and carrying pails and brooms.  I had to doj to get out of th way,
and as it was, my ankl got stung with th sawdust.  For som time,
wandrng thru th swathed and darknd departmnts, I cud hear
th brooms at work.  And at last a good our or mor aftr th shop
had been closed, came a noise of lokng dors.  Silence came upon
th place, and I found myself wandrng thru th vast and
intricat shops, galris and shorooms of th place, alone.  It was
very stil; in one place I remembr pasng near one of th Totnm
Cort Road entrances/entrnces and lisnng to th tapng of bootheels of th
pasrs-by.
"My first visit was to th place wher I had seen stokngs and
glovs for sale.  It was dark, and I had th devl of a hunt aftr
machs, wich I found at last in th drawr of th litl cash desk.
Then I had to get a candl.  I had to tear/ter down rapngs and ransak
a numbr/numr of boxs and drawrs, but at last I manajd to turn out wat
I sot; th box label cald them lambswool pants, and lambswool
vests.  Then soks, a thik comfrtr, and then I went to th
clothing place and got trousrs, a lounj jaket, an overcoat and a
slouch hat --a clericl sort of hat with th brim turnd down.  I
began to feel a human being again, and my next thot was food.
"Upstairs was a refreshmnt departmnt, and ther I got cold meat.
Ther was cofee stil in th urn, and I lit th gas and warmd it up
again, and altogethr I did not do badly.  Aftrwrds, prowlng
thru th place in serch of blankets--I had to put up at last with
a heap of down quilts--I came upon a grocery section with a lot of
choclat and candid fruits, mor than was good for me indeed--and
som wite burgndy.  And near that was a toy departmnt, and I had a
briliant idea.  I found som artificial noses--dummy noses, u
no, and I thot of dark spectacls.  But Omniums had no opticl
departmnt.  My nose had been a dificlty indeed--I had thot of
paint.  But th discovry set my mind runng on wigs and masks and
th like.  Finaly I went to sleep on a heap of down quilts, very
warm and comfrtbl.
"My last thots befor sleepng wer th most agreeabl I had had
since th chanje.  I was in a state of fysicl serenity, and that
was reflectd in my mind.  I thot that I shud be able to slip
out unobservd in th mornng with my clothes upon me, muflng my
face with a wite rapr I had taken, purchas, with th mony I had
taken, spectacls and so forth, and so complete my disgise.  I
lapsd into disordrly dreams of al th fantastic things that had
hapnd during th last few days.  I saw th ugly litl Jew of a
landlord vociferating in his rooms; I saw his two sons marvlng,
and th rinkld old woman's narld face as she askd for her cat.
I experienced again th stranje sensation of seing th cloth
disapear, and so I came round to th windy hilside and th snifng
old clerjyman mumblng 'Dust to dust, erth to erth,' and my
father's open grave.
"'You also,' said a voice, and sudnly I was being forced towards
th grave.  I strugld, shoutd, apeald to th mornrs, but they
continud stonily foloing th service; th old clerjyman, too,
nevr faltrd droning and snifng thru th ritul.  I realized I
was invisbl and inaudbl, that overwelmng forces had ther grip
on me.  I strugld in vain, I was forced over th brink, th cofn
rang holo as I fel upon it, and th gravl came flyng aftr me in
spadefuls.  Nobody heedd me, nobody was aware of me.  I made
convulsiv strugls and awoke.
"Th pale Londn dawn had com, th place was ful of a chilly gray
lyt that filtrd round th ejs of th windo blinds.  I sat up,
and for a time I cud not think wher this ampl apartmnt, with its
countrs, its piles of rold stuf, its heaps of quilts and
cushns, its iron pilrs, myt be.  Then, as reclection came
bak to me, I herd voices in convrsation.
"Then far down th place, in th brytr lyt of som departmnt
wich had alredy rased its blinds, I saw two men aproachng.  I
scrambld to my feet, lookng about me for som way of escape, and
even as I did so th sound of my movemnt made them aware of me.  I
supose they saw merely a figr moving quietly and quikly away.
'Who's that?' cryd one, and 'Stop ther,' shoutd th othr.  I
dashd round a cornr and came ful tilt--a faceless figr, mind
u!--on a lanky lad of fifteen.  He yeld and I bold him over,
rushd past him, turnd anothr cornr, and by a happy inspration
threw myself flat behind a countr.  In anothr moment feet went
runng past and I herd voices shoutng, 'All hands to th dors!'
askng wat was 'up,' and givng one anothr advice how to cach me.
"Lyng on th ground, I felt scared out of my wits.  But--od as it
may seem--it did not ocur to me at th moment to take off my clothes
as I shud hav don.  I had made up my mind, I supose, to get away
in them, and that ruled me.  And then down th vista of th countrs
came a bawlng of 'Here he is!'
"I sprang to my feet, wipd a chair off th countr, and sent it
wirlng at th fool ho had shoutd, turnd, came into anothr round
a cornr, sent him spinng, and rushd up th stairs.  He kept his
footng, gave a vew helo! and came up th staircase hot aftr me.
Up th staircase wer piled a multitude of those bryt- colord pot
things--wat ar they?"
"Art pots," sujestd Kemp.
"That's it!  Art pots.  Wel, I turnd at th top step and swung
round, plukd one out of a pile and smashd it on his silly hed as
he came at me.  Th hole pile of pots went hedlong, and I herd
shoutng and footsteps runng from al parts.  I made a mad rush for
th refreshmnt place, and ther was a man in wite like a man cook,
ho took up th chase.  I made one last desprat turn and found
myself among lamps and ironmongry.  I went behind th countr of
this, and waitd for my cook, and as he boltd in at th hed of th
chase, I dubld him up with a lamp.  Down he went, and I crouchd
behind th countr and began wipng off my clothes as fast as I
cud.  Coat, jaket, trousrs, shoes wer al ryt, but a lambswool
vest fits a man like a skin.  I herd mor men comng, my cook was
lyng quiet on th othr side of th countr, stund or scared
speechless, and I had to make anothr dash for it, like a rabit
huntd out of a wood-pile.
"'This way, policeman!' I herd som one shoutng.  I found myself in
my bedsted stor-room again, and at th end a wildrness of
wardrobes.  I rushd among them, went flat, got rid of my vest aftr
infnit riglng, and stood a fre man again, pantng and scared,
as th policeman and thre of th shopmen came round th cornr.
They made a rush for th vest and pants, and colrd th trousrs.
'He's dropng his plundr,' said one of th yung men.  'He must be
somwher here.'
"But they did not find me al th same.
"I stood wachng them hunt for me for a time, and cursng my
il-luk in losing th clothes.  Then I went into th refreshmnt-
room, drank a litl milk I found ther, and sat down by th fire to
considr my position.
"In a litl wile two asistnts came and began to talk over th
busness very exitedly and like th fools they wer.  I herd a
magnifyd acount of my depredations, and othr speculations as to my
wherabouts.  Then I fel to sceming again.  Th insurmountbl
dificlty of th place, especialy now it was alarmd, was to get
any plundr out of it.  I went down into th warehouse to se if
ther was any chance of pakng and adresng a parcel, but I cud
not undrstand th systm of chekng.  About elevn oclok, th
sno havng thawd as it fel, and th day being finer and a litl
warmr than th previus one, I decided that th Emporium was
hopeless, and went out again, exasprated at my want of success, with
only th vagest plans of action in my mind."
			      **********
			      Chaptr 23
			    In Drury Lane
"But u begin to realize now," said th Invisbl Man, "th ful
disadvantaj of my condition.  I had no sheltr, no covrng.  To get
clothing was to forgo al my advantaj, to make of myself a stranje
and teribl thing.  I was fastng; for to eat, to fil myself with
unassimilated matr, wud be to becom grotesqly visbl again."
"I nevr thot of that," said Kemp.
"Nor had I.  And th sno had warnd me of othr danjers.  I cud
not go abrod in sno--it wud setl on me and expose me.  Rain,
too, wud make me a watry outline, a glisnng surface of a man--a
bubl.  And fog--I shud be like a faintr bubl in a fog, a
surface, a gresy glimr of humanity.  Morover, as I went
abrod--in th Londn air--I gathrd dirt about my ankls, floatng
smuts and dust upon my skin.  I did not no how long it wud be
befor I shud becom visbl from that cause also.  But I saw
clearly it cud not be for long.
"Not in Londn at any rate.
"I went into th slums towards Gret Portland Street, and found
myself at th end of th street in wich I had lojd.  I did not go
that way, because of th crowd halfway down it oposit to th stil
smoking ruins of th house I had fired.  My most imediat problm
was to get clothing.  Wat to do with my face puzld me.  Then I saw
in one of those litl mislaneus shops--news, sweets, toys,
stationry, belated Crismas tomfoolery, and so forth--an aray of
masks and noses.  I realized that problm was solvd.  In a flash I
saw my corse.  I turnd about, no longr aimless, and went--
circuitously in ordr to avoid th busy ways, towards th bak
streets north of th Strand; for I remembrd, tho not very
distinctly wher, that som theatricl costumirs had shops in that
district.
