November 8, 2023 • 36 mins
"The Invisible Man" is a classic science fiction novel written by H.G. Wells and first published in 1897. The story revolves around the character of Griffin, a brilliant but eccentric scientist who discovers a way to become invisible. After successfully making himself invisible, Griffin quickly realizes that his newfound power comes with significant challenges and consequences.The novel explores the themes of power, morality, and the consequences of unchecked scientific curiosity. Griffin's invisible state allows him to indulge in his darker impulses, leading him down a path of cruelty and criminality. As he struggles to find a way to reverse his condition, he becomes increasingly isolated and desperate.Griffin's invisibility becomes both a physical and metaphorical representation of his detachment from society and his descent into madness. He becomes a symbol of the dangers of unchecked scientific experimentation and the potential for individuals to abuse their power.Throughout the novel, Griffin's actions create a sense of fear and unease in the townspeople who encounter him. As he becomes more unhinged, he becomes a menace, and the novel explores the efforts of those around him to stop his reign of terror."The Invisible Man" is not only a thrilling and suspenseful tale but also a thought-provoking commentary on the human condition and the consequences of playing with forces beyond one's control. It remains a seminal work in the science fiction genre and continues to be studied and adapted into various forms of media.
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This is a LibriVox recording. AllLibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
For more information not a volunteer,please visit LibriVox dot org. To day's
reading by Alex Foster w w Wdot Alex Foster dot me dot UK.
The Invisible Man by H. G. Wells, Chapter twenty seven, The
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Siege of Kemp's House. Kemp reada strange missive written in pencil on a
greasy sheet of paper. You havebeen amazingly energetic and clever this letter ran,
though what you stand to gain byit, I cannot imagine. You
are against me For a whole day. You have chased me. You have
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tried to rob me of a night'srest. But I have had food in
spite of you. I have sleptin spite of you. And the game
is only beginning. The game isonly beginning. There is nothing for it
but to start the terror. Thisannounces the first day of the t r
Port Burdock is no longer under theQueen. Tell your colonel of police and
the rest of them. It isunder me the terror. This is day
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one of year one of the NewEpoch, the Epoch of the Invisible Man.
I am Invisible Man. The firstto begin with. The rule will
be easy. The first day therewill be one execution. For the sake
of example, a man named Kemp. Death starts for him today. He
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may lock himself away, hide himselfaway, get guards about him, put
on armor. If he likes death. The unseen death is coming, let
him take precautions. It will impressmy people. Death starts from the pillar
box. By midday the letter willfall in as the postman comes along.
Then off the game begins. Deathstarts. Help him, not my people.
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Let death fall upon you also todayKemp is to die. Kemp read
this letter twice. It's no hoax, he said. That's his voice,
and he means it. He turnedthe folded sheet over and saw on the
addressed side of it the postmark HintonDean and the prosaic detail two pence to
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pay. He got up slowly,leaving his lunch unfinished. The letter had
come by the one o'clock post,and went into his study. He rang
for his housekeeper and told her togo round the house at once, examining
all the fastenings of the windows andclosing all the shutters. He closed the
shutters of his study himself from alocked straw in his bedroom. He took
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a little revolver, examined it carefully, and put it into the pocket of
his lounge jacket. He wrote anumber of brief notes, one to Colonel
Adye, gave them to his servantto take with explicit instructions as to her
way of leaving the house. Thereis no danger, he said, and
added a mental reservation to you.He remained meditative for a space after doing
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this, and then returned to hiscooling life. He ate with gaps of
thought. Finally he struck the tablesharply. We will have him, he
said, and I am the bait. He will come too far. He
went up to the belvidere, carefullyshutting every door after him. It's a
game, he said, an oddgame, but the chances are all for
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me, mister Griffin, in spiteof your invisibility, Gryffin contremundum with a
vengeance. He stood at the window, staring at the hot hillside. He
must get food every day, andI don't envy him. Did he really
sleep last night out in the open, somewhere secure from collisions? I wish
we could get some good, cold, wet weather instead of the heat.
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He may be watching me now.He went to close the window. Something
wrapped smartly against the brickwork over theframe and made him start violently back.
I'm getting nervous, said Kemp.But it was five minutes before he went
to the window again. It musthave been a sparrow, he said.
Presently, he heard the front doorbell ringing, and hurried downstairs. He
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unbolted and unlocked the door, examinedthe chain, put it up, and
opened cautiously without showing himself. Afamiliar voice hailed him. It was aide
I. Your servant's been assaulted,Kemp, he said, round the door?
What exclaimed Kemp? Had that noteof yours taken away from her?
He's close about here, Let mein. Kemp released the chain and aid
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I entered through as narrow an openingas possible. He stood in the hall,
looking with infinite relief at Kemp refasteningthe door. Note was snatched out
of her hand. Scared her horribly. She's down at the station hysterics.
He's close here. What was itabout, Kemp swore? What a fool
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I was, said Kemp. Imight have known. It's not an hour's
walk from Hinton. Dean All ready. What's up, said ad I.
Look here, said Kemp, andled the way into his study. He
handed Ady the Invisible Man's letter.Adi read it and whistled softly. And
you, said ad I proposed atrap like a fool, said Kemp,
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and sent my proposal out by amaid servant to him. Ade I followed
Kemp's profanity. He'll clear out,said ad I. Not he, said
Kemp. A resounding smash of glasscame from upstairs. Ad I had a
silvery glimpse of a little revolver halfout of Kemp's pocket. It's a window
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up stairs, said Kemp, andled the way up. There came a
second smash while they were still onthe staircase. When they reached the study,
they found two of the three windowssmashed, half the room littered with
splendid glass, and one big flintlying on the writing table. The two
men stopped in the doorway, contemplatingthe wreckage. Kemp swore again, and
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as he did so, the thirdwindow went with a snap like a pistol,
hung starred for a moment and collapsedin jagged, shivering triangles into the
room. What's this for, saidad I. It's a beginning, said
Kemp. There's no way of climbingup here, not for a cat,
said Kemp. No shutters, nothere, all the downstairs room hullo smash,
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and then whack of boards hit hardcame from downstairs. Confound him,
said Kemp. That must be yes, it's one of the bedrooms. He's
going to do all the house.But he's a fool. The shutters are
up and the glass will fall outside. He'll cut his feet. Another window
proclaimed its destruction. The two menstood on the landing, perplexed. I
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have it, said Ady, Letme have a stick or something. I'll
go down to the station and gettheir bloodhounds put on. That ought to
settle him. They're hard. Bynot ten minutes, another window went the
way of its fellows. You haven'ta revolver, asked ad I. Kemp's
hand went to his pocket. Thenhe hesitated, I haven't one, at
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least to spare. I'll bring itback, said Ade. You'll be safe
here. Kemp, ashamed of hismomentary lapse from truthfulness, handed him the
weapon. Now for the door,said ad I. As they stood hesitating
in the hall, they heard oneof the first floor bedroom windows crack and
clash. Kemp went to the doorand began to slip the bolts as silently
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as possible. His face was alittle paler than usual. You must step
straight out, said Kemp. Inanother moment, ad I was on the
doorstep and the bolts were dropping backinto the stables. He hesitated for a
moment, feeling more comfortable with hisback against the door. Then he marched
upright and square down the steps.He crossed the lawn and approached the gate.
