The story he had been active to ridicule only that morning rushed through Kemp"s brain. He does not appear to have been either very much frightened or very greatly surprised at the moment. Realisation came later.
"I thought it was all a lie," he said. The thought uppermost in his mind was the reiterated arguments of the morning. "Have you a bandage on?" he asked.
"Yes," said the Invisible Man.
"Oh!" said Kemp, and then roused himself. "I say!" he said. "But this is nonsense. It"s some trick." He stepped forward suddenly, and his hand, extended towards the bandage, met invisible fingers.
He recoiled at the touch and his colour changed.
"Keep steady, Kemp, for G.o.d"s sake! I want help badly. Stop!"
The hand gripped his arm. He struck at it.
"Kemp!" cried the Voice. "Kemp! Keep steady!" and the grip tightened.
A frantic desire to free himself took possession of Kemp. The hand of the bandaged arm gripped his shoulder, and he was suddenly tripped and flung backwards upon the bed. He opened his mouth to shout, and the corner of the sheet was thrust between his teeth. The Invisible Man had him down grimly, but his arms were free and he struck and tried to kick savagely.
"Listen to reason, will you?" said the Invisible Man, sticking to him in spite of a pounding in the ribs. "By Heaven! you"ll madden me in a minute!
"Lie still, you fool!" bawled the Invisible Man in Kemp"s ear.
Kemp struggled for another moment and then lay still.
"If you shout, I"ll smash your face," said the Invisible Man, relieving his mouth.
"I"m an Invisible Man. It"s no foolishness, and no magic. I really am an Invisible Man. And I want your help. I don"t want to hurt you, but if you behave like a frantic rustic, I must. Don"t you remember me, Kemp? Griffin, of University College?"
"Let me get up," said Kemp. "I"ll stop where I am. And let me sit quiet for a minute."
He sat up and felt his neck.
"I am Griffin, of University College, and I have made myself invisible. I am just an ordinary man--a man you have known--made invisible."
"Griffin?" said Kemp.
"Griffin," answered the Voice. A younger student than you were, almost an albino, six feet high, and broad, with a pink and white face and red eyes, who won the medal for chemistry."
"I am confused," said Kemp. "My brain is rioting. What has this to do with Griffin?"
"I am Griffin."
Kemp thought. "It"s horrible," he said. "But what devilry must happen to make a man invisible?"
"It"s no devilry. It"s a process, sane and intelligible enough--"
"It"s horrible!" said Kemp. "How on earth--?"
"It"s horrible enough. But I"m wounded and in pain, and tired ... Great G.o.d! Kemp, you are a man. Take it steady. Give me some food and drink, and let me sit down here."
Kemp stared at the bandage as it moved across the room, then saw a basket chair dragged across the floor and come to rest near the bed. It creaked, and the seat was depressed the quarter of an inch or so. He rubbed his eyes and felt his neck again. "This beats ghosts," he said, and laughed stupidly.
"That"s better. Thank Heaven, you"re getting sensible!"
"Or silly," said Kemp, and knuckled his eyes.
"Give me some whiskey. I"m near dead."
"It didn"t feel so. Where are you? If I get up shall I run into you? There! all right. Whiskey? Here. Where shall I give it to you?"
The chair creaked and Kemp felt the gla.s.s drawn away from him. He let go by an effort; his instinct was all against it. It came to rest poised twenty inches above the front edge of the seat of the chair. He stared at it in infinite perplexity. "This is--this must be--hypnotism. You have suggested you are invisible."
"Nonsense," said the Voice.
"It"s frantic."
"Listen to me."
"I demonstrated conclusively this morning," began Kemp, "that invisibility--"
"Never mind what you"ve demonstrated!--I"m starving," said the Voice, "and the night is chilly to a man without clothes."
"Food?" said Kemp.
The tumbler of whiskey tilted itself. "Yes," said the Invisible Man rapping it down. "Have you a dressing-gown?"
Kemp made some exclamation in an undertone. He walked to a wardrobe and produced a robe of dingy scarlet. "This do?" he asked. It was taken from him. It hung limp for a moment in mid-air, fluttered weirdly, stood full and decorous b.u.t.toning itself, and sat down in his chair. "Drawers, socks, slippers would be a comfort," said the Unseen, curtly. "And food."
"Anything. But this is the insanest thing I ever was in, in my life!"
He turned out his drawers for the articles, and then went downstairs to ransack his larder. He came back with some cold cutlets and bread, pulled up a light table, and placed them before his guest. "Never mind knives," said his visitor, and a cutlet hung in mid-air, with a sound of gnawing.
"Invisible!" said Kemp, and sat down on a bedroom chair.
"I always like to get something about me before I eat," said the Invisible Man, with a full mouth, eating greedily. "Queer fancy!"
"I suppose that wrist is all right," said Kemp.
"Trust me," said the Invisible Man.
"Of all the strange and wonderful--"
"Exactly. But it"s odd I should blunder into your house to get my bandaging. My first stroke of luck! Anyhow I meant to sleep in this house to-night. You must stand that! It"s a filthy nuisance, my blood showing, isn"t it? Quite a clot over there. Gets visible as it coagulates, I see. It"s only the living tissue I"ve changed, and only for as long as I"m alive.... I"ve been in the house three hours."
"But how"s it done?" began Kemp, in a tone of exasperation. "Confound it! The whole business--it"s unreasonable from beginning to end."
"Quite reasonable," said the Invisible Man. "Perfectly reasonable."
He reached over and secured the whiskey bottle. Kemp stared at the devouring dressing gown. A ray of candle-light penetrating a torn patch in the right shoulder, made a triangle of light under the left ribs. "What were the shots?" he asked. "How did the shooting begin?"
