Section 5

*T could have sworn > said Mr. Bunting.
** The candle! *? said Mr. Bunting. “ Who lit the candle? ”
_ “The drawer!” said Mrs. Bunting. “ And the money’s gone! ”
She went hastily to the doorway.
* Of all the extraordinary occurrences _ There was a violent sneeze in the passage. They rushed out, and as they did so the kitchen door slammed.
** Bring the candle!” said Mr. Bunting, and led - the way. They both heard the sound of bolts being hastily shot back.
As he opened the kitchen door he saw through the scullery that the back door was just opening, - and the faint light of early dawn displayed the dark masses of the garden beyond. He was certain that nothing went out of the door. It opened, stood open for a moment, and then closed with a slam. As it did‘so, the candle Mrs. Bunting was bringing from the study flickered and flared. . ... It was a minute or more before they entered the kitchen. {
The place was empty. They refastened the back door, examined the kitchen, pantry, and scullery thoroughly, and at last went down into the cellar. _ There was not a soul to be found in the house, search as they would.
Daylight found the vicar and his wife, a quaintly costumed little couple, still marvelling about on their own ground floor by the unnecessary light of a guttering candle.
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? said Mrs. i - perale Susie _ Just wait here until she has ‘gone: into the Kitchen, and then slip upstairs.”
6 The Fumiture that Went Mad
Now it happened that in the early hours of Whit Monday, before Millie was hunted out for the day, Mr. Hall and Mrs. Hall both rose and went noiselessly down into the cellar. Their business there was of a private nature, and had something to do with the specific gravity of their beer.
-They had hardly entered the cellar when Mrs. Hall found she had forgotten to bring down a bottle _ of sarsaparilla from their joint room. As she was the expert and principal operator in this affair, Hall very properly went upstairs for it.
On the landing he was surprised to see that the stranger's door was ajar. He went on into his own room’ and found the bottle as he had been directed.
But as he came downstairs, he noticed that the bolts on the front door had been shot back—that the door was, in fact, simply on the latch. And, with a flash of inspiration, he connected this with _ the stranger’s room upstairs and the suggestions of Mr. Teddy Henfrey. He distinctly remembered holding the candle while Mrs. Hall shot these bolts overnight. At the sight he stopped, gaping; then, with the bottle still in his hands, went upstairs again. He rapped at the stranger’s door. There was no answer. He rapped again; yeas pushed the door — wide open and entered.
THE FURNITURE THAT WENT MAD 57.
It was as he expected. The bed, the room also, was empty. And what was queerer, even to his heavy intelligence, on the bedroom chair and along the rail of the bed were scattered the garments, the only garments so far as he knew, and the bandages of their guest. His big slouch hat even was aan jauntily over the bedpost.
As Hall stood there he heard his wife’s voice coming out of the depth of the cellar, and with that rapid telescoping of the syllables and interrogative cocking up of the final words to a high note, by which the West Sussex villager is wont to indicate _ a brisk impatience. ‘“‘Gearge! You gart whad a wand? ” , cf
At that he turned and hurried down to her.
*¢ Janny,” he said over the rail of the cellar steps, :
**tas the truth what Henfrey sez. °E’s not in uz room, ’e en’t. And the front door’s onbolted.” _ At first Mrs. Hall did not understand, and so soon as she did she resolved to see the empty room for herself. Hall, still holding the bottle, went first. “If ’e en’t there,” he said, “’is close are. And what’s ’e doin’ *ithout ’is close, than? °Tas a most curius basness.”
As they came up the cellar steps siey both, it was afterwards ascertained, fancied they heard the front door open and shut, but, seeing it closed and nothing there, neither said a word to the other about it at the time. Mrs. Hall passed her husband in the passage, and ran on first upstairs. Someone sneezed on the staircase. Hall, following six steps _ behind, thought that he heard her sneeze; she, going on first, was under the impression that _ Hall was sneezing. She flung open the door and -
58 THE INVISIBLE MAN.
stood regarding the room. “ Of all the curious! as she said.