"Th day was cold, with a nipng wind down th northwrd runng
streets.  I walkd fast to avoid being overtaken.  Evry crosng was
a danjer, evry pasnjr a thing to wach alertly.  One man as I was
about to pass him at th top of Bedford Street, turnd upon me
abruptly and came into me, sendng me into th road and almost undr
th weel of a pasng hansom.  Th verdict of th cab-rank was that
he had had som sort of stroke.  I was so unervd by this encountr
that I went into Covnt Gardn Market and sat down for som time in a
quiet cornr by a stal of violets, pantng and tremblng.  I found I
had caut a fresh cold, and had to turn out aftr a time lest my
snezes shud atract atention.
"At last I reachd th object of my quest, a dirty fly-blown litl
shop in a byway near Drury Lane, with a windo ful of tinsl robes,
sham jewls, wigs, sliprs, dominos and theatricl fotografs.
Th shop was old-fashnd and lo and dark, and th house rose abov
it for four storis, dark and disml.  I peerd thru th windo
and, seing no one within, entrd.  Th openng of th dor set a
clankng bel ringng.  I left it open, and walkd round a bare
costume stand, into a cornr behind a cheval glass.  For a minute/minut or
so no one came.  Then I herd hevy feet striding across a room, and
a man apeard down th shop.
"My plans wer now perfectly defnit.  I proposed to make my way
into th house, secrete myself upstairs, wach my oprtunity, and
wen everything was quiet, rumaj out a wig, mask, spectacls, and
costume, and go into th world, perhaps a grotesq but stil a
credbl figr.  And incidently of corse I cud rob th house of
any availbl mony.
"Th man ho had entrd th shop was a short, slyt, hunchd,
beetl-browed man, with long arms and very short bandy legs.
Aparently I had intruptd a meal.  He stared about th shop with
an expression of expectation.  This gave way to surprise, and then
angr, as he saw th shop emty.  'Damn th boys!' he said.  He went
to stare up and down th street.  He came in again in a minute/minut,
kikd th dor to with his foot spitefuly, and went mutrng bak
to th house dor.
"I came forwrd to folo him, and at th noise of my movemnt he
stopd ded.  I did so too, startld by his quikness of ear.  He
slamd th house dor in my face.
"I stood hesitating.  Sudnly I herd his quik footsteps returng,
and th dor reopend.  He stood lookng about th shop like one ho
was stil not satisfyd.  Then, murmrng to himself, he examnd th
bak of th countr and peerd behind som fixturs.  Then he stood
doutful.  He had left th house dor open and I slipd into th
inr room.
"It was a queer litl room, poorly furnishd and with a numbr/numr of
big masks in th cornr.  On th table was his belated brekfast, and
it was a confoundedly exasprating thing for me, Kemp, to hav to
snif his cofee and stand wachng wile he came in and resumed his
meal.  And his table manrs wer iritating.  Thre dors opend
into th litl room, one going upstairs and one down, but they wer
al shut.  I cud not get out of th room wile he was ther, I
cud scarcely move because of his alertness, and ther was draft
down my bak.  Twice I strangld a sneze just in time.
"Th spectaculr quality of my sensations was curius and novl, but
for al that I was hartily tired and angry long befor he had don
his eatng.  But at last he made an end and putng his beggarly
crokry on th blak tin tray upon wich he had had his tepot, and
gathrng al th crums up on th mustrd-staind cloth, he took th
hole lot of things aftr him.  His burdn preventd his shutng th
dor behind him--as he wud hav don; I nevr saw such a man for
shutng dors--and I folod him into a very dirty undrground
kichn and sculry.  I had th plesur of seing him begin to wash
up, and then, findng no good in keepng down ther, and th brik
flor being cold to my feet, I returnd upstairs and sat in his chair
by th fire.  It was burnng lo, and scarcely thinkng, I put on a
litl coal.  Th noise of this brot him up at once, and he stood
aglare.  He peerd about th room and was within an ace of tuchng
me.  Even aftr that examnation, he scarcely seemd satisfyd.  He
stopd in th dorway and took a final inspection befor he went
down.
"I waitd in th litl parlr for an aje, and at last he came up
and opend th upstairs dor.  I just manajd to get by him.
"On th staircase he stopd sudnly, so that I very nearly
blundrd into him.  He stood lookng bak ryt into my face and
lisnng.  'I cud hav sworn,' he said.  His long hairy hand
puld at his loer/lowr lip.  His y went up and down th staircase.
Then he gruntd and went on up again.
"His hand was on th handl of a dor, and then he stopd again with
th same puzld angr on his face.  He was becomng aware of th
faint sounds of my movemnts about him.  Th man must hav had
diabolically acute hearng.  He sudnly flashd into raje.  'If
ther's any one in this house,' he cryd with an oath, and left th
thret unfinishd.  He put his hand in his poket, faild to find
wat he wantd, and rushng past me went blundrng noisily and
pugnaciously downstairs.  But I did not folo him.  I sat on th
hed of th staircase until his return.
"Presntly he came up again, stil mutrng.  He opend th dor of
th room, and befor I cud entr, slamd it in my face.
"I resolvd to explor th house, and spent som time in doing so as
noislesly as posbl.  Th house was very old and tumbldown, damp
so that th paper in th atics was peelng from th wals, and
rat-infestd.  Som of th dor handls wer stif and I was afraid
to turn them.  Sevrl rooms I did inspect wer unfurnishd, and
othrs wer litrd with theatricl lumbr, bot secnd-hand, I
jujd, from its apearnce.  In one room next to his I found a lot
of old clothes.  I began ruting/routng among these, and in my eagrness
forgot again th evidnt sharpness of his ears.  I herd a stelthy
footstep and, lookng up just in time, saw him peerng in at th
tumbld heap and holdng an old-fashnd revolvr in his hand.  I
stood perfectly stil wile he stared about open-mouthd and
suspicius.  'It must hav been her,' he said sloly.  'Damn her!'
"He shut th dor quietly, and imediatly I herd th ke turn in
th lok.  Then his footsteps retreatd.  I realized abruptly that I
was lokd in.  For a minute/minut a did not no wat to do.  I walkd
from dor to windo and bak, and stood perplexd.  A gust of angr
came upon me.  But I decided to inspect th clothes befor I did
anything furthr, and my first atemt brot down a pile from an
upr shelf.  This brot him bak, mor sinistr than evr.  That
time he actuly tuchd me, jumpd bak with amazemnt and stood
astonishd in th midl of th room.
"Presntly he calmd a litl.  'Rats,' he said in an undrtone,
fingrs on lip.  He was evidntly a litl scared.  I ejd quietly
out of th room, but a plank creakd.  Then th infernl litl brute
startd going al over th house, revolvr in hand and lokng dor
aftr dor and poketng th kes.  Wen I realized wat he was up to
I had a fit of raje--I cud hardly control myself suficiently to
wach my oprtunity.  By this time I new he was alone in th house,
and so I made no mor ado, but nokd him on th hed."
"Nokd him on th hed!" exclaimd Kemp.
"Yes--stund him--as he was going downstairs.  Hit him from behind
with a stool that stood on th landng.  He went downstairs like a
bag of old boots."
"But--!  I say!  Th comn conventions of humanity--"
"Ar al very wel for comn peple.  But th point was, Kemp, that
I had to get out of that house in a disgise without his seing me.
I cudnt think of any othr way of doing it.  And then I gagd him
with a Lui Quatorze vest and tied him up in a sheet."
"Tied him up in a sheet!"
"Made a sort of bag of it.  It was rathr a good idea to keep th
idiot scared and quiet, and a devlish hard thing to get out of--
hed away from th string.  My dear Kemp, it's no good yr sitng
and glaring as tho I was a murdrr.  It had to be don.  He had
his revolvr.  If once he saw me he wud be able to describe me--"
"But stil," said Kemp, "in England--to-day.  And th man was in his
own house, and u wer--wel, robng."
"Robng!  Confound it!  U'l cal me a thief next!  Surely, Kemp,
u'r not fool enuf to dance on th old strings.  Cant u se my
position?"
"And his too," said Kemp.
Th Invisbl Man stood up sharply.  "Wat do u mean to say?"
Kemp's face grew a trifle hard.  He was about to speak and chekd
himself.  "I supose, aftr al," he said with a sudn chanje of
manr, "th thing had to be don.  U wer in a fix.  But stil--"
"Of corse I was in a fix--an infernl fix.  And he made me wild
too--huntng me about th house, foolng about with his revolvr,
lokng and unlokng dors.  He was simply exasprating.  U dont
blame me, do u?  U dont blame me?"
"I nevr blame any one," said Kemp.  "It's quite out of fashn.
Wat did u do next?"
"I was hungry.  Downstairs I found a loaf and som rank chese --mor
than suficient to satisfy my hungr.  I took som brandy and watr,
and then went up past my impromtu bag--he was lyng quite stil--to
th room containng th old clothes.  This lookd out upon th
street, two lace curtns brown with dirt gardng th windo.  I
went and peerd out thru ther interstices.  Outside th day was
bryt--by contrast with th brown shados of th disml house in
wich I found myself, dazlngly bryt.  A brisk trafic was going
by, fruit carts, a hansom, a four-weelr with a pile of boxs, a
fishmonger's cart.  I turnd with spots of color swimng befor my
ys to th shadowy fixturs behind me.  My exitemnt was givng
place to a clear aprehension of my position again.  Th room was
ful of a faint sent of benzoline, used, I supose, in cleanng th
garmnts.