"There was a real fool of a man--a sort of confederate of mine--curse him!--who tried to steal my money. Has done so."
"Is he invisible too?"
"No."
"Well?"
"Can"t I have some more to eat before I tell you all that? I"m hungry--in pain. And you want me to tell stories!"
Kemp got up. "You didn"t do any shooting?" he asked.
"Not me," said his visitor. "Some fool I"d never seen fired at random. A lot of them got scared. They all got scared at me. Curse them!--I say--I want more to eat than this, Kemp."
"I"ll see what there is to eat downstairs," said Kemp. "Not much, I"m afraid."
After he had done eating, and he made a heavy meal, the Invisible Man demanded a cigar. He bit the end savagely before Kemp could find a knife, and cursed when the outer leaf loosened. It was strange to see him smoking; his mouth, and throat, pharynx and nares, became visible as a sort of whirling smoke cast.
"This blessed gift of smoking!" he said, and puffed vigorously. "I"m lucky to have fallen upon you, Kemp. You must help me. Fancy tumbling on you just now! I"m in a devilish sc.r.a.pe--I"ve been mad, I think. The things I have been through! But we will do things yet. Let me tell you--"
He helped himself to more whiskey and soda. Kemp got up, looked about him, and fetched a gla.s.s from his spare room. "It"s wild--but I suppose I may drink."
"You haven"t changed much, Kemp, these dozen years. You fair men don"t. Cool and methodical--after the first collapse. I must tell you. We will work together!"
"But how was it all done?" said Kemp, "and how did you get like this?"
"For G.o.d"s sake, let me smoke in peace for a little while! And then I will begin to tell you."
But the story was not told that night. The Invisible Man"s wrist was growing painful; he was feverish, exhausted, and his mind came round to brood upon his chase down the hill and the struggle about the inn. He spoke in fragments of Marvel, he smoked faster, his voice grew angry. Kemp tried to gather what he could.
"He was afraid of me, I could see that he was afraid of me," said the Invisible Man many times over. "He meant to give me the slip--he was always casting about! What a fool I was!
"The cur!
"I should have killed him!"
"Where did you get the money?" asked Kemp, abruptly.
The Invisible Man was silent for a s.p.a.ce. "I can"t tell you to-night," he said.
He groaned suddenly and leant forward, supporting his invisible head on invisible hands. "Kemp," he said, "I"ve had no sleep for near three days, except a couple of dozes of an hour or so. I must sleep soon."
"Well, have my room--have this room."
"But how can I sleep? If I sleep--he will get away. Ugh! What does it matter?"
"What"s the shot wound?" asked Kemp, abruptly.
"Nothing--scratch and blood. Oh, G.o.d! How I want sleep!"
"Why not?"
The Invisible Man appeared to be regarding Kemp. "Because I"ve a particular objection to being caught by my fellow-men," he said slowly.
Kemp started.
"Fool that I am!" said the Invisible Man, striking the table smartly. "I"ve put the idea into your head."
CHAPTER XVIII.
THE INVISIBLE MAN SLEEPS.
Exhausted and wounded as the Invisible Man was, he refused to accept Kemp"s word that his freedom should be respected. He examined the two windows of the bedroom, drew up the blinds and opened the sashes, to confirm Kemp"s statement that a retreat by them would be possible. Outside the night was very quiet and still, and the new moon was setting over the down. Then he examined the keys of the bedroom and the two dressing-room doors, to satisfy himself that these also could be made an a.s.surance of freedom. Finally he expressed himself satisfied. He stood on the hearth rug and Kemp heard the sound of a yawn.
"I"m sorry," said the Invisible Man, "if I cannot tell you all that I have done to-night. But I am worn out. It"s grotesque, no doubt. It"s horrible! But believe me, Kemp, in spite of your arguments of this morning, it is quite a possible thing. I have made a discovery. I meant to keep it to myself. I can"t. I must have a partner. And you.... We can do such things ... But to-morrow. Now, Kemp, I feel as though I must sleep or perish."
Kemp stood in the middle of the room staring at the headless garment. "I suppose I must leave you," he said. "It"s--incredible. Three things happening like this, overturning all my preconceptions--would make me insane. But it"s real! Is there anything more that I can get you?"
"Only bid me good-night," said Griffin.
"Good-night," said Kemp, and shook an invisible hand. He walked sideways to the door. Suddenly the dressing-gown walked quickly towards him. "Understand me!" said the dressing-gown. "No attempts to hamper me, or capture me! Or--"
Kemp"s face changed a little. "I thought I gave you my word," he said.
Kemp closed the door softly behind him, and the key was turned upon him forthwith. Then, as he stood with an expression of pa.s.sive amazement on his face, the rapid feet came to the door of the dressing-room and that too was locked. Kemp slapped his brow with his hand. "Am I dreaming? Has the world gone mad--or have I?"
He laughed, and put his hand to the locked door. "Barred out of my own bedroom, by a flagrant absurdity!" he said.
He walked to the head of the staircase, turned, and stared at the locked doors. "It"s fact," he said. He put his fingers to his slightly bruised neck. "Undeniable fact!
"But--"
He shook his head hopelessly, turned, and went downstairs.
He lit the dining-room lamp, got out a cigar, and began pacing the room, ejaculating. Now and then he would argue with himself.
"Invisible!" he said.
"Is there such a thing as an invisible animal? ... In the sea, yes. Thousands--millions. All the larvae, all the little nauplii and tornarias, all the microscopic things, the jelly-fish. In the sea there are more things invisible than visible! I never thought of that before. And in the ponds too! All those little pond-life things--specks of colourless translucent jelly! But in air? No!
"It can"t be.