She heard a sniff close behind her head, as it seemed, and, turning, was surprised to see Hall a dozen feet off on the topmost stair. But in another moment he was beside her. She bent forward and put her hand on the pillow and then under the clothes.
* Cold,” she said. “‘ He’s been up this hour or more.”
As she did so a most extraordinary thing happened. The bed-clothes gathered themselves together, leapt up suddenly into a sort of peak, and then jumped ‘headlong over the bottom rail. It was exactly as if a hand had clutched them in the centre and flung them aside. Immediately after, the stranger’s hat hopped off the bedpost, described a whirling flight in the air through the better part of a circle, and then dashed straight at Mrs. Hall’s face. Then as swiftly came the sponge from the washstand and then the chair, flinging the stranger’s coat and trousers carelessly aside, and laughing dryly in a voice singularly like the stranger’s, turned itself up with its four legs at Mrs. Hall, seemed to take aim at her for a moment, and charged at her. She screamed and turned, and then the chair legs came gently but firmly against her back and impelled her and Hall out ot the room. The door slammed violently, and was locked. The chair and bed seemed to be executing a dance of triumph for a moment, and then abruptly everything was still.
_ Mrs. Hall was left almost in a fainting condition in Mr. Hall’s arms on the landing. It was with the greatest difficulty that Mr. Hall and Millie, who
THE FURNITURE THAT WENT MAD 59
had been roused by her scream of alarm, succeeded in getting her downstairs, and applying the restora- tives customary in such cases.
“Tas sperits,” said Mrs. Hall. “I know ’tas sperits. I’ve read in papers of en. Tables and chairs leaping and dancing. . .”
“ Take a drop more, Janny,” said Hall. “ *Twill steady ye.”
* Lock him out,” said Mrs. Hall. ‘ Don’t let him come in again. I half guessed ... I might ha’ known. With them goggling eyes and bandaged head; and never going to church of a Sunday. And all they bottles—more’n it’s right for anyone to have. He’s put the sperits into the furniture... . My good old furniture! *Twas in that very chair my poor dear mother used to sit when I was a little girl, To think it should rise up against me.now.. .”
*¢ Just a drop more, Janny,” said Hall. “ Your nerves is all upset.”
They sent Millie across the street through the golden five o’clock sunshine to rouse up Mr. Sandy Wadgers, the blacksmith.
_Mr. Hall’s compliments, and the furniture upstairs was behaving most extraordinary, Would Mr. Wadgers come round?
He was a knowing man, was Mr. Wadgers, and very resourceful. He took quite a grave view of the case.
“Arm darmed if thet ent witchcraft,” was the view of Mr. Sandy Wadgers. “‘ You warnt horseshoes for such gentry as he.”
He came round greatly concerned. They wanted him to lead the way upstairs to the room; but he didn’t seem to be in any hurry. He preferred to
60 ‘ THE INVISIBLE MAN ©
talkin thepassage. Over the way Huxter’ s apprentice
came out, and began taking down the shutters of the tobacco window. He was called over to join the discussion. Mr. Huxter naturally followed in the course of a few minutes. The Anglo-Saxon - genius for parliamentary government asserted itself: there was a great deal of talk and no decisive
action.
*Let’s have the facts first,” insisted Mr. Sandy Wadgers. “ Let’s be sure we’d be acting perfectly- right in bustin’ that there door open. A door onbust is always open to bustin’, but ye can’t onbust a bust door once you’ve busted en.”
And suddenly and most wonderfully the door of the room upstairs opened of its own accord, and as they looked up in amazement, they saw descending _ the stairs the muffled figure of the stranger, staring more blackly and blankly than ever with those unreasonably large glass eyes of his. He came down stiffly and slowly, staring all the time; he walked across the passage, staring, then stopped.