"I began a systmatic serch of th place.  I shud juj th
hunchbak had been alone in th house for som time.  He was a
curius persn.  Everything that cud posbly be of service to me I
colectd in th clothes storoom, and then I made a delibrate/delibrat
selection.  I found a handbag I thot a suitbl posession, and
som powdr, ruje, and stikng-plastr.
"I had thot of paintng and powdrng my face and al that ther
was to sho of me, in ordr to rendr myself visbl, but th
disadvantaj of this lay in th fact that I shud require turpntine
and othr aplyances and a considrbl amount of time befor I cud
vanish again.  Finaly I chose a mask of th betr typ, slytly
grotesq but not mor so than many human beings, dark glasses,
grayish wiskrs, and a wig.  I cud find no underclothing, but that
I cud by subsequently, and for th time I swathed myself in calico
dominos and som wite cashmere scarfs.  I cud find no soks, but
th hunchback's boots wer rathr a loose fit and suficed.  In a
desk in th shop wer thre sovrens and about thirty shillings'
worth of silvr, and in a lokd cubrd I burst in th inr room
wer eit pounds in gold.  I cud go forth into th world again,
equipd.
"Then came a curius hesitation.  Was my apearnce realy--
credbl?  I tryd myself with a litl bedroom lookng-glass,
inspectng myself from evry point of vew to discovr any forgotn
chink, but it al seemd sound.  I was grotesq to th theatricl
pich, a staje miser, but I was certnly not a fysicl
imposbility.  Gathrng confidnce, I took my lookng-glass down
into th shop, puld down th shop blinds, and surveyd myself from
evry point of vew with th help of th cheval glass in th cornr.
"I spent som minuts screwng up my curaj and then unlokd th
shop dor and marchd out into th street, leving th litl man to
get out of his sheet again wen he liked.  In five minuts a dozn
turnngs intrvened between me and th costumier's shop.  No one
apeard to notice me very pointdly.  My last dificlty seemd
overcom."
He stopd again.
"And u trubld no mor about th hunchbak?" said Kemp.
"No," said th Invisbl Man.  "Nor hav I herd wat became of him.
I supose he untied himself or kikd himself out.  Th nots wer
pretty tyt."
He became silent, and went to th windo and stared out.
"Wat hapnd wen u went out into th Strand?"
"O!--disilusionmnt again.  I thot my trubls wer over.
Practicly I thot I had impunity to do watevr I chose,
everything--save to giv away my secret.  So I thot.  Watevr I
did, watevr th consequences myt be, was nothing to me.  I had
merely to fling aside my garmnts and vanish.  No persn cud hold
me.  I cud take my mony wher I found it.  I decided to treat
myself to a sumtuus feast, and then put up at a good hotel, and
acumulate a new outfit of proprty.  I felt amazingly
confidnt--it's not particulrly plesnt recalng that I was an
ass.  I went into a place and was alredy ordrng a lunch, wen it
ocurd to me that I cud not eat unless I exposed my invisbl
face.  I finishd ordrng th lunch, told th man I shud be bak
in ten minuts, and went out exasprated.  I dont no if u hav
evr been disapointd in yr apetite."
"Not quite so badly," said Kemp, "but I can imajn it."
"I cud hav smashd th silly devls.  At last, faint with th
desire for tasteful food, I went into anothr place and demandd a
privat room.  'I am disfigrd,' I said.  'Badly.'  They lookd at
me curiusly, but of corse it was not ther afair--and so at last I
got my lunch.  It was not particulrly wel servd, but it suficed;
and wen I had had it, I sat over a cigar, tryng to plan my line of
action.  And outside a snostorm was beginng.
"Th mor I thot it over, Kemp, th mor I realized wat a
helpless absurdity an Invisbl Man was--in a cold and dirty climat
and a crowdd civlized city.  Befor I made this mad experimnt I
had dremt of a thousnd advantajs.  That aftrnoon it seemd al
disapointmnt.  I went over th heds of th things a man rekns
desirebl.  No dout invisbility made it posbl to get them, but
it made it imposbl to enjoy them wen they ar got.
Ambition--wat is th good of pride of place wen u canot apear
ther?  Wat is th good of th lov of womn wen her name must
needs be Delilah?  I hav no taste for politics, for th
blackguardisms of fame, for filanthropy, for sport.  Wat was I to
do?  And for this I had becom a rapd-up mystry, a swathed and
bandajd caricatur of a man!"
He pausd, and his atitude sujestd a roving glance at th windo.
"But how did u get to Iping?" said Kemp, anxius to keep his gest
busy talkng.
"I went ther to work.  I had one hope.  It was a half idea!  I hav
it stil.  It is a ful blown idea now.  A way of getng bak!  Of
restorng wat I hav don.  Wen I choose.  Wen I hav don al I
mean to do invisbly.  And that is wat I chiefly want to talk to u
about now."
"U went strait to Iping?"
"Yes.  I had simply to get my thre volumes of memranda and my
chek-book, my lugaj and underclothing, ordr a quantity of
chemicls to work out this idea of mine--I wil sho u th
calculations as soon as I get my books--and then I startd.  Jove!  I
remembr th snostorm now, and th acursed/acursd bothr it was to keep
th sno from dampng my pasteboard nose."
"At th end," said Kemp, "th day befor yestrday, wen they found
u out, u rathr--to juj by th papers--"
"I did.  Rathr.  Did I kil that fool of a constbl?"
"No," said Kemp.  "He's expectd to recovr."
"That's his luk, then.  I clean lost my tempr, th fools!  Wy
cudnt they leve me alone?  And that grocer lout?"
"Ther ar no deths expectd," said Kemp.
"I dont no about that tramp of mine," said th Invisbl Man, with
an unplesnt laf.
"By Hevn, Kemp, u dont no wat raje is!  To hav workd for
years, to hav pland and plotd, and then to get som fumblng
purblind idiot mesng across yr corse!  Evry concevebl sort of
silly creatur that has evr been created has been sent to cross me.
"If I hav much mor of it, I shal go wild--I shal start moing
'em.
"As it is, they'v made things a thousnd times mor dificlt."
"No dout it's exasprating," said Kemp, dryly.
			      **********
			      Chaptr 24
			 Th Plan That Faild
"But now," said Kemp, with a side glance out of th windo, "wat ar
we to do?"
He moved nearr his gest as he spoke in such a manr as to prevent
th posbility of a glimps of th thre men ho wer advancing up
th hil road--with an intolrbl sloness, as it seemd to Kemp.
"Wat wer u planng to do wen u wer hedng for Port Burdok?
Had u any plan?"
"I was going to clear out of th cuntry.  But I hav altrd that
plan rathr since seing u.  I thot it wud be wise, now th
wethr is hot and invisbility posbl, to make for th South.
Especialy as my secret was nown, and evry one wud be on th
lookout for a maskd and mufld man.  U hav a line of steamrs
from here to France.  My idea was to get abord one and run th risks
of th passaj.  Thence I cud go by train into Spain, or else get
to Aljirs.  It wud not be dificlt.  Ther a man myt always be
invisbl--and yet live/liv.  And do things.  I was using that tramp as a
mony box and lugaj carrir, until I decided how to get my books
and things sent over to meet me."
"That's clear."
"And then th filthy brute must needs try and rob me!  He has hidn
my books, Kemp.  Hidn my books!  If I can lay my hands on him!"
"Best plan to get th books out of him first."
"But wher is he?  Do u no?"
"He's in th town police station, lokd up, by his own request, in
th strongst cel in th place."
"Cur!" said th Invisbl Man.
"But that hangs up yr plans a litl."
"We must get those books; those books ar vital."
"Certnly," said Kemp, a litl nervusly, wondrng if he herd
footsteps outside.  "Certnly we must get those books.  But that
wont be dificlt, if he dosnt no they'r for u."
"No," said th Invisbl Man, and thot.
Kemp tryd to think of somthing to keep th talk going, but th
Invisbl Man resumed of his own acord.
"Blundrng into yr house, Kemp," he said, "chanjes al my plans.
For u ar a man that can undrstand.  In spite of al that has
hapnd, in spite of this publicity, of th loss of my books, of
wat I hav sufrd, ther stil remain gret posbilitis, huje
posbilitis--
"U hav told no one I am here?" he askd abruptly.
Kemp hesitated.  "That was implyd," he said.
"No one?" insistd Grifn.
"Not a sol."
"Ah!  Now--" Th Invisbl Man stood up, and stikng his arms akimbo
began to pace th study.
"I made a mistake, Kemp, a huje mistake, in carrying this thing
thru alone.  I hav wasted strength, time, oprtunitis.
Alone--it is wondrful how litl a man can do alone!  To rob a
litl, to hurt a litl, and ther is th end.
"Wat I want, Kemp, is a goal-keepr, a helpr, and a hiding- place,
an aranjemnt wherby I can sleep and eat and rest in pece, and
unsuspectd.  I must hav a confedrat.  With a confedrat, with
food and rest--a thousnd things ar posbl.
"Hithrto I hav gon on vage lines.  We hav to considr al that
invisbility means, al that it does/dos not mean.  It means litl
advantaj for evesdropng and so forth--one makes sounds.  It's of
litl help, a litl help perhaps--in housbrekng and so forth.
Once u'v caut me u cud esily imprisn me.  But on th othr
hand I am hard to cach.  This invisbility, in fact, is only good in
two cases: It's useful in getng away, it's useful in aproachng.
It's particulrly useful, therfor, in kilng.  I can walk round a
man, watevr wepn he has, choose my point, strike as I like.
