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the invisible man a grotesque romance by h.g wells a penn state electronic classics series publication

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the invisible man by h g wells is a publication of the pennsylvania state university this portable document file is furnished free and without any charge of any kind any person using this document file for any purpose and in any way does so at his or her own risk neither the pennsylvania state university nor jim manis faculty editor nor anyone associated with the pennsylvania state university assumes any responsibility for the material contained within the document or for the file as an electronic transmission in any way the invisible man by h g wells the pennsylvania state university electronic classics series jim manis faculty editor hazleton pa 18201-1291 is a portable document file produced as part of an ongoing student publication project to bring classical works of literature in english to free and easy access of those wishing to make use of them cover design jim manis copyright © 2004 the pennsylvania state university the pennsylvania state university is an equal opportunity university.

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h g wells the invisible man a grotesque romance by h.g wells chapter i the strange man s arrival arrival the stranger came early in february one wintry day through a biting wind and a driving snow the last snowfall of the year over the down walking from bramblehurst railway station and carrying a little black portmanteau in his thickly gloved hand he was wrapped up from head to foot and the brim of his soft felt hat hid every inch of his face but the shiny tip of his nose the snow had piled itself against his 3 shoulders and chest and added a white crest to the burden he carried he staggered into the coach and horses more dead than alive and flung his portmanteau down a fire he cried in the name of human charity a room and a fire he stamped and shook the snow from off himself in the bar and followed mrs hall into her guest parlour to strike his bargain and with that much introduction that and a couple of sovereigns flung upon the table he took up his quarters in the inn mrs hall lit the fire and left him there while she went to prepare him a meal with her own hands a guest to stop at iping in the wintertime was an unheard-of piece of luck let alone a guest who was no haggler and she was resolved to show herself worthy of her good fortune as soon as the bacon was well under way and millie her lymphatic aid had been brisked up a bit by a few deftly chosen expressions of contempt she carried the cloth plates and glasses into the parlour and began to lay them with the utmost eclat although the fire was burning up briskly she was surprised to see that her visitor still wore his hat and coat standing with his back to her and staring out of the window at the falling

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the invisible man snow in the yard his gloved hands were clasped behind him and he seemed to be lost in thought she noticed that the melting snow that still sprinkled his shoulders dripped upon her carpet can i take your hat and coat sir she said and give them a good dry in the kitchen no he said without turning she was not sure she had heard him and was about to repeat her question he turned his head and looked at her over his shoulder i prefer to keep them on he said with emphasis and she noticed that he wore big blue spectacles with sidelights and had a bush side-whisker over his coat-collar that completely hid his cheeks and face very well sir she said as you like in a bit the room will be warmer he made no answer and had turned his face away from her again and mrs hall feeling that her conversational advances were ill-timed laid the rest of the table things in a quick staccato and whisked out of the room when she returned he was still standing there like a man of stone his back hunched his collar turned up his dripping hat-brim 4 turned down hiding his face and ears completely she put down the eggs and bacon with considerable emphasis and called rather than said to him your lunch is served sir thank you he said at the same time and did not stir until she was closing the door then he swung round and approached the table with a certain eager quickness as she went behind the bar to the kitchen she heard a sound repeated at regular intervals chirk chirk chirk it went the sound of a spoon being rapidly whisked round a basin that girl she said there i clean forgot it it s her being so long and while she herself finished mixing the mustard she gave millie a few verbal stabs for her excessive slowness she had cooked the ham and eggs laid the table and done everything while millie help indeed had only succeeded in delaying the mustard and him a new guest and wanting to stay then she filled the mustard pot and putting it with a certain stateliness upon a gold and black tea-tray carried it into the parlour she rapped and entered promptly as she did so her visitor moved quickly so that she got but a glimpse of a white object disappearing behind the table it would seem he was picking