** Look there! ” he said, and their eyes followed the direction of his gloved finger, and saw a bottle ‘of sarsaparilla hard by the cellar door. Then he entered the parlour, and suddenly, swiftly, viciously, slammed the door in their faces.
Not a word was spoken until the last echoes of the slam had died away. They stared at one another. “Well, if that don’t lick everything! ” said Mr. Wadgers, and left the alternative unsaid.
“Td go in and ask’n *bout it,” said Wadgers to _ Mr. Hall. “ I’d d’mand an explanation.”
It took some time to bring the landlady’s ae up to that pitch.
(hae The Unveiling of the Stranger
Ts stranger went into the little parlour of the “Coach and-Horses ” about half-past five in the morning, and there he remained until near midday, the blinds down, the door shut, and none, after ‘Hall’s repulse, venturing near him.
All that time he must have fasted. Thrice he rang his bell, the third time furiously and con- tinuously, but no one answered him. “ Him and his ‘Go to the devil,’ indeed!” said Mrs. Hall. Presently came an imperfect rumour of the burglary _ at the Vicarage, and two and two were put together. Hall, assisted by Wadgers, went off to find Mr, Shuckleforth, the magistrate, and take his advice. No one ventured upstairs. How the stranger occupied himself is unknown. Now and then he would stride violently up and down, and twice came an outburst of curses, a tearing of paper, and a violent smashing of bottles.
The little group of scared but curious people increased. Mrs. Huxter came over; some gay young fellows resplendent in black, ready-made jackets and pique paper ties—for it was Whit Monday —joined the group with confused and confusing interrogations. Young Archie Harker distinguished himself by going up the yard and trying to peep under the drawn blinds. He could see nothing, but
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THE UNVEILING OF THE STRANGER 63
gave reason for supposing that he did, and others —
of the Iping youth presently joined him.
It was the finest of all possible Whit Mondays, and down the village street stood a row of nearly a _ dozen booths, a shooting-gallery, and on the grass by the forge were three yellow and chocolate wagons, and some picturesque strangers of both sexes putting up a coconut shy. The gentlemen wore blue jerseys, the ladies white aprons and quite fashionable hats with heavy plumes. Woodyer, of the “ Purple Fawn,” and Mr. Jaggers, the cobbler, who also sold second-hand ordinary bicycles, were stretching a string of union jacks and royal ensigns, which had originally celebrated the first Victorian Jubilee, across the road.
And inside in the artificial darkeess of the podunk into which only one thin jet of sunlight penetrated, the stranger, hungry we must suppose, and fearful, hidden in his uncomfortable hot wrappings, pored through his dark glasses upon his paper, or chinked his dirty little bottles, and occasionally swore savagely at the boys, audible, if invisible, outside the windows. In the corner by the fireplace lay the fragments of half a dozen smashed bottles, and a pungent twang of chlorine tainted the air. So much we know from what was heard at the time, and from what was subsequently seen in the room.
About noon he suddenly opened his parlour door and stood glaring fixedly at the three or four people in the bar. “ Mrs. Hall,” he said. Somebody went sheepishly and called for Mrs. Hall.
Mrs. Hall appeared after an interval, a little short of breath, but all the fiercer for that. Hall was still out. She had deliberated over this scene, and she
Gal 4: THE INVISIBLE MAN
came holding a little tray with an unsettled bill upon it. “ Is it your bill you’re wanting, sir? ” she - said. :
** Why wasn’t my breakfast laid? .Why haven’t ~ you prepared my meals and answered my bell? Do you think I| live without eating? ”
“Why isn’t my bill paid?” said Mrs. Hall. ** That’s what I want to know.” —
*T told you three days ago I was awaiting a remittance “a
“TI told you three days ago I wasn’t going to await no remittances. You can’t grumble if your breakfast waits a bit, if my bill’s been waiting these five days, can you? ”
The stranger swore briefly but vividly.