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A little breeze seemed to ripple overthe grass. Something moved near him.
Stop a bit, said a voice, and Ada stopped dead, and
his hand tightened on the revolver.Well, said ad I. White and
grim and every nerve tense, obligeme by going back to the house,
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said the voice, as tense andgrim as Ade's sorry, said Adi a
little hoarsely, and moistened his lipswith his tongue. The voice was on
his left front. He thought,supposed he were to take his luck with
a shot? What are you goingfor? Said the voice, and there
was a quick movement of the twoand a flash of sunlight from the open
lip of Adi's pocket. Ada Idesisted and thought where I go, he
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said, slowly, is my ownbusiness. The words were still on his
lips when an arm came round hisneck. His back fell to knee,
and he was sprawling backward. Hedrew clumsily and fired absurdly, and in
another moment he was struck in themouth, and the revolver rested from his
grip. He made a vain clutchat a slippery limb, tried to struggle
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up and fell back. Damn,said Adi. The voice laughed, I'd
kill you now if it wasn't thewaste of a bullet, he said.
He saw the revolver in mid airsix feet off, covering him well,
said ad I. Sitting up,Get up, said the voice. Ada
stood up. Attention, said thevoice, and then fiercely. Don't try
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any games. Remember I can seeyour face, if you can't see mine.
You've got to go back to thehouse. He won't let me in,
said ad I. That's a pity, said the invisible man. I've
got no quarrel with you. Adaimoistened his lips again. He glanced away
from the barrel of the revolver andsaw the sea far off, very blue
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and dark under the midday sun.The smooth green, down the white cliff
of the head and the multitudinous town, and suddenly he knew that life was
very sweet. His eyes came backto this little metal thing hanging between heaven
and earth six yards away. Whatam I to do? He said,
sullenly. What am I to do? Asked the invisible man. You will
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get help. The only thing isfor you to go back. I will
try if he lets me in.Will you promise not to rush the door.
I've got no quarrel with you,said the voice. Kemp had hurried
upstairs after letting Adi out, andnow crouching among the broken glass and peering
cautiously over the edge of the studywindow sill, he saw Adi stand parleying
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with the unseen Why doesn't he fire, whispered Kemp to himself. Then the
revolver moved a little, and theglint of the sunlight flashed in Kemp's eyes.
He shaded his eyes and tried tosee the source of the blinding beam.
Surely, he said, ADYE hasgiven up the room. Promise not
to rush the door. Adi wassaying. Don't push a winning game too
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far. Give a man a chance. You go back to the house I
tell you flatly, I will notpromise anything. Ade's decision seemed suddenly made.
He turned towards the house, walkingslowly with his hands behind him.
Kemp watched him, puzzled. Therevolver vanished, flashed again into sight,
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vanished again, and became evident ona closer scrutiny as a little dark object
following Adi. Then things happened veryquickly. Aid I leapt backwards, swung
around, clutched at this little object, missed it, threw up his hands
and fell forward on his face,leaving a little puff of blue in the
air. Kemp did not hear thesound of the shot. Adi writhed,
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raised himself on one arm, fellforward, and lay still for a space.
Kemp remained staring at the quiet carelessnessof Adye's attitude. The afternoon was
very hot, and still nothing seemedstirring in all the world, save a
couple of yellow butterflies chasing each otherthrough the shrubbery between the house and the
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road gate. Aidey lay on thelawn near the gate. The blinds of
all the villas down the hill roadwere drawn, but in one little green
summer house was a white figure,apparently an old man asleep. Kemp scrutinized
the surroundings of the house for aglimpse of the revolver, but it had
vanished. His eyes came back toadi the game was opening well. Then
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came a ringing and knocking at thefront door that grew at last tumultuous,
but pursuant to Kemp's instructions, theservant had locked themselves into their rooms.
This was followed by a silence.Kemp sat listening, and then began peering
cautiously out of the three windows,one after another. He went to the
staircase head and stood listening uneasily.Armed himself with his bedroom poker, and
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went to examine the interior fastenings ofthe ground floor windows. Again, everything
was safe and quiet. He returnedto the belvidere ady lay motionless over the
edge of the gravel, just ashe had fallen. Coming along the road
by the villas with the house maidand two policemen, everything was deadly still.
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The three people seemed very slow inapproaching. He wondered what his antagonist
was doing. He started, Therewas a smash from below. He hesitated
and went downstairs again. Suddenly thehouse resounded with heavy blows and the splintering
of wood. He heard a smashand the destructive clang of the iron fastenings
of the shutters. He turned thekey and opened the kitchen door. As
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he did so, the shutters splitand splintering came flying inward. He stood
aghast. The window frame, savefor one cross bar, was still intact,
but only little teeth of glass remainedin the frame. The shutters had
been driven in with an axe,and now the axe was descending in sweeping
blows upon the window frame and theiron bars defending it. Then suddenly it
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leapt aside and vanished. He sawthe revolver lying on the path outside,
and then the little weapon sprang intothe air. He dodged back. The
revolver cracked just too late, anda splinter from the edge of the closing
door flashed over his head. Heslammed and locked the door, and as
he stood outside he heard Griffin shoutingand laughing. Then the blows of the
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axe, with its splitting and smashingconsequences, were resumed. Kemp stood in
the passage, trying to think.In a moment the invisible man would be
in the kitchen. This door wouldnot keep him a moment, and then
a ringing came at the front door. Again it would be the policeman.
He ran into the hall, putup the chain and drew the bolts.
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He made the girl speak before hedropped the chain, and the three people
blundered into the house in a heap, and Kemp slammed the door again.
The invisible man said Kemp, hehas a revolver with two shots left.
He's killed. Adey shot him anyhow, didn't you see him on the lawn.
He's lying there? Who, saidone of the policemen. A die,
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said Kemp. We came in theback way, said the girl.
What's that smashing, asked one ofthe policemen. He's in the kitchen,
or will be He's found an axe. Suddenly the house was full of the
invisible man's resounding blows on the kitchendoor. The girl stared towards the kitchen,
shuddered, and retreated into the diningroom. Kemp tried to explain in
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broken sentences. They heard the kitchendoor. Give this way, said Kemp,
starting into activity, and bundled thepoliceman into the dining room. Doorway
poker, said Kemp, and rushedto the fender. He handed the poker
he had carried to the policeman andthe dining room one to the other.
He suddenly flung himself backward. Whoop, said one policeman ducked and caught the
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axe on his poker. The pistolsnapped his penultimate shot and ripped a valuable
Sidney cooper. The second policeman broughthis poker down on the little weapon as
one might knock down a wasp,and sent it rattling to the floor.
At the first clash, the girlscreamed, stood screaming for a moment by
the fireplace, and then ran toopen the shutters, possibly with an idea
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of escaping by the shattered window.The axe receded into the passage and fell
to a position about two feet fromthe ground. They could hear the invisible
man breathing, stand away, youtwo. I want that man, Kemp,
We want you, said the firstpoliceman, making a quick step forward
and wiping with his poker at thevoice. The invisible man must have started
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back, and he blundered into theumbrella stand. Then, as the policeman
staggered with the swing of the blow, he had aimed the invisible man countered
with the axe. The helmet crumbledlike paper, and the blow sent the
man spinning to the floor at thehead of the kitchen stairs. But the
second policeman, aiming behind the axewith his poker, hid something soft that
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snapped. There was a sharp exclamationof pain, and then the axe fell
to the ground. The policeman wipedagain at vacancy and hid nothing. He
put his foot on the axe andstruck again. Then he stood poker clubbed,
listening intent for the slightest movement.He heard the dining room window open
and a quick rush of feet within. His companion rolled over and sat up,
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with blood running down between his eyeand ear. Where is he asked
the man on the floor. Don'tknow I hit him. He's standing somewhere
in the hall unless he slipped pastyou. Doctor Kemp, Sir pause.
