[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

Page 28
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
were preparing tea, while, without, the Sunday-school children ran races and
played games under the noisy guidance of the curate and the Misses Cuss and
Sackbut. No doubt there was a slight uneasiness in the air, but people for the
most part had the sense to conceal whatever imaginative qualms they
experienced. On the village green an inclined strong, down which, clinging the
while to a pulley-swung handle, one could be hurled violently against a sack
at the other end, came in for considerable favour among the adolescent, as
also did the swings and the cocoanut shies. There was also promenading, and
the steam organ attached to the swings filled the air with a pungent flavour
of oil and with equally pungent music. Members of the Club, who had attended
church in the morning, were splendid in badges of pink and green, and some of
the gayer-minded had also adorned their bowler hats with brilliant-colored
favours of ribbon. Old Fletcher, whose conceptions of holiday-making were
severe, was visible through the jasmine about his window or through the open
door (whichever way you chose to look), poised delicately on a plank supported
on two chairs, and whitewashing the ceiling of his front room.
About four o'clock a stranger entered the village from the direction of the
downs. He was a short, stout person in an extraordinarily shabby top hat, and
he appeared to be very much out of breath. His cheeks were alternately limp
and tightly puffed. His mottled face was apprehensive, and he moved with a
sort of reluctant alacrity. He turned the corner of the church, and directed
his way to the Coach and Horses. Among others old Fletcher remembers seeing
him, and indeed the old gentleman was so struck by his peculiar agitation that
he inadvertently allowed a quantity of whitewash to run down the brush into
the sleeve of his coat while regarding him.
This stranger, to the perceptions of the proprietor of the cocoanut shy,
appeared to be talking to himself, and Mr. Huxter remarked the same thing. He
stopped at the foot of the Coach and Horses steps, and, according to Mr.
Huxter, appeared to undergo a severe internal struggle before he could induce
himself to enter the house. Finally he marched up the steps, and was seen by
Mr. Huxter to turn to the left and open the door of the parlour. Mr. Huxter
heard voices from within the room and from the bar apprising the man of his
error. "That room's private!" said Hall, and the stranger shut the door
clumsily and went into the bar.
In the course of a few minutes he reappeared, wiping his lips with the back
of his hand with an air of quiet satisfaction that somehow impressed Mr.
Huxter as assumed. He stood looking about him for some moments, and then Mr.
Huxter saw him walk in an oddly furtive manner towards the gates of the yard,
upon which the parlour window opened. The stranger, after some hesitation,
leant against one of the gate-posts, produced a short clay pipe, and prepared
to fill it. His fingers trembled while doing so. He lit it clumsily, and
folding his arms began to smoke in a languid attitude, an attitude which his
occasional quick glances up the yard altogether belied.
All this Mr. Huxter saw over the canisters of the tobacco window, and the
singularity of the man's behaviour prompted him to maintain his observation.
Presently the stranger stood up abruptly and put his pipe in his pocket. Then
he vanished into the yard. Forthwith Mr. Huxter, conceiving he was witness of
some petty larceny, leapt round his counter and ran out into the road to
intercept the thief. As he did so, Mr. Marvel reappeared, his hat askew, a big
bundle in a blue table-cloth in one hand, and three books tied together -- as
it proved afterwards with the Vicar's braces -- in the other. Directly he saw
Huxter he gave a sort of gasp, and turning sharply to the left, began to run.
"Stop thief!" cried Huxter, and set off after him. Mr. Huxter's sensations
were vivid but brief. He saw the man just before him and spurting briskly for
the church corner and the hill road. He saw the village flags and festivities
Page 29
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
beyond, and a face or so turned towards him. He bawled, "Stop!" again. He had
hardly gone ten strides before his shin was caught in some mysterious fashion,
and he was no longer running, but flying with inconceivable rapidity through
the air. He saw the ground suddenly close to his face. The world seemed to
splash into a million whirling specks of light, and subsequent proceedings
interested him no more.
In the Coach and Horses
Now in order clearly to understand what had happened in the inn, it is
necessary to go back to the moment when Mr. Marvel first came into view of Mr.
Huxter's window. At that precise moment Mr. Cuss and Mr. Bunting were in the
parlour. They were seriously investigating the strange occurrences of the
morning, and were, with Mr. Hall's permission, making a thorough examination
of the Invisible Man's belongings. Jaffers had partially recovered from his
fall and had gone home in the charge of his sympathetic friends. The
stranger's scattered garments had been removed by Mrs. Hall and the room
tidied up. And on the table under the window where the stranger had been wont
to work, Cuss had hit almost at once on three big books in manuscript labelled
"Diary."
"Diary!" said Cuss, putting the three books on the table. "Now, at any rate,
we shall learn something." The Vicar stood with his hands on the table.
"Diary," repeated Cuss, sitting down, putting two volumes to support the
third, and opening it. "H'm -- no name on the fly-leaf. Bother! -- cypher. And
figures."
The Vicar came round to look over his shoulder.
Cuss turned the pages over with a face suddenly disappointed. "I'm -- dear
me! It's all cypher, Bunting."
"There are no diagrams?" asked Mr. Bunting. "No illustrations throwing light
-- "
"See for yourself," said Mr. Cuss. "Some of it's mathematical and some of
it's Russian or some such language (to judge by the letters), and some of its
Greek. Now the Greek I thought you -- "
"Of course," said Mr. Bunting, taking out and wiping his spectacles and
feeling suddenly very uncomfortable, -- for he had no Greek left in his mind
worth talking about; "yes -- the Greek, of course, may furnish a clue."
"I'll find you a place."
"I'd rather glance through the volumes first," said Mr. Bunting, still
wiping. "A general impression first, Cuss, and then, you know, we can go
looking for clues."
He coughed, put on his glasses, arranged them fastidiously, coughed again,
and wished something would happen to avert the seemingly inevitable exposure.
Then he took the volume Cuss handed him in a leisurely manner. And then
something did happen.
The door opened suddenly.
Both gentlemen started violently, looked round, and were relieved to see a
sporadically rosy face beneath a furry silk hat. "Tap?" asked the face, and
stood staring.
Page 30
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
"No," said both gentlemen at once.
"Over the other side, my man," said Mr. Bunting. And "Please shut that door,"
said Mr. Cuss, irritably. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
  • zanotowane.pl
  • doc.pisz.pl
  • pdf.pisz.pl
  • szkicerysunki.xlx.pl
  •