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h g wells something from the floor she rapped down the mustard pot on the table and then she noticed the overcoat and hat had been taken off and put over a chair in front of the fire and a pair of wet boots threatened rust to her steel fender she went to these things resolutely i suppose i may have them to dry now she said in a voice that brooked no denial leave the hat said her visitor in a muffled voice and turning she saw he had raised his head and was sitting and looking at her for a moment she stood gaping at him too surprised to speak he held a white cloth it was a serviette he had brought with him over the lower part of his face so that his mouth and jaws were completely hidden and that was the reason of his muffled voice but it was not that which startled mrs hall it was the fact that all his forehead above his blue glasses was covered by a white bandage and that another covered his ears leaving not a scrap of his face exposed excepting only his pink peaked nose it was bright pink and shiny just as it had been at first he wore a dark-brown velvet jacket with a high black linen-lined collar turned up about his 5 neck the thick black hair escaping as it could below and between the cross bandages projected in curious tails and horns giving him the strangest appearance conceivable this muffled and bandaged head was so unlike what she had anticipated that for a moment she was rigid he did not remove the serviette but remained holding it as she saw now with a brown gloved hand and regarding her with his inscrutable blue glasses leave the hat he said speaking very distinctly through the white cloth her nerves began to recover from the shock they had received she placed the hat on the chair again by the fire i didn t know sir she began that and she stopped embarrassed thank you he said drily glancing from her to the door and then at her again i ll have them nicely dried sir at once she said and carried his clothes out of the room she glanced at his whiteswathed head and blue goggles again as she was going out of the door but his napkin was still in front of his face she shivered a little as she closed the door behind her and her face was eloquent of her surprise and perplexity i never

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the invisible man she whispered there she went quite softly to the kitchen and was too preoccupied to ask millie what she was messing about with now when she got there the visitor sat and listened to her retreating feet he glanced inquiringly at the window before he removed his serviette and resumed his meal he took a mouthful glanced suspiciously at the window took another mouthful then rose and taking the serviette in his hand walked across the room and pulled the blind down to the top of the white muslin that obscured the lower panes this left the room in a twilight this done he returned with an easier air to the table and his meal the poor soul s had an accident or an op ration or somethin said mrs hall what a turn them bandages did give me to be sure she put on some more coal unfolded the clothes-horse and extended the traveller s coat upon this and they goggles why he looked more like a divin helmet than a human man she hung his muffler on a corner of the horse and holding that handkercheif over his mouth all the time talkin through it perhaps his mouth was hurt too maybe 6 she turned round as one who suddenly remembers bless my soul alive she said going off at a tangent ain t you done them taters yet millie when mrs hall went to clear away the stranger s lunch her idea that his mouth must also have been cut or disfigured in the accident she supposed him to have suffered was confirmed for he was smoking a pipe and all the time that she was in the room he never loosened the silk muffler he had wrapped round the lower part of his face to put the mouthpiece to his lips yet it was not forgetfulness for she saw he glanced at it as it smouldered out he sat in the corner with his back to the window-blind and spoke now having eaten and drunk and being comfortably warmed through with less aggressive brevity than before the reflection of the fire lent a kind of red animation to his big spectacles they had lacked hitherto i have some luggage he said at bramblehurst station and he asked her how he could have it sent he bowed his bandaged head quite politely in acknowledgment of her explanation to-morrow he said there is no speedier delivery and seemed quite disappointed when she answered,

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h g wells no was she quite sure no man with a trap who would go over mrs hall nothing loath answered his questions and developed a conversation it s a steep road by the down sir she said in answer to the question about a trap and then snatching at an opening said it was there a carriage was upsettled a year ago and more a gentleman killed besides his coachman accidents sir happen in a moment don t they but the visitor was not to be drawn so easily they do he said through his muffler eyeing her quietly through his impenetrable glasses but they take long enough to get well don t they there was my sister s son tom jest cut his arm with a scythe tumbled on it in the `ayfield and bless me he was three months tied up sir you d hardly believe it it s regular given me a dread of a scythe sir i can quite understand that said the visitor he was afraid one time that he d have to have an op ration he was that bad sir the visitor laughed abruptly a bark of a laugh that he seemed to bite and kill in his mouth was he he said 7 he was sir and no laughing matter to them as had the doing for him as i had my sister being took up with her little ones so much there was bandages to do sir and bandages to undo so that if i may make so bold as to say it sir will you get me some matches said the visitor quite abruptly my pipe is out mrs hall was pulled up suddenly it was certainly rude of him after telling him all she had done she gasped at him for a moment and remembered the two sovereigns she went for the matches thanks he said concisely as she put them down and turned his shoulder upon her and stared out of the window again it was altogether too discouraging evidently he was sensitive on the topic of operations and bandages she did not make so bold as to say however after all but his snubbing way had irritated her and millie had a hot time of it that afternoon the visitor remained in the parlour until four o clock without giving the ghost of an excuse for an intrusion for the most part he was quite still during that time it would seem