Doj as I like.  Escape as I like."
Kemp's hand went to his mustach.  Was that a movemnt downstairs?
"And it is kilng we must do, Kemp."
"It is kilng we must do," repeatd Kemp.  "I'm lisnng to yr
plan, Grifn, but I'm not agreeing, mind.  Wy kilng?"
"Not wantn kilng but a judicius slayng.  Th point is they no
ther is an Invisbl Man--as wel as we no ther is an Invisbl
Man.  And that Invisbl Man, Kemp, must now establish a Rein of
Terr.  Yes--no dout it's startlng.  But I mean it.  A Rein of
Terr.  He must take som town like yr Burdok and terify and
domnate it.  He must isu his ordrs.  He can do that in a thousnd
ways--scraps of paper thrust undr dors wud sufice.  And al ho
disobey his ordrs he must kil, and kil al ho wud defend th
disobedient."
"Humf!" said Kemp, no longr lisnng to Grifn but to th sound
of his front dor openng and closing.
"It seems to me, Grifn," he said, to covr his wandrng atention,
"that yr confedrat wud be in a dificlt position."
"No one wud no he was a confedrat," said th Invisbl Man,
eagrly.  And then sudnly, "Hush!  Wat's that downstairs?"
"Nothing," said Kemp, and sudnly began to speak loud and fast.  "I
dont agree to this, Grifn," he said.  "Undrstand me, I dont
agree to this.  Wy dream of playng a game against th race?  How
can u hope to gain happiness?  Dont be a lone wolf.  Publish yr
results; take th world--take th nation at least--into yr
confidnce.  Think wat u myt do with a milion helprs--"
Th Invisbl Man intruptd Kemp.  "Ther ar footsteps comng
upstairs," he said in a lo voice.
"Nonsnse," said Kemp.
"Let me se," said th Invisbl Man, and advanced, arm extendd, to
th dor.
Kemp hesitated for a secnd and then moved to intrcept him.  Th
Invisbl Man startd and stood stil.  "Traitr!" cryd th Voice,
and sudnly th dresng-gown opend, and sitng down th Unseen
began to disrobe.  Kemp made thre swift steps to th dor, and
forthwith th Invisbl Man--his legs had vanishd--sprang to his
feet with a shout.  Kemp flung th dor open.
As it opend, ther came a sound of hurrying feet downstairs and
voices.
With a quik movemnt Kemp thrust th Invisbl Man bak, sprang
aside, and slamd th dor.  Th ke was outside and redy.  In
anothr moment Grifn wud hav been alone in th belvedere study,
a prisnr.  Save for one litl thing.  Th ke had been slipd in
hastily that mornng.  As Kemp slamd th dor it fel noisily upon
th carpet.
Kemp's face became wite.  He tryd to grip th dor handl with both
hands.  For a moment he stood lugng.  Then th dor gave six
inchs.  But he got it closed again.  Th secnd time it was jerkd a
foot wide, and th dresng-gown came wejng itself into th
openng.  His throat was gripd by invisbl fingrs, and he left
his hold on th handl to defend himself.  He was forced bak,
tripd and pichd hevily into th cornr of th landng.  Th
emty dresng- gown was flung on th top of him.
Halfway up th staircase was Colnl Adye, th recipient of Kemp's
letr, th chief of th Burdok police.  He was staring agast at
th sudn apearnce of Kemp, folod by th extrordnry syt of
clothing tosng emty in th air.  He saw Kemp feld, and
struglng to his feet.  He saw him rush forwrd, and go down again,
feld like an ox.
Then sudnly he was struk violently.  By nothing!  A vast weit,
it seemd, lept upon him, and he was hurld hedlong down th
staircase, with a grip at his throat and a ne in his groin.  An
invisbl foot trod on his bak, a gostly patr pasd downstairs,
he herd th two police oficers in th hal shout and run, and th
front dor of th house slamd violently.
He rold over and sat up staring.  He saw, stagrng down th
staircase, Kemp, dusty and dishevld, one side of his face wite
from a blo, his lip bleedng, holdng a pink dresng-gown and som
underclothing in his arms.
"My God!" cryd Kemp, "th game's up!  He's gon!"
			      **********
			      Chaptr 25
		   Th Huntng of th Invisbl Man
For a space Kemp was too inarticulat to make Adye undrstand th
swift things that had just hapnd.  Th two men stood on th
landng, Kemp speakng swiftly, th grotesq swathings of Grifn
stil on his arm.  But presntly Adye began to grasp somthing of th
situation.
"He's mad," said Kemp; "inhuman.  He is pure selfishness.  He thinks
of nothing but his own advantaj, his own safety.  I hav lisnd to
such a story this mornng of brutal self-seekng!  He has woundd
men.  He wil kil them unless we can prevent him.  He wil create a
panic.  Nothing can stop him.  He is going out now--furius!"
"He must be caut," said Adye.  "That is certn."
"But how?" cryd Kemp, and sudnly became ful of ideas.  "U must
begin at once.  U must set evry availbl man to work.  U must
prevent his leving this district.  Once he gets away he may go
thru th cuntryside as he wils, kilng and maimng.  He dreams
of a rein of terr!  A rein of terr, I tel u.  U must set a
wach on trains and roads and shipng.  Th garisn must help.  U
must wire for help.  Th only thing that may keep him here is th
thot of recovrng som books of notes he counts of valu.  I wil
tel u of that!  Ther is a man in yr police station--Marvl."
"I no," said Adye, "I no.  Those books--yes."
"And u must prevent him from eatng or sleepng; day and nyt th
cuntry must be astir for him.  Food must be lokd up and secured,
al food, so that he wil hav to brek his way to it.  Th houses
evrywher must be bard against him.  Hevn send us cold nyts
and rain!  Th hole cuntryside must begin huntng and keep huntng.
I tel u, Adye, he is a danjer, a disastr; unless he is pind and
secured, it is frytful to think of th things that may hapn."
"Wat else can we do?" said Adye.  "I must go down at once and begin
orgnizing.  But wy not com?  Yes--u com too!  Com, and we must
hold a sort of council of war,--get Hopps to help--and th railway
manajrs.  By jove! it's urjnt.  Com along--tel me as we go.  Wat
else is ther we can do?  Put that stuf down."
In anothr moment Adye was leadng/ledng th way downstairs.  They found
th front dor open and th policemen standng outside staring at
emty air.  "He's got away, sir," said one.
"We must go to th centrl station at once," said Adye.  "One of u
go on down and get a cab to com up and meet us--quikly.  And now,
Kemp, wat else?"
"Dogs," said Kemp.  "Get dogs.  They dont se him, but they wind
him.  Get dogs."
"Good," said Adye.  "It's not jenrly nown, but th prisn
oficials over at Halstead no a man with bloodhounds.  Dogs.  Wat
else?"
"Ber in mind," said Kemp, "his food shos.  Aftr eatng, his food
shos until it is asimlated.  So that he has to hide aftr eatng.
U must keep on beatng--evry thiket, evry quiet cornr.  And put
al wepns, al implmnts that myt be wepns, away.  He cant
carry such things for long.  And wat he can snach up and strike men
with must be hidn away."
"Good again," said Adye.  "We shal hav him yet!"
"And on th roads," said Kemp, and hesitated.
"Yes?" said Adye.
"Powdrd glass," said Kemp.  "It's cruel, I no.  But think of wat
he may do!"
Adye drew th air in between his teeth sharply.  "It's
unsportsmanlike.  I dont no.  But I'l hav powdrd glass got
redy.  If he gos too far--"
"Th man's becom inhuman, I tel u," said Kemp.  "I am as sure he
wil establish a rein of terr--so soon as he has got over th
emotions of this escape--as I am sure I am talkng to u.  Our only
chance is to be ahed.  He has cut himself off from his kind.  His
blod be upon his own hed."
			      **********
			      Chaptr 26
			 Th Wicksteed Murdr
Th Invisbl Man seems to hav rushd out of Kemp's house in a state
of blind fury.  A litl child playng near Kemp's gateway was
violently caut up and thrown aside, so that its ankl was broken,
and theraftr for som ours th Invisbl Man pasd out of human
perceptions.  No one nos wher he went nor wat he did.  But one
can imajn him hurrying thru th hot June forenoon, up th hil
and on to th open downland behind Port Burdok, rajing and
despairng at his intolrbl fate, and sheltrng at last, heatd
and weary, amid th thikets of Hintondean, to pece togethr again
his shatrd scemes against his species.  That seems th most
probbl refuje for him, for ther it was he re-asertd himself in a
grimly tragical manr about two in th aftrnoon.
One wondrs wat his state of mind may hav been during that time,
and wat plans he devised.  No dout he was almost ecstaticly
exasprated by Kemp's trechry, and tho we may be able to
undrstand th motivs that led to that deceit, we may stil imajn
and even sympathize a litl with th fury th atemtd surprise
must hav ocasiond.  Perhaps somthing of th stund astonishmnt
of his Oxfrd Street experiences may hav returnd to him, for
evidntly he had countd on Kemp's co-opration in his brutal dream
of a terrized world.  At any rate he vanishd from human ken about
miday, and no livng witness can tel wat he did until about
half-past two.  It was a fortunat thing, perhaps, for humanity, but
for him it was a fatal inaction.