Doctor Kemp, cried the policeman again. The second policeman began struggling to his
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feet. He stood up. Suddenly, the faint pad of bare feet on
the kitchen stairs could be heard.Yap, cried the first policeman, and
incontinently flung his ogre. It smasheda little gas bracket he made as if
he would pursue the invisible man downstairs. Then he thought better of it and
stepped into the dining room. DoctorKemp, he began, and stopped short.
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Doctor Kemp's a hero, he said, as his companion looked over his
shoulder. The dining room window waswide open, and neither housemaid nor Kemp
was to be seen. The secondpoliceman's opinion of Kemp was Terson Vivid,
Chapter twenty eight. The Hunter hunted. Mister Helas, mister Kemp's nearest neighbor
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among the villa holders, was asleepin his summer house when the siege of
Kemp's house began. Mister Helas wasone of the sturdy minority who refused to
believe in all this nonsense about aninvisible man. His wife, However,
as he was subsequently to be remindeddid he insisted on walking about his garden
just as if nothing was the matter, and he went asleep in the afternoon.
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In accordance with the custom of years. He slept through the smashing of
the windows, and then woke upsuddenly, with a curious persuasion of something
wrong. He looked across at Kemp'shouse, rubbed his eyes and looked again.
Then he put his feet to theground and sat listening. He said
he was damned, but still thestrange thing was visible. The house looked
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as though it had been deserted forweeks after a violent riot. Every window
was broken, and every window savethose of the belvedere study was blinded by
the internal shutters. I could havesworn it was all right. He looked
at his watch. Twenty minutes agohe became aware of a measured concussion and
the clash of glass far away inthe distance. And then, as he
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sat open mouthed, came a stillmore wonderful thing. The shutters of the
drawing room window were flung open violently, and the house ma, in her
outdoor hat and garments, appeared,struggling in a frantic manner to throw up
the sash. Suddenly a man appearedbeside her, helping her, doctor Kemp.
In another moment, the window wasopen and the housemaid was struggling out.
She pitched forward and vanished among theshrubs. Mister Helas stood up,
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exclaiming vaguely and vehemently at all thesewonderful things. He saw Kemp stand on
the sill spring from the window andreappear almost instantaneously, running along a path
in the shrubbery and stooping as heran, like a man who evades observation.
He vanished behind a laburnum and appearedagain, clambering over a fence that
had butted on the open down.In a second he had tumbled over and
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was running at a tremendous pace downthe slope towards mister Helas. Lord cried,
mister Helas struck with an idea.It's thy invisible man, brute.
It's right after all with mister Helas. To think things like that was to
act. And his cook, watchinghim from the top window, was amazed
to see him come pelting towards thehouse at a good nine miles an hour.
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There was a slamming of doors,a ringing of bells, and the
voice of mister Helas bellowing like abull. Shut the doors, shut,
the windows, shut everything. Theinvisible man is coming. Instantly. The
house was full of screams and directionsand scurrying feet. He ran himself to
shut the French windows that opened onthe verandah as he did so, Kemp's
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head and shoulders and knee appeared overthe edge of the garden fence. In
another moment, Kemp had plowed throughthe asparagus and was running across the tennis
lawn to the house. You can'tcome in, said mister Helas, shutting
the bolts. I am very sorryif he's after you, but you can't
come in. Kemp appeared with aface of terror, close to the glass,
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rapping and then shaking frantically at theFrench window. Then, seeing his
efforts were useless, he ran alongthe verandah vaulted the end and went to
hammer at the side door. Thenhe ran around by the side gate to
the front of the house and sointo the hill road. And mister Helas,
staring from his window a face ofhorror, had scarcely witnessed Kemp vanish
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ere The asparagus was being trampled thisway and that by feet unseen at that
mister Helas fled precipitately upstairs, andthe rest of the chases beyond his purview.
But as he passed the staircase window, he heard the side gate slam.
Emerging into the hill road, Kempnaturally took the downward direction, and
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so it was he came to runin his own person, the very race
he had washed with such a criticaleye from the Belvedere study only four days
ago. He ran it well fora man out of training, and though
his face was white and wet,his wits were cool to the last.
He ran with wide strides, andwherever a patch of rough ground intervened,
wherever there came a patch of rawflints or a bit of broken glass shone
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dazzling, he crossed it and leftthe bare, invisible feet that followed to
take what line they would. Forthe first time in his life, Kemp
discovered that the hill road was indescribablyvast and desolate, and that the beginnings
of the town far below at thehill foot were strangely remote. Never had
there been a slower or more painfulmethod of progression than running. All the
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gaunt villas, sleeping in the afternoonsun looked locked and barred. No doubt
they were locked and barred by hisown orders, but at any rate they
might have kept a look out foran eventuality like this. The town was
rising up now, the sea haddropped out of sight behind it, and
people down below were stirring. Atram was just arriving at the hill.
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Foot beyond that was the police station. Was that footsteps he heard behind him
spurred. The people below were staringat him, One or two were running,
and his breath was beginning to soarin his throat. The tram was
quite near now, and the JollyCricketers was noisily barring its doors. Beyond
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on the tram were posts and heapsof gravel the drainage works. He had
a transitory idea of jumping into thetram and slamming the doors, and then
he resolved to go for the policestation. In another moment, he had
passed the door of the Jolly Cricketersand was in the blistering fag end of
the street, with human beings abouthim. The tram driver and his helper,
arrested by the sight of his furioushaste, stood staring with the tram
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horses unhitched. Further on, theastonished features of Navvies appeared above the mounds
of gravel. His pace broke alittle, and then he heard the swift
pad of his pursuer, and leapedforward again. The invisible man. He
cried to the Navvies with a vagueindicative gesture, and by an inspiration,
leaped the excavation and placed a burlygroup between him and the chase. Then,
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abandoning the idea of the police station, he turned into a little side
street, rushed by a green grocer'scart, hesitated for the tenth of a
second at the door of a sweetstuff shop, and then made for the
mouth of an alley that ran backinto the main hill street again. Two
or three little children were playing hereand shrieked and scattered at his apparition,
and forthwith doors and windows opened,and excited mothers revealed their hearts out.
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He shot into Hill Street again,three hundred yards from the tram line end,
and immediately he became aware of atumultuous vociferation and running people. He
glanced up the street towards the hill. Hardly a dozen yards off ran a
huge navvy, cursing in fragments andslashing viciously with a spade and hard Behind
him came the tram conductor, withhis fists clenched up the street. Others
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followed these two, striking and shoutingdown towards the town. Men and women
were running, and he noticed clearlyone man coming out of a shop door
with a stick in his hand,spread out, spread out, cried some
one. Kemp suddenly grasped the alteredcondition of the chase. He stopped and
looked around, panting, He's closehere, he cried, form a line
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across. He was hit hard underthe ear and went reeling, trying to
face round towards his unseen antagonist.He just managed to keep his feet and
he struck a vain counter in theair. Then he was hit again under
the jaw and sprawled headlong on theground. In another moment, a knee
compressed his diaphragm, and a coupleof eager hands gripped his throat, but
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the grip of one was weaker thanthe other. He grasped the wrists,
heard a cry of pain from hisassailant, and then the spade of the
navvy came whirling through the air abovehim and struck something with a dull thud.