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the invisible man he sat in the growing darkness smoking in the firelight perhaps dozing once or twice a curious listener might have heard him at the coals and for the space of five minutes he was audible pacing the room he seemed to be talking to himself then the armchair creaked as he sat down again chapter ii teddy henfrey mr teddy henfrey s first impressions at four o clock when it was fairly dark and mrs hall was screwing up her courage to go in and ask her visitor if he would take some tea teddy henfrey the clock-jobber came into the bar my sakes mrs hall said he but this is terrible weather for thin boots the snow outside was falling faster mrs hall agreed and then noticed he had his bag with him now you re here mr teddy said she i d be glad if you d give th old clock in the parlour a bit of a look tis going and it strikes well and hearty but the hour-hand won t do nuthin but point at six and leading the way she went across to the parlour door and rapped and entered her visitor she saw as she opened the door was seated in the armchair before the fire dozing it would seem with his bandaged head drooping on one side the only light in the room was the red glow from the fire which lit his eyes like 8

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h g wells adverse railway signals but left his downcast face in darkness and the scanty vestiges of the day that came in through the open door everything was ruddy shadowy and indistinct to her the more so since she had just been lighting the bar lamp and her eyes were dazzled but for a second it seemed to her that the man she looked at had an enormous mouth wide open a vast and incredible mouth that swallowed the whole of the lower portion of his face it was the sensation of a moment the white-bound head the monstrous goggle eyes and this huge yawn below it then he stirred started up in his chair put up his hand she opened the door wide so that the room was lighter and she saw him more clearly with the muffler held up to his face just as she had seen him hold the serviette before the shadows she fancied had tricked her would you mind sir this man a-coming to look at the clock sir she said recovering from the momentary shock look at the clock he said staring round in a drowsy manner and speaking over his hand and then getting more fully awake certainly mrs hall went away to get a lamp and he rose and 9 stretched himself then came the light and mr teddy henfrey entering was confronted by this bandaged person he was he says taken aback good afternoon said the stranger regarding him as mr henfrey says with a vivid sense of the dark spectacles like a lobster i hope said mr henfrey that it s no intrusion none whatever said the stranger though i understand he said turning to mrs hall that this room is really to be mine for my own private use i thought sir said mrs hall you d prefer the clock certainly said the stranger certainly but as a rule i like to be alone and undisturbed but i m really glad to have the clock seen to he said seeing a certain hesitation in mr henfrey s manner very glad mr henfrey had intended to apologise and withdraw but this anticipation reassured him the stranger turned round with his back to the fireplace and put his hands behind his back and presently he said when the clockmending is over i think i should like to have some tea but not till the clock-mending is over

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the invisible man mrs hall was about to leave the room she made no conversational advances this time because she did not want to be snubbed in front of mr henfrey when her visitor asked her if she had made any arrangements about his boxes at bramblehurst she told him she had mentioned the matter to the postman and that the carrier could bring them over on the morrow you are certain that is the earliest he said she was certain with a marked coldness i should explain he added what i was really too cold and fatigued to do before that i am an experimental investigator indeed sir said mrs hall much impressed and my baggage contains apparatus and appliances very useful things indeed they are sir said mrs hall and i m very naturally anxious to get on with my inquiries of course sir my reason for coming to iping he proceeded with a certain deliberation of manner was a desire for solitude i do not wish to be disturbed in my work in addition to my work an accident 10 i thought as much said mrs hall to herself necessitates a certain retirement my eyes are sometimes so weak and painful that i have to shut myself up in the dark for hours together lock myself up sometimes now and then not at present certainly at such times the slightest disturbance the entry of a stranger into the room is a source of excruciating annoyance to me it is well these things should be understood certainly sir said mrs hall and if i might make so bold as to ask that i think is all said the stranger with that quietly irresistible air of finality he could assume at will mrs hall reserved her question and sympathy for a better occasion after mrs hall had left the room he remained standing in front of the fire glaring so mr henfrey puts it at the clock-mending mr henfrey not only took off the hands of the clock and the face but extracted the works and he tried to work in as slow and quiet and unassuming a manner as possible he worked with the lamp close to him and the green shade threw a brilliant light upon his hands and upon the frame and wheels and left the rest of the room shadowy.