During that time a groing multitude of men scatrd over th
cuntryside wer busy.  In th mornng he had stil been simply a
lejnd, a terr; in th aftrnoon, by virtu chiefly of Kemp's dryly
wordd proclmation, he was presentd as a tanjbl antagnist, to be
woundd, capturd, or overcom, and th cuntryside began orgnizing
itself with inconcevebl rapidity.  By two oclok even he myt
stil hav removed himself out of th district by getng abord a
train, but aftr two that became imposbl.  Evry pasnjr train
along th lines on a gret parallelogram between Southamtn,
Manchestr, Brytn, and Horsham, travld with lokd dors, and
th goods trafic was almost entirely suspendd.  And in a gret
circl of twenty miles round Port Burdok, men armd with guns and
bludgeons wer presntly setng out in groups of thre and four,
with dogs, to beat th roads and fields.
Mountd policemen rode along th cuntry lanes, stopng at evry
cotaj and warnng th peple to lok up ther houses, and keep
indors unless they wer armd, and al th elementry scools had
broken up by thre oclok, and th children, scared and keepng
togethr in groups, wer hurrying home.  Kemp's proclmation--synd
indeed by Adye--was postd over almost th hole district by four or
five oclok in th aftrnoon.  It gave briefly but clearly al th
conditions of th strugl, th necessity of keepng th Invisbl
Man from food and sleep, th necessity for incesnt wachfulness and
for a promt atention to any evidnce of his movemnts.  And so
swift and decided was th action of th authoritis, so promt and
universl was th belief in this stranje being, that befor nytfal
an area of sevrl hundred square miles was in a strinjnt state of
seje.  And befor nytfal, too, a thril of horr went thru
th hole wachng nervus cuntryside.  Going from wisprng mouth
to mouth, swift and certn over th length and bredth of th
county, pasd th story of th murdr of Mr. Wicksteed.
If our suposition that th Invisbl Man's refuje was th Hintondean
thikets, then we must supose that in th erly aftrnoon he sallied
out again bent upon som project that involvd th use of a wepn.
We canot no wat th project was, but th evidnce that he had th
iron rod in hand befor he met Wicksteed is to me at least
overwelmng.
We can no nothing of th details of th encountr.  It ocurd on
th ej of a gravl pit, not two hundred yards from Lord Burdock's
Loj gate.  Everything points to a desprat strugl,--th trampld
ground, th numerus wounds Mr. Wicksteed receved, his splintrd
walkng-stik; but wy th atak was made--save in a murdrus
frenzy--it is imposbl to imajn.  Indeed th theory of madness is
almost unavoidbl.  Mr. Wicksteed was a man of forty-five or
forty-six, stewrd to Lord Burdok, of inofensiv habits and
apearnce, th very last persn in th world to provoke such a
teribl antagnist.  Against him it wud seem th Invisbl Man
used an iron rod dragd from a broken pece of fence.  He stopd
this quiet man, going quietly home to his miday meal, atakd him,
beat down his feebl defenses, broke his arm, feld him, and smashd
his hed to a jelly.
He must hav dragd this rod out of th fencing befor he met his
victm; he must hav been carrying it redy in his hand.  Only two
details beyond wat has alredy been stated seem to ber on th
matr.  One is th circmstnce that th gravl pit was not in Mr.
Wicksteed's direct path home, but nearly a cupl of hundred yards
out of his way.  Th othr is th asertion of a litl girl to th
efect that, going to her aftrnoon scool, she saw th murdrd man
"trotng" in a peculir manr across a field towards th gravl
pit.  Her pantmime of his action sujests a man pursuing somthing
on th ground befor him and striking at it evr and again with his
walkng-stik.  She was th last persn to se him alive.  He pasd
out of her syt to his deth, th strugl being hidn from her
only by a clump of beech tres and a slyt depression in th ground.
Now this, to th present/presnt writer's mind at least, lifts th murdr out
of th relm of th abslutely wantn.  We may imajn that Grifn
had taken th rod as a wepn indeed, but without any delibrate/delibrat
intention of using it in murdr.  Wicksteed may then hav com by and
noticed this rod inexplicbly moving thru th air.  Without any
thot of th Invisbl Man--for Port Burdok is ten miles away--he
may hav pursud it.  It is quite concevebl that he may not even
hav herd of th Invisbl Man.  One can then imajn th Invisbl
Man making off--quietly in ordr to avoid discovrng his presnce in
th neibrhood, and Wicksteed, exited and curius, pursuing this
unacountbly locomotiv object--finaly striking at it.
No dout th Invisbl Man cud esily hav distnced his
midl-ajed pursur undr ordnry circmstnces, but th position in
wich Wicksteed's body was found sujests that he had th il luk to
drive his quarry into a cornr between a drift of stingng netls
and th gravl pit.  To those ho apreciate th extrordnry
irascibility of th Invisbl Man, th rest of th encountr wil be
esy to imajn.
But this is pure hypothesis.  Th only undenyabl facts--for storis
of children ar ofn unrelyabl--ar th discovry of Wicksteed's
body, don to deth, and of th blod-staind iron rod flung among
th netls.  Th abandnmnt of th rod by Grifn, sujests that in
th emotionl exitemnt of th afair, th purpos for wich he took
it--if he had a purpos--was abandnd.  He was certnly an
intensly egotisticl and unfeelng man, but th syt of his victm,
his first victm, blody and pitiful at his feet, may hav relesed
som long pent fountn of remorse to flod for a time watevr
sceme of action he had contrived.
Aftr th murdr of Mr. Wicksteed, he wud seem to hav struk
across th cuntry towards th downland.  Ther is a story of a voice
herd about sunset by a cupl of men in a field near Fern Botm.
It was wailng and lafng, sobng and groanng, and evr and again
it shoutd.  It must hav been queer hearng.  It drove up across th
midl of a clover field and died away towards th hils.
That aftrnoon th Invisbl Man must hav lernt somthing of th
rapid use Kemp had made of his confidnces.  He must hav found
houses lokd and secured; he may hav loitrd about railway
stations and prowld about ins, and no dout he read/red th
proclmations and realized somthing of th natur of th campain
against him.  And as th evenng advanced, th fields became dotd
here and ther with groups of thre or four men, and noisy with th
yelpng of dogs.  These men-huntrs had particulr instructions as to
th way they shud suport one anothr in th case of an encountr.
He avoidd them al.  We may undrstand somthing of his
exaspration, and it cud hav been non th less because he himself
had suplyd th infrmation that was being used so remorslesly
against him.  For that day at least he lost hart; for nearly
twenty-four ours, save wen he turnd on Wicksteed, he was a huntd
man.  In th nyt, he must hav eatn and slept; for in th mornng
he was himself again, activ, powrful, angry, and malignnt,
prepared for his last gret strugl against th world.
			      **********
			      Chaptr 27
		      Th Seje of Kemp's House
Kemp read/red a stranje missiv, ritn in pencil on a gresy sheet of
paper.
"U hav been amazingly enrjetic and clevr," this letr ran,
"tho wat u stand to gain by it I canot imajn.  U ar
against me.  For a hole day u hav chased me; u hav tryd to
rob me of a night's rest.  But I hav had food in spite of u, I
hav slept in spite of u, and th game is only beginng.  Th game
is only beginng.  Ther is nothing for it, but to start th Terr.
This anounces th first day of th Terr.  Port Burdok is no
longr undr th Queen tel yr Colnl of Police, and th rest of
them; it is undr me--th Terr!  This is day one of year one of th
new epoc --th Epoc of th Invisbl Man.  I am Invisbl Man th
First.  To begin with th rule wil be esy.  Th first day ther
wil be one execution for th sake of exampl--a man named Kemp.
Deth starts for him to-day.  He may lok himself away, hide himself
away, get gards about him, put on armr if he likes; Deth, th
unseen Deth, is comng.  Let him take precautions; it wil impress
my peple.  Deth starts from th pilr-box by miday.  Th letr
wil fal in as th postman coms along, then off!  Th game begins.
Deth starts.  Help him not, my peple, lest Deth fal upon u
also.  To-day Kemp is to die."
Kemp read/red this letr twice.  "It's no hoax," he said.  "That's his
voice!  And he means it."
He turnd th foldd sheet over and saw on th adresd side of it
th postmark Hintondean, and th prosaic detail, "2d. to pay."
He got up, leving his lunch unfinishd--th letr had com by th
one oclok post--and went into his study.  He rang for his
houskeepr, and told her to go round th house at once, examn al
th fasnngs of th windos, and close al th shutrs.  He closed
th shutrs of his study himself.  From a lokd drawr in his
bedroom he took a litl revolvr, examnd it carefuly, and put it
into th poket of his lounj jaket.  He rote a numbr/numr of brief
notes, one to Colnl Adye, gave them to his servnt to take, with
explicit instructions as to her way of leving th house.  "Ther is
no danjer," he said, and add a mentl resrvation, "to u."  He
remaind meditativ for a space aftr doing this, and then returnd
to his coolng lunch.
He ate with gaps of thot.  Finaly he struk th table sharply.
"We wil hav him!" he said; "and I am th bait.  He wil com too
far."
He went up to th belvedere, carefuly shutng evry dor aftr him.
"It's a game," he said, "an od game--but th chances ar al for me,
Mr. Grifn, in spite of yr invisbility.  Grifn contra
mundum--with a venjnce!"