** Nar, nar! ” from the bar.
“© And I’d thank you kindly, sir, if you’d keep your swearing to yourself, sir,” said Mrs. Hall.
The stranger stood looking more like an angry diving helmet than ever. It was universally felt in the bar that Mrs. Hall had the better of him. His next words showed as much.
** Look here, my good woman. he began.
* Don’t ‘ good woman’ me,” said Mrs. Hall.
* T’ve told you my remittance hasn’t come.”
** Remittance, indeed! ” said Mrs. Hall.
** Still, I dare say in my pocket
* You told me three days ago that you hadn’t anything but a sovereign’s worth of silver upon you.”
** Well, I’ve found some more.”
**°Ul-lo! ” from the bar. *
** T wonder where you found it? ” said Mrs. Hall.
That seemed to annoy the stranger, very much,
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THE UNVEILING OF THE STRANGER 65
He stamped his foot. “‘ What do you mean?” he said.
“That I wonder where you found it,” said Mrs. Hall. ‘‘ And before I take any bills, or get any breakfasts, or do any such things whatsoever, you got to tell me one or two things I don’t understand, and what nobody don’t understand, and what every- body is very anxious to understand. I want to know what you been doing t’my chair upstairs, and I want to know how ’tis your room was empty and how you got in again? Them as stops in this house comes in by the doors—that’s the rule of this house, and that you didn’t do, and what I want to know is how you did come. And I want to know——” Suddenly the stranger raised his gloved hands
clenched, stamped his foot, and said, “ Stop!” with ~
such extraordinary violence that he silenced her instantly. *
** You don’t understand,” he said, “ who I am or what I am. I’ll show you. By heaven! I'll show you.” Then he put his open palm over his face and withdrew it. The centre of his face became a black cavity. “ Here,” he said. He stepped forward and handed Mrs. Hall something which she, staring at. his metamorphosed face, accepted automatically. Then, when she saw what it was, she screamed loudly, dropped it, and staggered back. The nose —it was the stranger’s nose! pink and shining— rolled on the floor with a sound of hollow card- board.
Then he removed his spectacles, and everyone in the bar gasped. He took off his hat, and with a violent gesture tore at his whiskers and bandages. For a moment they resisted him. A flash of horrible
Bo LM.
tel % Pay ee tity
66 ~- ‘PHE INVISIBLE MAN
anticipation passed through the bar. “Oh, my — Gard!” said someone. Then off they came. |
It was worse than anything. Mrs. Hall, standing _ open-mouthed and horror-struck, shrieked at what ' -she saw, and made for the door of the house. Every- one began to move. They were prepared for scars, - disfigurement, tangible horrors—but nothing! The bandages and false hair flew across the passage into the bar, making a hobbledehoy jump to avoid them, Everyone tumbled on everyone else down the steps. For the man who stood there shouting some in- coherent explanation was a solid, gesticulating figure up to the coat-collar of him, and then— nothingness, no visible thing at all!
People down the village heard shouts and shrieks, and looking up the street saw the “Coach and Horses ” violently firing out its humanity. They saw Mrs. Hall fall down, and Mr. Teddy Henfrey jump to avoid tumbling over her, and then they heard the frightful. screams of Millie, who, emerging suddenly from the kitchen at the noise of the tumult, had come upon the headless stranger from behind. These ceased suddenly.
Forthwith everyone all the way down the street — —the sweetstuff-seller, coconut-shy proprietor and - his assistant, the swing man, little boys and girls, rustic dandies, smart wenches, smocked elders, and aproned gipsies—began running towards the inn, and in a miraculously short space of time a crowd
of perhaps forty people, and rapidly increasing, swayed, and hooted, and inquired, and exclaimed, and suggested in front of Mrs. Hall’s establishment. - Everybody seemed eager to talk at once, and the result was Babel. A small group supported Mrs.