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h g wells when he looked up coloured patches swam in his eyes being constitutionally of a curious nature he had removed the works a quite unnecessary proceeding with the idea of delaying his departure and perhaps falling into conversation with the stranger but the stranger stood there perfectly silent and still so still it got on henfrey s nerves he felt alone in the room and looked up and there grey and dim was the bandaged head and huge blue lenses staring fixedly with a mist of green spots drifting in front of them it was so uncanny to henfrey that for a minute they remained staring blankly at one another then henfrey looked down again very uncomfortable position one would like to say something should he remark that the weather was very cold for the time of year he looked up as if to take aim with that introductory shot the weather he began why don t you finish and go said the rigid figure evidently in a state of painfully suppressed rage all you ve got to do is to fix the hour-hand on its axle you re simply humbugging certainly sir one minute more i overlooked and 11 mr henfrey finished and went but he went feeling excessively annoyed damn it said mr henfrey to himself trudging down the village through the thawing snow a man must do a clock at times sure-ly and again can t a man look at you ugly and yet again seemingly not if the police was wanting you you couldn t be more wropped and bandaged at gleeson s corner he saw hall who had recently married the stranger s hostess at the coach and horses and who now drove the iping conveyance when occasional people required it to sidderbridge junction coming towards him on his return from that place hall had evidently been stopping a bit at sidderbridge to judge by his driving ow do teddy he said passing you got a rum un up home said teddy hall very sociably pulled up what s that he asked rum-looking customer stopping at the `coach and horses said teddy my sakes and he proceeded to give hall a vivid description of his grotesque guest looks a bit like a disguise don t it i d like to see a man s face if i had him stopping in my place said

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the invisible man henfrey but women are that trustful where strangers are concerned he s took your rooms and he ain t even given a name hall you don t say so said hall who was a man of sluggish apprehension yes said teddy by the week whatever he is you can t get rid of him under the week and he s got a lot of luggage coming to-morrow so he says let s hope it won t be stones in boxes hall he told hall how his aunt at hastings had been swindled by a stranger with empty portmanteaux altogether he left hall vaguely suspicious get up old girl said hall i s pose i must see `bout this teddy trudged on his way with his mind considerably relieved instead of seeing `bout it however hall on his return was severely rated by his wife on the length of time he had spent in sidderbridge and his mild inquiries were answered snappishly and in a manner not to the point but the seed of suspicion teddy had sown germinated in the mind of mr hall in spite of these discouragements you wim don t know 12 everything said mr hall resolved to ascertain more about the personality of his guest at the earliest possible opportunity and after the stranger had gone to bed which he did about half-past nine mr hall went very aggressively into the parlour and looked very hard at his wife s furniture just to show that the stranger wasn t master there and scrutinised closely and a little contemptuously a sheet of mathematical computations the stranger had left when retiring for the night he instructed mrs hall to look very closely at the stranger s luggage when it came next day you mind you own business hall said mrs hall and i ll mind mine she was all the more inclined to snap at hall because the stranger was undoubtedly an unusually strange sort of stranger and she was by no means assured about him in her own mind in the middle of the night she woke up dreaming of huge white heads like turnips that came trailing after her at the end of interminable necks and with vast black eyes but being a sensible woman she subdued her terrors and turned over and went to sleep again.

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h g wells chapter iii bot the thousand and one bot tles so it was that on the twenty-ninth day of february at the beginning of the thaw this singular person fell out of infinity into iping village next day his luggage arrived through the slush and very remarkable luggage it was there were a couple of trunks indeed such as a rational man might need but in addition there were a box of books big fat books of which some were just in an incomprehensible handwriting and a dozen or more crates boxes and cases containing objects packed in straw as it seemed to hall tugging with a casual curiosity at the straw glass bottles the stranger muffled in hat coat gloves and wrapper came out impatiently to meet fearenside s cart while hall was having a word or so of gossip preparatory to helping being them in out he came not noticing fearenside s dog who was sniffing in a dilettante spirit at hall s legs come along with those boxes he said i ve been waiting long enough and he came down the steps towards the tail of the cart as 13 if to lay hands on the smaller crate no sooner had fearenside s dog caught sight of him however than it began to bristle and growl savagely and when he rushed down the steps it gave an undecided hop and then sprang straight at his hand whup cried hall jumping back for he was no hero with dogs and fearenside howled lie down and snatched his whip they saw the dog s teeth had slipped the hand heard a kick saw the dog execute a flanking jump and get home on the stranger s leg and heard the rip of his trousering then the finer end of fearenside s whip reached his property and the dog yelping with dismay retreated under the wheels of the waggon it was all the business of a swift half-minute no one spoke everyone shouted the stranger glanced swiftly at his torn glove and at his leg made as if he would stoop to the latter then turned and rushed swiftly up the steps into the inn they heard him go headlong across the passage and up the uncarpeted stairs to his bedroom you brute you said fearenside climbing off the waggon with his whip in his hand while the dog watched him through the wheel come here said fearenside you d better