He stood at th windo staring at th hot hilside.  "He must get
food evry day--and I dont envy him.  Did he realy sleep last
nyt?  Out in th open somwher--secure from colisions.  I wish we
cud get som good cold wet wethr insted of th heat.
"He may be wachng me now."
He went close to th windo.  Somthing rapd smartly against th
brikwork over th frame, and made him start violently.
"I'm getng nervus," said Kemp.  But it was five minuts befor he
went to th windo again.  "It must hav been a sparo," he said.
Presntly he herd th front-dor bel ringng, and hurrid
downstairs.  He unbolted and unlokd th dor, examnd th chain,
put it up, and opend cautiusly without shoing himself.  A familir
voice haild him.  It was Adye.
"Yr servant's been asaltd, Kemp," he said round th dor.
"Wat!" exclaimd Kemp.
"Had that note of yrs taken away from her.  He's close about here.
Let me in."
Kemp relesed th chain, and Adye entrd thru as naro an
openng as posbl.  He stood in th hal, lookng with infnit
relief at Kemp refastening th dor.  "Note was snachd out of her
hand.  Scared her horibly.  She's down at th station.  Hysterics.
He's close here.  Wat was it about?"
Kemp swor.
"Wat a fool I was," said Kemp.  "I myt hav nown.  It's not an
hour's walk from Hintondean.  Alredy!"
"Wat's up?" said Adye.
"Look here!" said Kemp, and led th way into his study.  He handd
Adye th Invisbl Man's letr.  Adye read/red it and wisld softly.
"And u--?" said Adye.
"Proposed a trap--like a fool," said Kemp, "and sent my proposal out
by a maid servnt.  To him."
Adye folod Kemp's profanity.
"He'l clear out," said Adye.
"Not he," said Kemp.
A resoundng smash of glass came from upstairs.  Adye had a silvry
glimps of a litl revolvr half out of Kemp's poket.  "It's a
windo, upstairs!" said Kemp, and led th way up.  Ther came a
secnd smash wile they wer stil on th staircase.  Wen they
reachd th study they found two of th thre windos smashd, half
th room litrd with splintrd glass, and one big flint lyng on
th riting table.  Th two men stopd in th dorway, contmplating
th rekaj.  Kemp swor again, and as he did so th third windo
went with a snap like a pistl, hung stard for a moment, and
colapsd in jaged, shivrng triangls into th room.
"Wat's this for?" said Adye.
"It's a beginng," said Kemp.
"Ther's no way of climbng up here?"
"Not for a cat," said Kemp.
"No shutrs?"
"Not here.  Al th downstairs rooms--Helo!"
Smash, and then wak of bords hit hard came from downstairs.
"Confound him! said Kemp.  "That must be--yes--it's one of th
bedrooms.  He's going to do al th house.  But he's a fool.  Th
shutrs ar up, and th glass wil fal outside.  He'l cut his
feet."
Anothr windo proclaimd its destruction.  Th two men stood on th
landng perplexd.  "I hav it! said Adye.  "Let me hav a stik or
somthing, and I'l go down to th station and get th bloodhounds
put on.  That ot to setl him!  They'r hard by--not ten
minuts--"
Anothr windo went th way of its felos.
"U havnt a revolvr?" askd Adye.
Kemp's hand went to his poket.  Then he hesitated.  "I havnt
one--at least to spare."
"I'l bring it bak," said Adye, "u'l be safe here."
Kemp handd him th wepn.
"Now for th dor," said Adye.
As they stood hesitating in th hal, they herd one of th
first-flor bedroom windos crak and clash.  Kemp went to th dor
and began to slip th bolts as silently as posbl.  His face was a
litl paler than usul.  "U must step strait out," said Kemp.
In anothr moment Adye was on th dorstep and th bolts wer
dropng bak into th staples.  He hesitated for a moment, feelng
mor comfrtbl with his bak against th dor.  Then he marchd,
upryt and square, down th steps.  He crosd th lawn and
aproachd th gate.  A litl breze seemd to ripl over th
grass.  Somthing moved near him.  "Stop a bit," said a Voice, and
Adye stopd ded and his hand tytnd on th revolvr.
"Wel?" said Adye, wite and grim, and evry nerv tense.
"Oblije me by going bak to th house," said th Voice, as tense and
grim as Adye's.
"Sorry," said Adye a litl horsly, and moisnd his lips with his
tong.  Th Voice was on his left front, he thot.  Supose he
wer to take his luk with a shot?
"Wat ar u going for?" said th Voice, and ther was a quik
movemnt of th two, and a flash of sunlyt from th open lip of
Adye's poket.
Adye desistd and thot.  "Wher I go," he said sloly, "is my own
busness."  Th words wer stil on his lips, wen an arm came round
his nek, his bak felt a ne, and he was sprawlng bakwrd.  He
drew clumsily and fired absurdly, and in anothr moment he was struk
in th mouth and th revolvr restd from his grip.  He made a vain
cluch at a slipry lim, tryd to strugl up and fel bak.
"Dam!" said Adye.  Th Voice lafd.  "I'd kil u now if it
wasnt th waste of a bulet," it said.  He saw th revolvr in
mid-air, six feet off, covrng him.
"Wel?" said Adye, sitng up.
"Get up," said th Voice.
Adye stood up.
"Atention" said th Voice, and then fiercely, "Dont try any games.
Remembr I can se yr face if u cant se mine.  U'v got to go
bak to th house."
"He wont let me in," said Adye.
"That's a pity," said th Invisbl Man.  "I'v got no quarel with
u."
Adye moisnd his lips again.  He glanced away from th barel of
th revolvr and saw th se far off very blu and dark undr th
miday sun, th smooth green down, th wite clif of th Hed, and
th multitudinus town, and sudnly he new that life was very
sweet.  His ys came bak to this litl metl thing hangng between
hevn and erth, six yards away.  "Wat am I to do?" he said
sulenly.
"Wat am I to do?" askd th Invisbl Man.  "U wil get help.  Th
only thing is for u to go bak."
"I wil try.  If he lets me in wil u promis not to rush th
dor?"
"I'v got no quarel with u," said th Voice.
Kemp had hurrid upstairs aftr letng Adye out, and now crouchng
among th broken glass and peerng cautiusly over th ej of th
study windo-sil, he saw Adye stand parleying with th Unseen.  "Wy
dosnt he fire?" wisprd Kemp to himself.  Then th revolvr moved
a litl and th glint of th sunlyt flashd in Kemp's ys.  He
shaded his ys and tryd to se th sorce of th blindng beam.
"Surely!" he said.  "Adye has givn up th revolvr."
"Promis not to rush th dor," Adye was sayng.  "Dont push a
winng game too far.  Giv a man a chance."
"U go bak to th house.  I tel u flatly I wil not promis
anything."
Adye's decision seemd sudnly made.  He turnd towards th house,
walkng sloly with his hands behind him.  Kemp wachd him--
puzld.  Th revolvr vanishd, flashd again into syt, vanishd
again, and became evidnt on a closer scrutiny as a litl dark
object foloing Adye.  Then things hapnd very quikly.  Adye
lept bakwrds, swung round, cluchd at this litl object, misd
it, threw up his hands and fel forwrd on his face, leving a litl
puf of blu in th air.  Kemp did not hear th sound of th shot.
Adye rithed, rased himself on one arm, fel forwrd, and lay stil.
For a space Kemp remaind staring at th quiet carelesness of Adye's
atitude.  Th aftrnoon was very hot and stil, nothing seemd
stirng in al th world save a cupl of yelo butrflys chasing
each othr thru th shrubry between th house and th road gate.
Adye lay on th lawn near th gate.  Th blinds of al th vilas
down th hil-road wer drawn, but in one litl green sumr-house
was a wite figr, aparently an old man asleep.  Kemp scrutinized
th suroundngs of th house for a glimps of th revolvr, but it
had vanishd.  His ys came bak to Adye.  Th game was openng
wel.
Then came a ringng and nokng at th front dor, that grew at last
tumultuus, but pursuant to Kemp's instructions th servnts had
lokd themselvs into ther rooms.  This was folod by a silence.
Kemp sat lisnng and then began peerng cautiusly out of th thre
windos, one aftr anothr.  He went to th staircase hed and stood
lisnng unesily.  He armd himself with his bedroom poker, and
went to examn th interir fasnngs of th ground-flor windos
again.  Everything was safe and quiet.  He returnd to th belvedere.
Adye lay motionless over th ej of th gravl just as he had
falen.  Comng along th road by th vilas wer th housmaid and
two policemen.
Everything was dedly stil.  Th thre peple seemd very slo in
aproachng.  He wondrd wat his antagnist was doing.
He startd.  Ther was a smash from belo.  He hesitated and went
downstairs again.  Sudnly th house resoundd with hevy blos and
th splintrng of wood.  He herd a smash and th destructiv clang
of th iron fasnngs of th shutrs.  He turnd th ke and opend
th kichn dor.  As he did so, th shutrs, split and splintrng,
came flyng inwrd.  He stood agast.  Th windo frame, save for one
cross bar, was stil intact, but only litl teeth of glass remaind
in th frame.  Th shutrs had been drivn in with an ax, and now
th ax was desendng in sweepng blos upon th windo frame and
th iron bars defendng it.  Then sudnly it lept aside and
vanishd.  He saw th revolvr lyng on th path outside, and then
th litl wepn sprang into th air.  He dojd bak.  Th revolvr
crakd just too late, and a splintr from th ej of th closing
dor flashd over his hed.  He slamd and lokd th dor, and as
he stood outside he herd Grifn shoutng and lafng.  Then th
blos of th ax, with ther splitng and smashng accompaniments,
wer resumed.