He felt a drop of moisture onhis face. The grip at his
throat suddenly relaxed, and with aconvulsive effort, Kemp loosed himself, grasped
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a limp shoulder and rolled uppermost.He gripped the unseen elbows near the ground.
I've got him, screamed, Kemp, help help, hold he's down,
hold his feet. In another secondthere was a simultaneous rush upon the
struggle, and a stranger coming intothe road suddenly might have thought an exceptionally
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savage game of rugby football was inprogress. And there was no shouting after
Kemp's cry, only a sound ofblows and feet and heavy breathing. Then
came a mighty effort, and theinvisible man threw off a couple of his
antagonists and rose to his knees.Kemp clung to him in front, like
a hound to a stag, anda dozen hands gripped, clutched and tore
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at the unseen. The tram conductorsuddenly got the neck and shoulders and lugged
him back. Down went the heapof struggling men again and rolled over.
There was I am afraid, somesavage kicking, and then suddenly a wild
scream of mercy, mercy that dieddown swiftly to a sound like choking.
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Get back, you fools, criedthe muffled voice of Kemp, and there
was a vigorous shoving back of stalwartforms he's hurt, I till you stand
back. There was a brief struggleto clear a space, and then the
circle of eager faces saw the doctorkneeling as it seemed fifteen inches in the
air and holding invisible arms to theground. Behind him, a constable gripped
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invisible ankles. Don't you leave,Goavien, cried the big navvy, holding
a blood stained spade. He's shamming. He's not shamming, said the doctor,
cautiously raising his knee, and I'llhold him. His face was bruised
and already going red. He spokethickly because of a bleeding lip. He
released one hand and seemed to befeeling at the face. The mouth's all
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wet, he said, and then, good God. He stood up abruptly
and then knelt down on the groundby the side of the thing unseen.
There was a pushing and shuffling,a sound of heavy feet as fresh people
turned up to increase the pressure ofthe crowd. People were coming out of
the houses. Now the doors ofthe Jolly Cricketers stood suddenly wide open.
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Very little was said. Kemp feltabout his hand, seeming to pass through
empty air. He's not breathing,he said, And then I can't feel
his heart. His side uugh.Suddenly, an old woman, peering under
the arm of the big navvy,screamed, sharply. Lookye there, she
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said, and thrust out a wrinkledfinger, And looking where she pointed,
every one saw faint and transparent,as though it were made of glass,
so that veins and arteries, andbones and nerves could be distinguished. The
outline of a hand, a hand, limp and prone. It grew clouded
and opaque. Even as they stared. Hallo cried the constable, here is
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his feet a showing, and soslowly, beginning at his hands and feet,
and creeping along his limbs to thevital centers of his body, that
strange change continued. It was likethe slow spreading of a poison. First
came the little white nerves, ahazy gray sketch of a limb, Then
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the glassy bones and intricate arteries,Then the flesh and skin, first a
faint fogginess, and then growing rapidlydense and opaque. Presently they could see
his crushed chest and his shoulders,and the dim outline of his drawn and
battered features. When at last thecrowd made way for camp to stand erect.
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There lay naked and pitiful on theground the bruised and broken body of
a young man about thirty. Hishair and brow were white, not gray
with age, but white with thewhiteness of albinism, and his eyes were
like garnets. His hands were clenched, his eyes wide open, and his
expression was one of anger and dismay. Cover his face, said a man,
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for God's sake, cover that face, And three little children, pushing
forward through the crowd, were suddenlytwisted round and sent packing off again.
Someone brought a sheet from the jollycricketers, and having covered him, they
carried him into the house. Andthere it was, on a shabby bed,
in a tawdry, ill lighted bedroom, surrounded by a crowd of ignorant
(31:15):
and excited people, broken and wounded, betrayed and unpitied, that Gryffin,
the first of all men to makehimself invisible. Gryffin, the most gifted
physicist the world has ever seen,ended in infinite disaster his strange and terrible
career. The epilogue so ends thestory of the strange and evil experiments of
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the Invisible Man. And if youwould learn more of him, you must
go to a little inn near portstow and talk to the landlord. The
sign of the inn is an emptyboard save for a hat and boots,
and the name is the title ofthis story. Is a short and corpulent
little man with a nose of cylindricalproportions, wiry hair, and a sporadic
(32:05):
rosiness of visage. Drink generously,and he will tell you generously of all
the things that happened to him afterthat time, and of how the lawyers
tried to do him out of thetreasure found upon him when they found they
couldn't prove whose money was. WhichI'm blessed, he says, if they
didn't try to make me out ablooming treasure trove, do I look like
a treasure trove? And then agentleman gave me a guinea a night to
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tell a story at the Empire Musicall just to tell him all in my
own words, barring one. Andif you want to cut off the flow
of his reminiscences abruptly, you canalways do so by asking if there weren't
three manuscript books in the story.Admits there were, and proceeds to explain
with asseverations that everybody thinks he hasn't, but bless you. He hasn't the
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invisible man. It was took himoff to idem when I cut and ran
for Portstow. Is that mister Kempput people on with the idea of may
avindom, and then he subsided intoa pensive state, watches you furtively,
bustles nervously with glasses, and presentlyleaves the bar. He is a bachelor
man, his tastes were ever bachelor, and there are no women folk in
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the house. Outwardly he buttons itis expected of him, But in his
more vital privacies, in the mannerof braces, for examples, he still
turns to string. He conducts hishouse without enterprise, but with eminent decorum.
His movements are slow, and heis a great thinker. But he
has a reputation for wisdom and fora respectable parsi money in the village,
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and his knowledge of the roads ofthe south of England would beat Cobbet.
And on Sunday mornings, every Sundaymorning all the year round, while he
is close to the outer world,and every night after ten he goes into
his bar parlor bearing a glass ofgin faintly tinged with water, and having
placed this down, He locks thedoor and examines the blinds, and even
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looks under the table, and then, being satisfied of his solitude, he
unlocks the cupboard, and a boxin the cupboard, and a drawer in
that box, and produces three volumesbound in brown leather, and places them
solemnly in the middle of the table. The covers are weather worn and tinged
with an algal green, for oncethey sojourned in a ditch, and some
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of the pages have been washed blankby dirty water. The landlord sits down
in an arm chair fills a longclay pipe, slowly gloating over the books
the while. Then he pulls onetowards him and opens him and begins to
study it, turning over the leavesbackwards and forwards. His browser knit and
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his lips move painfully. X Alittle two up in the air, cross
and a fiddle dede lord, whata one he was for intellect. Presently,
he relaxes and leans back and blinksthrough his smoke across the room at
things invisible to other eyes. Fullof secrets, he says, wonderful secrets.
