Герберт Уэллс - Кентервильское привидение. Человек-невидимка / The Canterville Ghost. The Invisible Man

“I never thought of that,” said Kemp.

“Neither had I. And the snow was another danger. I could not go out in snow – it would fall on me and show me. Rain, too, would make me visible. Moreover, I gathered dirt on my body. It could not be very long before I became visible because of it. My most urgent problem was to get clothes. I remembered that some theatrical costumiers had shops in that district.

“At last I reached a little shop in Drury Lane. [180]I looked through the window, and, as there was no one inside, entered. I walked into a corner behind a looking-glass. For a minute or so no one came, then a man appeared.

“My plan was to get there a wig, mask, glasses, and costume. And, of course, I could rob the house of money.

“The man looked about, but he saw the shop empty. ‘Damn the boys!’ he said. He went to look up and down the street. He came in again in a minute, and went back to the house door.

“I followed him, and at the noise of my movement he stopped. I did so too, surprised by his quickness of ear. He slammed the house door in my face.

“Suddenly I heard his quick steps returning, and the door opened. He stood looking about the shop like a man who was not satisfied. Then he examined all the shop. He had left the house door open, and I slipped into a small room.

“Three doors opened into the room, one going upstairs and one down, but they were all shut. I could not get out of the room while he was there, and I could not move because of his quickness of ear. Luckily, he soon came in and went downstairs to a very dirty kitchen. I followed him. He began to wash up, and I returned upstairs and sat in his chair by the fire.

“I waited there for very long, and at last he came up and opened the upstairs door. I went after him.

“On the staircase he stopped suddenly, so that I nearly ran into him. He stood looking back right into my face, and his eye went up and down the staircase. Then he went on up again.

“His hand was on the handle of a door and then he heard the sound of my movements about him. The man had very good hearing. ‘If there’s any one in this house —’ he cried, and rushed past me downstairs. But I did not follow him; I sat on the staircase until his return.

“Soon he came up again, opened the door of the room, and, before I could enter, slammed it in my face.

“I decided to examine the house as noiselessly as possible. The house was very old with a lot of rats. In one room I found a lot of old clothes. While I was sorting them out, I heard his steps, and saw him near me holding a revolver in his hand. I stood still while he stared about suspiciously.

“He shut the door, and I heard the key turn in the lock. I was locked in. I decided to examine the clothes before I did anything else, and this brought him back. This time he touched me, jumped back with amazement, and stood astonished in the middle of the room, revolver in hand.

“‘Rats,’ he said. By this time I knew he was alone in the house, and so I knocked him on the head.”

“Knocked him on the head?” exclaimed Kemp.

“Yes, as he was going downstairs. Hit him from behind with a chair. He went downstairs like a bag.”

“But —”

“Kemp, I had to get out of that house in a disguise, without his seeing me. [181]I couldn’t think of any other way of doing it.”

“But still,” said Kemp, “the man was in his own house, and you were robbing.”

“Robbing! Damn it! Can’t you see my position? I was in trouble! And he made me mad too – hunting me about the house, with his revolver, locking and unlocking doors. What was I to do?”

“What did you do next?” said Kemp.

“I was hungry. Downstairs I found some bread and cheese, and ate them. Then I went to the room with the old clothes.

“I chose a false nose, dark glasses, whiskers, a wig, a coat and trousers. In a desk in the shop were three sovereigns and about thirty shillings. After I put everything on, I looked at myself in the looking-glass in the shop. I looked odd, but I could go out.

“I marched out into the street, leaving the man lying on the stairs.”

“And you troubled no more about him?” said Kemp.

“No,” said the Invisible Man. “And I haven’t heard what became of him.”

“What happened when you went out?”

“Oh! Disappointment again. I thought my troubles were over. I thought I could do what I chose, everything. So I thought. Nothing could happen to me, I could take off my clothes and vanish. Nobody could hold me. I could take my money where I found it. I went to a restaurant and was already ordering a lunch, when it occurred to me that I could not eat in public. I finished ordering the lunch, told the man I should be back in ten minutes, and went out exasperated.”

“Then I went to a hotel and asked for a room, where at last I ate my lunch.

“The more I thought it over, Kemp, the more I realised how helpless an Invisible Man was, – in a cold and dirty climate and a crowded, civilised city. Before I made this mad experiment I had thought of a thousand advantages. That afternoon it seemed all disappointment. What was I to do? I had become a bandaged caricature of a man.”

He looked at the window.

“But how did you get to Iping?” said Kemp, who wanted to keep his guest away from the window.

“I went there to work. I hoped to find a way of getting back after I did all I planned while I was invisible. And that is what I want to talk to you about now.”

“You went straight to Iping?”

“Yes, I took my three diaries and my cheque– book, my luggage and chemicals. I will show you the calculations as soon as I get my books. Did I kill that constable?”

“No,” said Kemp. “He’s recovering.”

“I lost my temper! Why couldn’t the fools leave me alone? And that man from the shop?”

“He’s recovering, too,” said Kemp.

“Lord, Kemp!… I worked for years, and then some idiots stand in my way! If I have much more of it, I shall go mad, – I shall start killing them.”

Are the following statements true or false? Correct the false ones.

1. Besides unassimilated food, rain, snow, and dirt made Griffin visible.

2. Griffin had an idea that he could get everything necessary in a theatrical costumier shop.

3. The shopkeeper was not very much alarmed by the noise of Griffin’s movements as he thought it was made by rats.

4. Griffin had to kill the shopkeeper to rob the house and escape from it safely.

5. Kemp was shocked by Griffin’s behaviour in the shop in Drury Lane.

6. After Griffin left the shop he had everything necessary and he was full of hopes.

7. Griffin went to Iping to find a way to become visible again.

8. Griffin was ready to kill anybody who stood in his way.

1. Do you think the only way for Griffin to get clothes and other necessary things was by crime?

2. Do you think Griffin planned to attack the shopkeeper from the very beginning?

3. Why do you think Griffin didn’t worry about the shopkeeper after he left the shop?

4. What do you think Kemp felt when he heard Griffin’s story?

5. Why do you think Kemp didn’t criticize what Griffin had done? Did he think it was normal?

“But now,” said Kemp, looking out of the window, “what are we to do?”

He stood near his guest to prevent him from seeing three men who were walking up the hill road.

“What were you planning to do, when you came to Burdock?”

“I was going to get out of the country. I wanted to go to the south where the weather is hot and invisibility possible, to France first, then I could go to Spain, or to Algiers. There a man might be invisible, and yet live. I was using that tramp as a luggage carrier, and then he got an idea to rob me! He has hidden my books, Kemp. Hidden my books! If I find him!…”