Kemp stood in th passaj tryng to think.  In a moment th Invisbl
Man wud be in th kichn.  This dor wud not keep him a moment,
and then--
A ringng came at th front dor again.  It wud be th policemen.
He ran into th hal, put up th chain, and drew th bolts.  He made
th girl speak befor he dropd th chain, and th thre peple
blundrd into th house in a heap, and Kemp slamd th dor again.
"Th Invisbl Man!" said Kemp.  "He has a revolvr, with two
shots--left.  He's kild Adye.  Shot him anyhow.  Didnt u se him
on th lawn?  He's lyng ther."
"Ho?" said one of th policemen.
"Adye," said Kemp.
"We came round th bak way," said th girl.
"Wat's that smashng?" askd one of th policemen.
"He's in th kichn--or wil be.  He has found an ax--"
Sudnly th house was ful of th Invisbl Man's resoundng blos
on th kichn dor.  Th girl stared towards th kichn, shudrd,
and retreatd into th dining-room.  Kemp tryd to explain in broken
sentnces.  They herd th kichn dor giv.
"This way," cryd Kemp, startng into activity, and bundld th
policemen into th dining-room dorway.
"Poker," said Kemp, and rushd to th fendr.  He handd a poker to
each policeman.  He sudnly flung himself bakwrd.
"Whup!" said one policeman, dukd, and caut th ax on his poker.
Th pistl snapd its penultmat shot and ripd a valubl Sidny
Coopr.  Th secnd policeman brot his poker down on th litl
wepn, as one myt nok down a wasp, and sent it ratlng to th
flor.
At th first clash th girl screamd, stood screamng for a moment by
th fireplace, and then ran to open th shutrs--posbly with an
idea of escaping by th shatrd windo.
Th ax receded into th passaj, and fel to a position about two
feet from th ground.  They cud hear th Invisbl Man brething.
"Stand away, u two," he said.  "I want that man Kemp."
"We want u," said th first policeman, making a quik step forwrd
and wiping with his poker at th Voice.  Th Invisbl Man must hav
startd bak.  He blundrd into th umbrela stand.  Then, as th
policeman stagrd with th swing of th blo he had aimd, th
Invisbl Man countrd with th ax, th helmet crumpld like paper,
and th blo sent th man spinng to th flor at th hed of th
kichn stairs.  But th secnd policeman, aimng behind th ax with
his poker, hit somthing soft that snapd.  Ther was a sharp
exclmation of pain and th ax fel to th ground.  Th policeman
wiped again at vacancy and hit nothing; he put his foot on th ax,
and struk again.  Then he stood, poker clubd, lisnng intent for
th slytst movemnt.
He herd th dining-room windo open, and a quik rush of feet
within.  His companion rold over and sat up with th blod runng
down between his y and ear.  "Wher is he?" askd th man on th
flor.
"Dont no.  I'v hit him.  He's standng somwher in th hal.
Unless he's slipd past u.  Doctr Kemp--sir."
Pause.
"Doctr Kemp," cryd th policeman again.
Th secnd policeman strugld to his feet.  He stood up.  Sudnly
th faint pad of bare feet on th kichn stairs cud be herd.
"Yap!" cryd th first policeman and incontinently flung his poker.
It smashd a litl gas braket.
He made as if he wud pursu th Invisbl Man downstairs.  Then he
thot betr of it and stepd into th dining-room.
"Doctr Kemp," he began, and stopd short--
"Doctr Kemp's in here," he said, as his companion lookd over his
sholdr.
Th dining-room windo was wide open, and neithr housmaid nor Kemp
was to be seen.
Th secnd policeman's opinion of Kemp was terse and vivid.
			      **********
			      Chaptr 28
			  Th Huntr Huntd
Mr. Heelas, Mr. Kemp's nearst neibr among th vila holdrs, was
asleep in his sumr house wen th seje of Kemp's house began.  Mr.
Heelas was one of th sturdy minority ho refused to beleve "in al
this nonsnse" about an Invisbl Man.  His wife, howevr, as he was
to be remindd subsequently, did.  He insistd upon walkng about his
gardn just as if nothing was th matr, and he went to sleep in th
aftrnoon in acordnce with th custm of years.  He slept thru
th smashng of th windos, and then woke up sudnly with a curius
persuasion of somthing rong.  He lookd across at Kemp's house,
rubd his ys and lookd again.  Then he put his feet to th
ground, and sat lisnng.  He said he was damd, and stil th
stranje thing was visbl.  Th house lookd as tho it had been
desertd for weeks--aftr a violent riot.  Evry windo was broken,
and evry windo, save those of th belvedere study, was blindd by
th internl shutrs.
"I cud hav sworn it was al ryt"--he lookd at his wach
--"twenty minuts ago."
He became aware of a mesurd concussion and th clash of glass, far
away in th distnce.  And then, as he sat open-mouthd, came a stil
mor wondrful thing.  Th shutrs of th drawng-room windo wer
flung open violently, and th housmaid in her outdor hat and
garmnts, apeard struglng in a frantic manr to thro up th
sash.  Sudnly a man apeard beside her, helpng her--Dr. Kemp!  In
anothr moment th windo was open, and th housmaid was struglng
out; she pichd forwrd and vanishd among th shrubs.  Mr. Heelas
stood up, exclaimng vagely and vehemntly at al these wondrful
things.  He saw Kemp stand on th sil, spring from th windo, and
reapear almost instntaneusly runng along a path in th shrubry
and stoopng as he ran, like a man ho evades obsrvation.  He
vanishd behind a laburnum, and apeard again clambrng a fence
that abutted on th open down.  In a secnd he had tumbld over and
was runng at a tremendus pace down th slope towards Mr. Heelas.
"Lord!" cryd Mr. Heelas, struk with an idea; "it's that Invisbl
Man brute!  It's ryt, aftr al!"
With Mr. Heelas to think things like that was to act, and his cook
wachng him from th top windo was amazed to se him com peltng
towards th house at a good nine miles an our.  "Thot he wasnt
afraid," said th cook.  "Mary, just com here!"  Ther was a
slamng of dors, a ringng of bels, and th voice of Mr. Heelas
belloing like a bul.  "Shut th dors, shut th windos, shut
everything! th Invisbl Man is comng!"  Instntly th house was
ful of screams and directions, and scurrying feet.  He ran to shut
th French windos himself that opend on th veranda; as he did so
Kemp's hed and sholdrs and ne apeard over th ej of th
gardn fence.  In anothr moment Kemp had plowd thru th
asparagus, and was runng across th tenis lawn to th house.
"U cant com in," said Mr. Heelas, shutng th bolts.  "I'm very
sorry if he's aftr u, but u cant com in!"
Kemp apeard with a face of terr close to th glass, rapng and
then shaking franticly at th French windo.  Then, seing his
efrts wer useless, he ran along th veranda, valtd th end, and
went to hamr at th side dor.  Then he ran round by th side gate
to th front of th house, and so into th hil-road.  And Mr. Heelas
staring from his windo--a face of horr--had scarcely witnesd
Kemp vanish, ere th asparagus was being trampld this way and that
by feet unseen.  At that Mr. Heelas fled precipitatly upstairs, and
th rest of th chase is beyond his purview.  But as he pasd th
staircase windo, he herd th side gate slam.
Emerjng into th hil-road, Kemp natrly took th downwrd
direction, and so it was he came to run in his own persn th very
race he had wachd with such a criticl y from th belvedere study
only four days ago.  He ran it wel for a man out of trainng; and
tho his face was wite and wet, his wits wer cool to th last.
He ran with wide strides, and wherevr a pach of ruf ground
intrvened, wherevr ther came a pach of raw flints, or a bit of
broken glass shon dazlng, he crosd it and left th bare
invisbl feet that folod to take wat line they wud.
For th first time in his life Kemp discovrd that th hil- road
was indescribebly vast and deslat, and that th beginngs of th
town far belo at th hil foot wer stranjely remote.  Nevr had
ther been a sloer or mor painful method of progression than
runng.  Al th gaunt vilas, sleepng in th aftrnoon sun, lookd
lokd and bard; no dout they wer lokd and bard--by his own
ordrs.  But at any rate they myt hav kept a lookout for an
eventuality like this!  Th town was rising up now, th se had
dropd out of syt behind it, and peple down belo wer stirng.
A tram was just ariving at th hil foot.  Beyond that was th
police station.  Was that footsteps he herd behind him?  Spurt.
Th peple belo wer staring at him, one or two wer runng, and
his breth was beginng to saw in his throat.  Th tram was quite
near now, and th Jolly Criketrs was noisily barng its dors.
Beyond th tram wer posts and heaps of gravl--th drainaj works.
He had a transitry idea of jumpng into th tram and slamng th
dors, and then he resolvd to go to th police station.  In anothr
moment he had pasd th dor of th Jolly Criketrs, and was in th
blistrng fag end of th street, with human beings about him.  Th
tram driver and his helpr--arestd by th syt of his furius
haste --stood staring with th tram horses unhitched.  Furthr on th
astonishd featurs of navvies apeard abov th mounds of gravl.