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Once I get a ore of them. Short, I wouldn't do what
he did. I just well.He pulls at his pipe, so he
lapses into a dream, the undying, wonderful dream of life. And though
Kemp has fished unceasingly, no humanbeing save the Landlord knows those books are
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there, with the subtle secret ofinvisibility, and a dozen other strange secrets
written therein, and none other willknow of them until he dies. End
of the Invisible Man by H.G. Wells, read for Librivoux dot
Org by Alex Foster www dot AlexFoster dot me dot UK in Nottingham,
(35:57):
England, on the thirteenth of Junetwo thousand, non six.
This is a LibriVox recording. AllLibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
For more information not a volunteer,please visit LibriVox dot org. To day's
reading by Alex Foster w w Wdot Alex Foster dot me dot UK.
The Invisible Man by H. G. Wells, Chapter twenty seven, The
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Siege of Kemp's House. Kemp reada strange missive written in pencil on a
greasy sheet of paper. You havebeen amazingly energetic and clever this letter ran,
though what you stand to gain byit, I cannot imagine. You
are against me For a whole day. You have chased me. You have
(00:44):
tried to rob me of a night'srest. But I have had food in
spite of you. I have sleptin spite of you. And the game
is only beginning. The game isonly beginning. There is nothing for it
but to start the terror. Thisannounces the first day of the t r
Port Burdock is no longer under theQueen. Tell your colonel of police and
the rest of them. It isunder me the terror. This is day
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one of year one of the NewEpoch, the Epoch of the Invisible Man.
I am Invisible Man. The firstto begin with. The rule will
be easy. The first day therewill be one execution. For the sake
of example, a man named Kemp. Death starts for him today. He
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may lock himself away, hide himselfaway, get guards about him, put
on armor. If he likes death. The unseen death is coming, let
him take precautions. It will impressmy people. Death starts from the pillar
box. By midday the letter willfall in as the postman comes along.
Then off the game begins. Deathstarts. Help him, not my people.
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Let death fall upon you also todayKemp is to die. Kemp read
this letter twice. It's no hoax, he said. That's his voice,
and he means it. He turnedthe folded sheet over and saw on the
addressed side of it the postmark HintonDean and the prosaic detail two pence to
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pay. He got up slowly,leaving his lunch unfinished. The letter had
come by the one o'clock post,and went into his study. He rang
for his housekeeper and told her togo round the house at once, examining
all the fastenings of the windows andclosing all the shutters. He closed the
shutters of his study himself from alocked straw in his bedroom. He took
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a little revolver, examined it carefully, and put it into the pocket of
his lounge jacket. He wrote anumber of brief notes, one to Colonel
Adye, gave them to his servantto take with explicit instructions as to her
way of leaving the house. Thereis no danger, he said, and
added a mental reservation to you.He remained meditative for a space after doing
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this, and then returned to hiscooling life. He ate with gaps of
thought. Finally he struck the tablesharply. We will have him, he
said, and I am the bait. He will come too far. He
went up to the belvidere, carefullyshutting every door after him. It's a
game, he said, an oddgame, but the chances are all for
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me, mister Griffin, in spiteof your invisibility, Gryffin contremundum with a
vengeance. He stood at the window, staring at the hot hillside. He
must get food every day, andI don't envy him. Did he really
sleep last night out in the open, somewhere secure from collisions? I wish
we could get some good, cold, wet weather instead of the heat.
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He may be watching me now.He went to close the window. Something
wrapped smartly against the brickwork over theframe and made him start violently back.
I'm getting nervous, said Kemp.But it was five minutes before he went
to the window again. It musthave been a sparrow, he said.
Presently, he heard the front doorbell ringing, and hurried downstairs. He
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unbolted and unlocked the door, examinedthe chain, put it up, and
opened cautiously without showing himself. Afamiliar voice hailed him. It was aide
I. Your servant's been assaulted,Kemp, he said, round the door?
What exclaimed Kemp? Had that noteof yours taken away from her?
He's close about here, Let mein. Kemp released the chain and aid
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I entered through as narrow an openingas possible. He stood in the hall,
looking with infinite relief at Kemp refasteningthe door. Note was snatched out
of her hand. Scared her horribly. She's down at the station hysterics.
He's close here. What was itabout, Kemp swore? What a fool
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I was, said Kemp. Imight have known. It's not an hour's
walk from Hinton. Dean All ready. What's up, said ad I.
Look here, said Kemp, andled the way into his study. He
handed Ady the Invisible Man's letter.Adi read it and whistled softly. And
you, said ad I proposed atrap like a fool, said Kemp,
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and sent my proposal out by amaid servant to him. Ade I followed
Kemp's profanity. He'll clear out,said ad I. Not he, said
Kemp. A resounding smash of glasscame from upstairs. Ad I had a
silvery glimpse of a little revolver halfout of Kemp's pocket. It's a window
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up stairs, said Kemp, andled the way up. There came a
second smash while they were still onthe staircase. When they reached the study,
they found two of the three windowssmashed, half the room littered with
splendid glass, and one big flintlying on the writing table. The two
men stopped in the doorway, contemplatingthe wreckage. Kemp swore again, and
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as he did so, the thirdwindow went with a snap like a pistol,
hung starred for a moment and collapsedin jagged, shivering triangles into the
room. What's this for, saidad I. It's a beginning, said
Kemp. There's no way of climbingup here, not for a cat,
said Kemp. No shutters, nothere, all the downstairs room hullo smash,
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and then whack of boards hit hardcame from downstairs. Confound him,
said Kemp. That must be yes, it's one of the bedrooms. He's
going to do all the house.But he's a fool. The shutters are
up and the glass will fall outside. He'll cut his feet. Another window
proclaimed its destruction. The two menstood on the landing, perplexed. I
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have it, said Ady, Letme have a stick or something. I'll
go down to the station and gettheir bloodhounds put on. That ought to
settle him. They're hard. Bynot ten minutes, another window went the
way of its fellows. You haven'ta revolver, asked ad I. Kemp's
hand went to his pocket. Thenhe hesitated, I haven't one, at
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least to spare. I'll bring itback, said Ade. You'll be safe
here. Kemp, ashamed of hismomentary lapse from truthfulness, handed him the
weapon. Now for the door,said ad I. As they stood hesitating
in the hall, they heard oneof the first floor bedroom windows crack and
clash. Kemp went to the doorand began to slip the bolts as silently
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as possible. His face was alittle paler than usual. You must step
straight out, said Kemp. Inanother moment, ad I was on the
doorstep and the bolts were dropping backinto the stables. He hesitated for a
moment, feeling more comfortable with hisback against the door. Then he marched
upright and square down the steps.He crossed the lawn and approached the gate.
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A little breeze seemed to ripple overthe grass. Something moved near him.
Stop a bit, said a voice, and Ada stopped dead, and
his hand tightened on the revolver.Well, said ad I. White and
grim and every nerve tense, obligeme by going back to the house,
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said the voice, as tense andgrim as Ade's sorry, said Adi a
little hoarsely, and moistened his lipswith his tongue. The voice was on
his left front. He thought,supposed he were to take his luck with
a shot? What are you goingfor? Said the voice, and there
was a quick movement of the twoand a flash of sunlight from the open
lip of Adi's pocket. Ada Idesisted and thought where I go, he
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said, slowly, is my ownbusiness. The words were still on his
lips when an arm came round hisneck. His back fell to knee,
and he was sprawling backward. Hedrew clumsily and fired absurdly, and in
another moment he was struck in themouth, and the revolver rested from his
grip. He made a vain clutchat a slippery limb, tried to struggle
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up and fell back. Damn,said Adi. The voice laughed, I'd
kill you now if it wasn't thewaste of a bullet, he said.
