Kitabı oku: «The Invisible Man. B2 / Человек-невидимка», sayfa 8

Chapter 4
Mr. Cuss Interviews the Stranger

Mr. Hall did not like the stranger and wanted to get rid of him. Anyway, he avoided his visitor as much as possible. “Wait till the summer,” said Mrs. Hall, “Then we'll see. He may be a bitoverbearing, but he settles his bills in time, whatever you'd like to say.”

The stranger did not go to church, and indeed made no difference between Sunday and weekdays. He worked, as Mrs. Hall thought, very hard. He had no communication with the world. Histemper was very uncertain; once or twice things were broken in gusts of violence.

He rarely went out by daylight, but at twilight he would go for a walk. The children who saw him at night dreamt of bogies, and were afraid of him.

Everyone wondered about the stranger's occupation. Mrs. Hall explained very carefully that he was an “experimental investigator.” Her visitor had had an accident, she said, which temporarily discoloured his face and hands.

There were also opinions that he was a criminal, an Anarchist or a harmless lunatic. But whatever they thought of him, the people in Iping, on the whole, disliked him.

Cuss, thegeneral practitioner, was devoured by curiosity. The bandages and a thousand bottles excited his professional interest.

All through April and May he looked for an opportunity of talking to the stranger.

So one day Cuss knocked at the parlour door and entered. “Pardon my intrusion,” said he, and then the door closed and Mrs. Hall, who was nearby, couldn't hear their conversation.

There was a murmur of voices, then a cry of surprise and quick steps to the door, and Cuss appeared, his face white, his eyes staring over his shoulder. He left the door open behind him, and without looking at Mrs. Hall went down the steps. Then she heard the stranger laughing quietly, and then his footsteps came across the room. She could not see his face. The door slammed, and the place was silent again.

Cuss went straight up to the villagevicar. “Am I mad? Do I look like an insane person?” Cuss began abruptly, as he entered the shabby little study.

“What's happened?” asked thevicar.

“That chap at the inn-”

“Well?”

“Give me something to drink,” said Cuss, and he sat down. “Went in,” he gasped, “and asked him tosubscribe for that Nurse Fund. I told him I'd heard he took an interest in scientific things. He said yes and sniffed. Bottles-chemicals-everywhere. Balance, test tubes in stands – The man was boiling with rage, and my questions boiled him over. 'Damn you! What are you fishing for?' I apologised. He read the paper I'd given him. The draft from the window lifted the paper, it caught fire, as there was an open fireplace, and whisked up the chimney. So! Just at that point out came his arm.”