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the invisible man hall had stood gaping he wuz bit said hall i d better go and see to en and he trotted after the stranger he met mrs hall in the passage carrier s darg he said bit en he went straight upstairs and the stranger s door being ajar he pushed it open and was entering without any ceremony being of a naturally sympathetic turn of mind the blind was down and the room dim he caught a glimpse of a most singular thing what seemed a handless arm waving towards him and a face of three huge indeterminate spots on white very like the face of a pale pansy then he was struck violently in the chest hurled back and the door slammed in his face and locked it was so rapid that it gave him no time to observe a waving of indecipherable shapes a blow and a concussion there he stood on the dark little landing wondering what it might be that he had seen a couple of minutes after he rejoined the little group that had formed outside the coach and horses there was fearenside telling about it all over again for the second time there was mrs hall saying his dog didn t have no business to bite her guests there was huxter the general dealer from over the road interrogative and sandy wadgers from the forge 14 judicial besides women and children all of them saying fatuities wouldn t let en bite me i knows tasn t right have such dargs whad e bite `n for than and so forth mr hall staring at them from the steps and listening found it incredible that he had seen anything so very remarkable happen upstairs besides his vocabulary was altogether too limited to express his impressions he don t want no help he says he said in answer to his wife s inquiry we d better be a-takin of his luggage in he ought to have it cauterised at once said mr huxter especially if it s at all inflamed i d shoot en that s what i d do said a lady in the group suddenly the dog began growling again come along cried an angry voice in the doorway and there stood the muffled stranger with his collar turned up and his hat-brim bent down the sooner you get those things in the better i ll be pleased it is stated by an anonymous bystander that his trousers and gloves had been changed was you hurt sir said fearenside i m rare sorry the darg not a bit said the stranger never broke the skin hurry

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h g wells up with those things he then swore to himself so mr hall asserts directly the first crate was in accordance with his directions carried into the parlour the stranger flung himself upon it with extraordinary eagerness and began to unpack it scattering the straw with an utter disregard of mrs hall s carpet and from it he began to produce bottles little fat bottles containing powders small and slender bottles containing coloured and white fluids fluted blue bottles labeled poison bottles with round bodies and slender necks large greenglass bottles large white-glass bottles bottles with glass stoppers and frosted labels bottles with fine corks bottles with bungs bottles with wooden caps wine bottles salad-oil bottles putting them in rows on the chiffonnier on the mantel on the table under the window round the floor on the bookshelf everywhere the chemist s shop in bramblehurst could not boast half so many quite a sight it was crate after crate yielded bottles until all six were empty and the table high with straw the only things that came out of these crates besides the bottles were a number of test-tubes and a carefully packed balance 15 and directly the crates were unpacked the stranger went to the window and set to work not troubling in the least about the litter of straw the fire which had gone out the box of books outside nor for the trunks and other luggage that had gone upstairs when mrs hall took his dinner in to him he was already so absorbed in his work pouring little drops out of the bottles into test-tubes that he did not hear her until she had swept away the bulk of the straw and put the tray on the table with some little emphasis perhaps seeing the state that the floor was in then he half turned his head and immediately turned it away again but she saw he had removed his glasses they were beside him on the table and it seemed to her that his eye sockets were extraordinarily hollow he put on his spectacles again and then turned and faced her she was about to complain of the straw on the floor when he anticipated her i wish you wouldn t come in without knocking he said in the tone of abnormal exasperation that seemed so characteristic of him i knocked but seemingly

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