He saw the revolver in mid airsix feet off, covering him well,
said ad I. Sitting up,Get up, said the voice. Ada
stood up. Attention, said thevoice, and then fiercely. Don't try
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any games. Remember I can seeyour face, if you can't see mine.
You've got to go back to thehouse. He won't let me in,
said ad I. That's a pity, said the invisible man. I've
got no quarrel with you. Adaimoistened his lips again. He glanced away
from the barrel of the revolver andsaw the sea far off, very blue
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and dark under the midday sun.The smooth green, down the white cliff
of the head and the multitudinous town, and suddenly he knew that life was
very sweet. His eyes came backto this little metal thing hanging between heaven
and earth six yards away. Whatam I to do? He said,
sullenly. What am I to do? Asked the invisible man. You will
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get help. The only thing isfor you to go back. I will
try if he lets me in.Will you promise not to rush the door.
I've got no quarrel with you,said the voice. Kemp had hurried
upstairs after letting Adi out, andnow crouching among the broken glass and peering
cautiously over the edge of the studywindow sill, he saw Adi stand parleying
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with the unseen Why doesn't he fire, whispered Kemp to himself. Then the
revolver moved a little, and theglint of the sunlight flashed in Kemp's eyes.
He shaded his eyes and tried tosee the source of the blinding beam.
Surely, he said, ADYE hasgiven up the room. Promise not
to rush the door. Adi wassaying. Don't push a winning game too
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far. Give a man a chance. You go back to the house I
tell you flatly, I will notpromise anything. Ade's decision seemed suddenly made.
He turned towards the house, walkingslowly with his hands behind him.
Kemp watched him, puzzled. Therevolver vanished, flashed again into sight,
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vanished again, and became evident ona closer scrutiny as a little dark object
following Adi. Then things happened veryquickly. Aid I leapt backwards, swung
around, clutched at this little object, missed it, threw up his hands
and fell forward on his face,leaving a little puff of blue in the
air. Kemp did not hear thesound of the shot. Adi writhed,
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raised himself on one arm, fellforward, and lay still for a space.
Kemp remained staring at the quiet carelessnessof Adye's attitude. The afternoon was
very hot, and still nothing seemedstirring in all the world, save a
couple of yellow butterflies chasing each otherthrough the shrubbery between the house and the
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road gate. Aidey lay on thelawn near the gate. The blinds of
all the villas down the hill roadwere drawn, but in one little green
summer house was a white figure,apparently an old man asleep. Kemp scrutinized
the surroundings of the house for aglimpse of the revolver, but it had
vanished. His eyes came back toadi the game was opening well. Then
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came a ringing and knocking at thefront door that grew at last tumultuous,
but pursuant to Kemp's instructions, theservant had locked themselves into their rooms.
This was followed by a silence.Kemp sat listening, and then began peering
cautiously out of the three windows,one after another. He went to the
staircase head and stood listening uneasily.Armed himself with his bedroom poker, and
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went to examine the interior fastenings ofthe ground floor windows. Again, everything
was safe and quiet. He returnedto the belvidere ady lay motionless over the
edge of the gravel, just ashe had fallen. Coming along the road
by the villas with the house maidand two policemen, everything was deadly still.
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The three people seemed very slow inapproaching. He wondered what his antagonist
was doing. He started, Therewas a smash from below. He hesitated
and went downstairs again. Suddenly thehouse resounded with heavy blows and the splintering
of wood. He heard a smashand the destructive clang of the iron fastenings
of the shutters. He turned thekey and opened the kitchen door. As
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he did so, the shutters splitand splintering came flying inward. He stood
aghast. The window frame, savefor one cross bar, was still intact,
but only little teeth of glass remainedin the frame. The shutters had
been driven in with an axe,and now the axe was descending in sweeping
blows upon the window frame and theiron bars defending it. Then suddenly it
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leapt aside and vanished. He sawthe revolver lying on the path outside,
and then the little weapon sprang intothe air. He dodged back. The
revolver cracked just too late, anda splinter from the edge of the closing
door flashed over his head. Heslammed and locked the door, and as
he stood outside he heard Griffin shoutingand laughing. Then the blows of the
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axe, with its splitting and smashingconsequences, were resumed. Kemp stood in
the passage, trying to think.In a moment the invisible man would be
in the kitchen. This door wouldnot keep him a moment, and then
a ringing came at the front door. Again it would be the policeman.
He ran into the hall, putup the chain and drew the bolts.
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He made the girl speak before hedropped the chain, and the three people
blundered into the house in a heap, and Kemp slammed the door again.
The invisible man said Kemp, hehas a revolver with two shots left.
He's killed. Adey shot him anyhow, didn't you see him on the lawn.
He's lying there? Who, saidone of the policemen. A die,
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said Kemp. We came in theback way, said the girl.
What's that smashing, asked one ofthe policemen. He's in the kitchen,
or will be He's found an axe. Suddenly the house was full of the
invisible man's resounding blows on the kitchendoor. The girl stared towards the kitchen,
shuddered, and retreated into the diningroom. Kemp tried to explain in
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broken sentences. They heard the kitchendoor. Give this way, said Kemp,
starting into activity, and bundled thepoliceman into the dining room. Doorway
poker, said Kemp, and rushedto the fender. He handed the poker
he had carried to the policeman andthe dining room one to the other.
He suddenly flung himself backward. Whoop, said one policeman ducked and caught the
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axe on his poker. The pistolsnapped his penultimate shot and ripped a valuable
Sidney cooper. The second policeman broughthis poker down on the little weapon as
one might knock down a wasp,and sent it rattling to the floor.
At the first clash, the girlscreamed, stood screaming for a moment by
the fireplace, and then ran toopen the shutters, possibly with an idea
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of escaping by the shattered window.The axe receded into the passage and fell
to a position about two feet fromthe ground. They could hear the invisible
man breathing, stand away, youtwo. I want that man, Kemp,
We want you, said the firstpoliceman, making a quick step forward
and wiping with his poker at thevoice. The invisible man must have started
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back, and he blundered into theumbrella stand. Then, as the policeman
staggered with the swing of the blow, he had aimed the invisible man countered
with the axe. The helmet crumbledlike paper, and the blow sent the
man spinning to the floor at thehead of the kitchen stairs. But the
second policeman, aiming behind the axewith his poker, hid something soft that
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snapped. There was a sharp exclamationof pain, and then the axe fell
to the ground. The policeman wipedagain at vacancy and hid nothing. He
put his foot on the axe andstruck again. Then he stood poker clubbed,
listening intent for the slightest movement.He heard the dining room window open
and a quick rush of feet within. His companion rolled over and sat up,
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with blood running down between his eyeand ear. Where is he asked
the man on the floor. Don'tknow I hit him. He's standing somewhere
in the hall unless he slipped pastyou. Doctor Kemp, Sir pause.
Doctor Kemp, cried the policeman again. The second policeman began struggling to his
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feet. He stood up. Suddenly, the faint pad of bare feet on
the kitchen stairs could be heard.Yap, cried the first policeman, and
incontinently flung his ogre. It smasheda little gas bracket he made as if
he would pursue the invisible man downstairs. Then he thought better of it and
stepped into the dining room. DoctorKemp, he began, and stopped short.