His pace broke a litl, and then he herd th swift pad of his
pursur, and lept forwrd again.  "Th Invisbl Man!" he cryd to
th navvies, with a vage indicativ jestur, and by an inspration
lept th excavation and placed a burly group between him and th
chase.  Then abandnng th idea of th police station he turnd into
a litl side street, rushd by a greengrocer's cart, hesitated for
th tenth of a secnd at th dor of a sweetstuff shop, and then made
for th mouth of an ally that ran bak into th main Hil Street
again.  Two or thre litl children wer playng here, and shriekd
and scatrd runng at his aprition, and forthwith dors and
windos opend and exited mothrs reveald ther harts.  Out he
shot into Hil Street again, thre hundred yards from th tramline
end, and imediatly he became aware of a tumultuus vociferation and
runng peple.
He glanced up th street towards th hil.  Hardly a dozn yards off
ran a huje navvy, cursng in fragments/fragmnts and slashng viciusly with a
spade, and hard behind him came th tram conductr with his fists
clenchd.  Up th street othrs folod these two, striking and
shoutng.  Down towards th town, men and women wer runng, and he
noticed clearly one man comng out of a shop-dor with a stik in his
hand.  "Spred out!  Spred out!" cryd som one.  Kemp sudnly
graspd th altrd condition of th chase.  He stopd and lookd
round, pantng.  "He's close here!" he cryd.  "Form a line across--"
"Aha!" shoutd a voice.
He was hit hard undr th ear, and went reelng, tryng to face round
towards his unseen antagnist.  He just manajd to keep his feet, and
he struk a vain countr in th air.  Then he was hit again undr th
jaw, and sprawld hedlong on th ground.  In anothr moment a ne
compresd his diafram, and a cupl of eagr hands gripd his
throat, but th grip of one was weakr than th othr; he graspd th
rists, herd a cry of pain from his asailant, and then th spade of
th navvy came wirlng thru th air abov him, and struk
somthing with a dul thud.  He felt a drop of moistur on his face.
Th grip at his throat sudnly relaxd, and with a convulsiv efrt
Kemp loosd himself, graspd a limp sholdr, and rold uprmost.
He gripd th unseen elbos near th ground.  "I'v got him!"
screamd Kemp.  "Help!  Help! hold!  He's down!  Hold his feet!"
In anothr secnd ther was a simltaneus rush upon th strugl,
and a stranjer comng into th road sudnly myt hav thot an
exeptionly savaj game of Rugby footbal was in progress.  And
ther was no shoutng aftr Kemp's cry--only a sound of blos and
feet and a hevy brething.
Then came a myty efrt, and th Invisbl Man threw off a cupl
of his antagnists and rose to his nes.  Kemp clung to him in front
like a hound to a stag, and a dozn hands gripd, cluchd, and tor
at th Unseen.  Th tram conductr sudnly got th nek and
sholdrs and lugd him bak.
Down went th heap of struglng men again and rold over.  Ther
was, I am afraid, som savaj kikng.  Then sudnly a wild scream
of "Mercy!  Mercy!" that died down swiftly to a sound like choking.
"Get bak, u fools!" cryd th mufld voice of Kemp, and ther was
a vigrus shovng bak of stalwrt forms.  "He's hurt, I tel u.
Stand bak!"
Ther was a brief strugl to clear a space, and then th circl of
eagr ys saw th doctr neelng, as it seemd, fifteen inchs in
th air, and holdng invisbl arms to th ground.  Behind him a
constbl gripd invisbl ankls.
"Dont u leve go of en," cryd th big navvy, holdng a
blodstaind spade; "he's shamming."
"He's not shamming," said th doctr, cautiusly rasing his ne;
"and I'l hold him."  His face was brused and alredy going red; he
spoke thikly because of a bleedng lip.  He relesed one hand and
seemd to be feelng at th face.  "Th mouth's al wet," he said.
And then, "Good God!"
He stood up abruptly and then nelt down on th ground by th side of
th thing unseen.  Ther was a pushng and shuflng, a sound of
hevy feet as fresh peple turnd up to increse th pressur of th
crowd.  Peple now wer comng out of th houses.  Th dors of th
Jolly Criketrs wer sudnly wide open.  Very litl was said.
Kempt felt about, his hand seemng to pass thru emty air.  "He's
not brething," he said, and then, "I cant feel his hart.  His
side--ugh!"
Sudnly an old womn, peerng undr th arm of th big navvy,
screamd sharply.  "Looky ther!" she said, and thrust out a rinkld
fingr.
And lookng wher she pointd, evry one saw, faint and transparent
as tho it was made of glass, so that veins and artris and bones
and nervs cud be distinguishd, th outline of a hand, a hand limp
and prone.  It grew cloudd and opaqe even as they stared.
"Helo!" cryd th constbl.  "Here's his feet a-shoing!"
And so, sloly, beginng at his hands and feet and creepng along
his lims to th vital centrs of his body, that stranje chanje
continud.  It was like th slo spredng of a poisn.  First came
th litl wite nervs, a hazy gray skech of a lim, then th
glassy bones and intricat artris, then th flesh and skin, first a
faint fogginess and then groing rapidly dense and opaqe.  Presntly
they cud se his crushd chest and his sholdrs, and th dim
outline of his drawn and batrd featurs.
Wen at last th crowd made way for Kemp to stand erect, ther lay,
naked and pitiful on th ground, th brused and broken body of a
yung man about thirty.  His hair and beard wer wite--not gray with
aje but wite with th witeness of albinism, and his ys wer like
garnets.  His hands wer clenchd, his ys wide open, and his
expression was one of angr and dismay.
"Covr his face!" said a man.  "For Gawd's sake, covr that face!"
and thre litl children, pushng forwrd thru th crowd, wer
sudnly twistd round and sent pakng off again.
Som one brot a sheet from th Jolly Criketrs; and havng
covrd him, they carrid him into that house.
			     ************
			     Th Eplog
So ends th story of th stranje and evil experimnt of th Invisbl
Man.  And if u wud lern mor of him u must go to a litl in
near Port Sto and talk to th landlord.  Th syn of th in is an
emty bord save for a hat and boots, and th name is th title of
this story.  Th landlord is a short and corpulent litl man with a
nose of cylindricl protrusion, wiry hair, and a sporadic rosiness of
visaj.  Drink jenrusly, and he wil tel u jenrusly of al th
things that hapnd to him aftr that time, and of how th lawyrs
tryd to do him out of th tresur found upon him.
"Wen they found they cudnt prove ho's mony was wich, I'm
blesd," he says, "if they didnt try to make me out a bloomng
tresur trove!  Do I look like a Tresur Trove?  And then a
jentlman gave me a ginea a nyt to tel th story at th Empire
Music 'all--just tel 'em in my own words--barng one."
And if u want to cut off th flo of his remnisnces abruptly,
u can always do so by askng if ther wernt thre manuscript
books in th story.  He admits ther wer and proceeds to explain,
with asseverations that evrybody thinks he has 'em!  But bless u!
he hasnt.  "Th Invisbl Man it was took 'em off to hide 'em wen I
cut and ran for Port Sto.  It's that Mr. Kemp put peple on with
th idea of my havng 'em."
And then he subsides into a pensiv state, wachs u furtivly,
busls nervusly with glasses, and presntly leavs/leves th bar.
He is a bachlr man--his tastes wer evr bachlr, and ther ar no
women folk in th house.  Outwrdly he butns--it is expectd of
him--but in his mor vital privacies, in th matr of braces for
exampl, he stil turns to string.  He conducts his house without
entrprise, but with emnnt decorum.  His movemnts ar slo, and he
is a gret thinkr.  But he has a reputation for wisdm and for a
respectbl parsmny in th vilaj, and his nolej of th roads
of th South of England wud beat Cobbett.
And on Sunday mornngs, evry Sunday mornng al th year round,
wile he is closed to th outr world, and evry nyt aftr ten, he
gos into his bar parlr berng a glass of jin faintly tinjd with
watr; and havng placed this down, he loks th dor and examns
th blinds, and even looks undr th table.  And then, being
satisfyd of his solitude, he unloks th cubrd and a box in th
cubrd and a drawr in that box, and produces thre volumes bound
in brown lethr, and places them solemly in th midl of th
table.  Th covrs ar wethr-worn and tinjd with an algal
green--for once they sojourned in a dich and som of th pajes hav
been washd blank by dirty watr.  Th landlord sits down in an
armchair, fils a long clay pipe sloly, gloatng over th books th
wile.  Then he puls one towards him and opens it, and begins to
study it--turnng over th leavs/leves bakwrds and forwrds.
His brows ar nit and his lips move painfuly.  "Hex, litl two up
in th air, cross and a fidl-de-dee.  Lord! wat a one he was for
intlect!"
Presntly he relaxs and leans bak, and blinks thru his smoke
across th room at things invisbl to othr ys.  "Ful of
secrets," he says.  "Wondrful secrets!"
"Once I get th haul of them--Lord!
"I wudnt do wat he did; I'd just--wel!"  He puls at his pipe.
So he lapses into a dream, th undyng wondrful dream of his life.
And tho Kemp has fishd unceasingly, and Adye has questiond
closely, no human being save th landlord nos those books ar
ther, with th sutl secret of invisbility and a dozn othr
stranje secrets ritn therin.  And non othr wil no of them
until he dies.
			     **Th End**
.