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Doctor Kemp's a hero, he said, as his companion looked over his
shoulder. The dining room window waswide open, and neither housemaid nor Kemp
was to be seen. The secondpoliceman's opinion of Kemp was Terson Vivid,
Chapter twenty eight. The Hunter hunted. Mister Helas, mister Kemp's nearest neighbor
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among the villa holders, was asleepin his summer house when the siege of
Kemp's house began. Mister Helas wasone of the sturdy minority who refused to
believe in all this nonsense about aninvisible man. His wife, However,
as he was subsequently to be remindeddid he insisted on walking about his garden
just as if nothing was the matter, and he went asleep in the afternoon.
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In accordance with the custom of years. He slept through the smashing of
the windows, and then woke upsuddenly, with a curious persuasion of something
wrong. He looked across at Kemp'shouse, rubbed his eyes and looked again.
Then he put his feet to theground and sat listening. He said
he was damned, but still thestrange thing was visible. The house looked
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as though it had been deserted forweeks after a violent riot. Every window
was broken, and every window savethose of the belvedere study was blinded by
the internal shutters. I could havesworn it was all right. He looked
at his watch. Twenty minutes agohe became aware of a measured concussion and
the clash of glass far away inthe distance. And then, as he
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sat open mouthed, came a stillmore wonderful thing. The shutters of the
drawing room window were flung open violently, and the house ma, in her
outdoor hat and garments, appeared,struggling in a frantic manner to throw up
the sash. Suddenly a man appearedbeside her, helping her, doctor Kemp.
In another moment, the window wasopen and the housemaid was struggling out.
She pitched forward and vanished among theshrubs. Mister Helas stood up,
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exclaiming vaguely and vehemently at all thesewonderful things. He saw Kemp stand on
the sill spring from the window andreappear almost instantaneously, running along a path
in the shrubbery and stooping as heran, like a man who evades observation.
He vanished behind a laburnum and appearedagain, clambering over a fence that
had butted on the open down.In a second he had tumbled over and
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was running at a tremendous pace downthe slope towards mister Helas. Lord cried,
mister Helas struck with an idea.It's thy invisible man, brute.
It's right after all with mister Helas. To think things like that was to
act. And his cook, watchinghim from the top window, was amazed
to see him come pelting towards thehouse at a good nine miles an hour.
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There was a slamming of doors,a ringing of bells, and the
voice of mister Helas bellowing like abull. Shut the doors, shut,
the windows, shut everything. Theinvisible man is coming. Instantly. The
house was full of screams and directionsand scurrying feet. He ran himself to
shut the French windows that opened onthe verandah as he did so, Kemp's
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head and shoulders and knee appeared overthe edge of the garden fence. In
another moment, Kemp had plowed throughthe asparagus and was running across the tennis
lawn to the house. You can'tcome in, said mister Helas, shutting
the bolts. I am very sorryif he's after you, but you can't
come in. Kemp appeared with aface of terror, close to the glass,
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rapping and then shaking frantically at theFrench window. Then, seeing his
efforts were useless, he ran alongthe verandah vaulted the end and went to
hammer at the side door. Thenhe ran around by the side gate to
the front of the house and sointo the hill road. And mister Helas,
staring from his window a face ofhorror, had scarcely witnessed Kemp vanish
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ere The asparagus was being trampled thisway and that by feet unseen at that
mister Helas fled precipitately upstairs, andthe rest of the chases beyond his purview.
But as he passed the staircase window, he heard the side gate slam.
Emerging into the hill road, Kempnaturally took the downward direction, and
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so it was he came to runin his own person, the very race
he had washed with such a criticaleye from the Belvedere study only four days
ago. He ran it well fora man out of training, and though
his face was white and wet,his wits were cool to the last.
He ran with wide strides, andwherever a patch of rough ground intervened,
wherever there came a patch of rawflints or a bit of broken glass shone
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dazzling, he crossed it and leftthe bare, invisible feet that followed to
take what line they would. Forthe first time in his life, Kemp
discovered that the hill road was indescribablyvast and desolate, and that the beginnings
of the town far below at thehill foot were strangely remote. Never had
there been a slower or more painfulmethod of progression than running. All the
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gaunt villas, sleeping in the afternoonsun looked locked and barred. No doubt
they were locked and barred by hisown orders, but at any rate they
might have kept a look out foran eventuality like this. The town was
rising up now, the sea haddropped out of sight behind it, and
people down below were stirring. Atram was just arriving at the hill.
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Foot beyond that was the police station. Was that footsteps he heard behind him
spurred. The people below were staringat him, One or two were running,
and his breath was beginning to soarin his throat. The tram was
quite near now, and the JollyCricketers was noisily barring its doors. Beyond
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on the tram were posts and heapsof gravel the drainage works. He had
a transitory idea of jumping into thetram and slamming the doors, and then
he resolved to go for the policestation. In another moment, he had
passed the door of the Jolly Cricketersand was in the blistering fag end of
the street, with human beings abouthim. The tram driver and his helper,
arrested by the sight of his furioushaste, stood staring with the tram
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horses unhitched. Further on, theastonished features of Navvies appeared above the mounds
of gravel. His pace broke alittle, and then he heard the swift
pad of his pursuer, and leapedforward again. The invisible man. He
cried to the Navvies with a vagueindicative gesture, and by an inspiration,
leaped the excavation and placed a burlygroup between him and the chase. Then,
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abandoning the idea of the police station, he turned into a little side
street, rushed by a green grocer'scart, hesitated for the tenth of a
second at the door of a sweetstuff shop, and then made for the
mouth of an alley that ran backinto the main hill street again. Two
or three little children were playing hereand shrieked and scattered at his apparition,
and forthwith doors and windows opened,and excited mothers revealed their hearts out.
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He shot into Hill Street again,three hundred yards from the tram line end,
and immediately he became aware of atumultuous vociferation and running people. He
glanced up the street towards the hill. Hardly a dozen yards off ran a
huge navvy, cursing in fragments andslashing viciously with a spade and hard Behind
him came the tram conductor, withhis fists clenched up the street. Others
(25:34):
followed these two, striking and shoutingdown towards the town. Men and women
were running, and he noticed clearlyone man coming out of a shop door
with a stick in his hand,spread out, spread out, cried some
one. Kemp suddenly grasped the alteredcondition of the chase. He stopped and
looked around, panting, He's closehere, he cried, form a line
(25:56):
across. He was hit hard underthe ear and went reeling, trying to
face round towards his unseen antagonist.He just managed to keep his feet and
he struck a vain counter in theair. Then he was hit again under
the jaw and sprawled headlong on theground. In another moment, a knee
compressed his diaphragm, and a coupleof eager hands gripped his throat, but
(26:18):
the grip of one was weaker thanthe other. He grasped the wrists,
heard a cry of pain from hisassailant, and then the spade of the
navvy came whirling through the air abovehim and struck something with a dull thud.
He felt a drop of moisture onhis face. The grip at his
throat suddenly relaxed, and with aconvulsive effort, Kemp loosed himself, grasped
(26:40):
a limp shoulder and rolled uppermost.He gripped the unseen elbows near the ground.
I've got him, screamed, Kemp, help help, hold he's down,
hold his feet. In another secondthere was a simultaneous rush upon the
struggle, and a stranger coming intothe road suddenly might have thought an exceptionally
(27:00):
savage game of rugby football was inprogress. And there was no shouting after
Kemp's cry, only a sound ofblows and feet and heavy breathing. Then
came a mighty effort, and theinvisible man threw off a couple of his
antagonists and rose to his knees.Kemp clung to him in front, like
a hound to a stag, anda dozen hands gripped, clutched and tore
(27:22):
at the unseen. The tram conductorsuddenly got the neck and shoulders and lugged
him back. Down went the heapof struggling men again and rolled over.
There was I am afraid, somesavage kicking, and then suddenly a wild
scream of mercy, mercy that dieddown swiftly to a sound like choking.
(27:42):
Get back, you fools, criedthe muffled voice of Kemp, and there
was a vigorous shoving back of stalwartforms he's hurt, I till you stand
back. There was a brief struggleto clear a space, and then the
circle of eager faces saw the doctorkneeling as it seemed fifteen inches in the
air and holding invisible arms to theground. Behind him, a constable gripped
(28:06):
invisible ankles. Don't you leave,Goavien, cried the big navvy, holding
a blood stained spade. He's shamming. He's not shamming, said the doctor,
cautiously raising his knee, and I'llhold him. His face was bruised
and already going red. He spokethickly because of a bleeding lip. He
released one hand and seemed to befeeling at the face. The mouth's all
(28:30):
wet, he said, and then, good God. He stood up abruptly
and then knelt down on the groundby the side of the thing unseen.
There was a pushing and shuffling,a sound of heavy feet as fresh people
turned up to increase the pressure ofthe crowd. People were coming out of
the houses. Now the doors ofthe Jolly Cricketers stood suddenly wide open.
(28:56):
Very little was said. Kemp feltabout his hand, seeming to pass through
empty air. He's not breathing,he said, And then I can't feel
his heart. His side uugh.Suddenly, an old woman, peering under
the arm of the big navvy,screamed, sharply. Lookye there, she
(29:21):
said, and thrust out a wrinkledfinger, And looking where she pointed,
every one saw faint and transparent,as though it were made of glass,
so that veins and arteries, andbones and nerves could be distinguished. The
outline of a hand, a hand, limp and prone. It grew clouded
and opaque. Even as they stared. Hallo cried the constable, here is
(29:45):
his feet a showing, and soslowly, beginning at his hands and feet,
and creeping along his limbs to thevital centers of his body, that
strange change continued. It was likethe slow spreading of a poison. First
came the little white nerves, ahazy gray sketch of a limb, Then
(30:06):
the glassy bones and intricate arteries,Then the flesh and skin, first a
faint fogginess, and then growing rapidlydense and opaque. Presently they could see
his crushed chest and his shoulders,and the dim outline of his drawn and
battered features. When at last thecrowd made way for camp to stand erect.
(30:26):
There lay naked and pitiful on theground the bruised and broken body of
a young man about thirty. Hishair and brow were white, not gray
with age, but white with thewhiteness of albinism, and his eyes were
like garnets. His hands were clenched, his eyes wide open, and his
expression was one of anger and dismay. Cover his face, said a man,
(30:52):
for God's sake, cover that face, And three little children, pushing
forward through the crowd, were suddenlytwisted round and sent packing off again.
Someone brought a sheet from the jollycricketers, and having covered him, they
carried him into the house. Andthere it was, on a shabby bed,
in a tawdry, ill lighted bedroom, surrounded by a crowd of ignorant
(31:15):
and excited people, broken and wounded, betrayed and unpitied, that Gryffin,
the first of all men to makehimself invisible. Gryffin, the most gifted
physicist the world has ever seen,ended in infinite disaster his strange and terrible
career. The epilogue so ends thestory of the strange and evil experiments of
(31:45):
the Invisible Man. And if youwould learn more of him, you must
go to a little inn near portstow and talk to the landlord. The
sign of the inn is an emptyboard save for a hat and boots,
and the name is the title ofthis story. Is a short and corpulent
little man with a nose of cylindricalproportions, wiry hair, and a sporadic
(32:05):
rosiness of visage. Drink generously,and he will tell you generously of all
the things that happened to him afterthat time, and of how the lawyers
tried to do him out of thetreasure found upon him when they found they
couldn't prove whose money was. WhichI'm blessed, he says, if they
didn't try to make me out ablooming treasure trove, do I look like
a treasure trove? And then agentleman gave me a guinea a night to
(32:27):
tell a story at the Empire Musicall just to tell him all in my
own words, barring one. Andif you want to cut off the flow
of his reminiscences abruptly, you canalways do so by asking if there weren't
three manuscript books in the story.Admits there were, and proceeds to explain
with asseverations that everybody thinks he hasn't, but bless you. He hasn't the
(32:50):
invisible man. It was took himoff to idem when I cut and ran
for Portstow. Is that mister Kempput people on with the idea of may
avindom, and then he subsided intoa pensive state, watches you furtively,
bustles nervously with glasses, and presentlyleaves the bar. He is a bachelor
man, his tastes were ever bachelor, and there are no women folk in
(33:13):
the house. Outwardly he buttons itis expected of him, But in his
more vital privacies, in the mannerof braces, for examples, he still
turns to string. He conducts hishouse without enterprise, but with eminent decorum.
His movements are slow, and heis a great thinker. But he
has a reputation for wisdom and fora respectable parsi money in the village,
(33:36):
and his knowledge of the roads ofthe south of England would beat Cobbet.
And on Sunday mornings, every Sundaymorning all the year round, while he
is close to the outer world,and every night after ten he goes into
his bar parlor bearing a glass ofgin faintly tinged with water, and having
placed this down, He locks thedoor and examines the blinds, and even
(33:58):
looks under the table, and then, being satisfied of his solitude, he
unlocks the cupboard, and a boxin the cupboard, and a drawer in
that box, and produces three volumesbound in brown leather, and places them
solemnly in the middle of the table. The covers are weather worn and tinged
with an algal green, for oncethey sojourned in a ditch, and some
(34:20):
of the pages have been washed blankby dirty water. The landlord sits down
in an arm chair fills a longclay pipe, slowly gloating over the books
the while. Then he pulls onetowards him and opens him and begins to
study it, turning over the leavesbackwards and forwards. His browser knit and
(34:43):
his lips move painfully. X Alittle two up in the air, cross
and a fiddle dede lord, whata one he was for intellect. Presently,
he relaxes and leans back and blinksthrough his smoke across the room at
things invisible to other eyes. Fullof secrets, he says, wonderful secrets.
(35:08):
Once I get a ore of them. Short, I wouldn't do what
he did. I just well.He pulls at his pipe, so he
lapses into a dream, the undying, wonderful dream of life. And though
Kemp has fished unceasingly, no humanbeing save the Landlord knows those books are
(35:32):
there, with the subtle secret ofinvisibility, and a dozen other strange secrets
written therein, and none other willknow of them until he dies. End
of the Invisible Man by H.G. Wells, read for Librivoux dot
Org by Alex Foster www dot AlexFoster dot me dot UK in Nottingham,
(35:57):
England, on the thirteenth of Junetwo thousand, non six.
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