The Invisible Man. B2 / Человек-невидимка. Герберт Джордж Уэллс

said she, “I'd be glad if you could look at the old clock in the parlour. 'It strikes well; but the hour hand won't do anything but point at six.”

      And she went across to the door, knocked and entered.

      Her visitor, was sitting in the armchair before the fire, dozing. The only light in the room was the red glow from the fire. But for a second it seemed to Mrs. Hall that the man she looked at had an enormous mouth wide open. It was only for a moment: the white-bandaged head, the monstrous eyes-

      Then he stirred and started up in his chair. She opened the door wide, so that the room was lighter, and saw him more clearly, with the muffler held up to his face.

      “Look at the clock?” he said, staring round in a drowsy manner, “certainly.”

      Mrs. Hall went away to get a lamp, and he rose and stretched himself. Then came the light, and Mr. Teddy Henfrey was confronted by this bandaged person. He was, he says, “taken aback.”

      “Good afternoon,” said the stranger.

      “I hope,” said Mr. Henfrey, “that it's no intrusion.”

      “None whatever,” said the stranger.

      “I thought, sir,” said Mrs. Hall, “you'd prefer the clock-”

      “Certainly,” said the stranger, “certainly-but, as a rule, I'd like to be alone and undisturbed.”

      Mrs. Hall was about to leave the room. She told the visitor the carrier would bring his luggage over in the morning. “You are certain that is the earliest?” he said.

      “I should explain,” he added, “that I am an experimental investigator.” “Indeed, sir,” said Mrs. Hall, much impressed. “And my baggage contains equipment and appliances.” “Very useful things indeed they are, sir,” said Mrs. Hall. “My reason for coming to Iping,” he proceeded, “was… a desire for solitude. I do not wish to be disturbed in my work. In addition to my work, an accident-”

      “I thought as much,” said Mrs. Hall to herself.

      “My eyes-are sometimes so weak and painful that I have to shut myself up in the dark for hours. Lock myself up. At such times the slightest disturbance is a source of excruciating annoyance to me- these things should be understood.”

      “Certainly, sir,” said Mrs. Hall.

      After Mrs. Hall had left the room, he remained standing in front of the fire, glaring at the clock being mended. Mr. Henfrey, being curious by nature, wanted to fall into conversation with the stranger. But the stranger stood there, perfectly silent and still. So still, it got on Henfrey's nerves. He felt alone in the room and looked up, and there was the bandaged head and huge blue lenses staring fixedly. It was so creepy to Mr. Henfrey that for a minute they remained staring blankly at one another.

      He looked up and began, “The weather-”

      “Why don't you finish and go?” said the figure, evidently in a state of suppressed rage. “All you've got to do is to fix the hour hand of the clock.”

      “Certainly, sir-one minute more. I overlooked-” and Mr. Henfrey finished and left.

      But he left feeling excessively annoyed. “Damn it!” said Mr. Henfrey to himself, trudging down the village through the thawing snow; “a man must do a clock at times, surely.”

      And again, “Can't a man look at you? – Ugly!”

      At the corner he saw Mr. Hall, who had recently married the stranger's hostess at the “Coach and Horses.”

      “I'd like to see a man's face if he stopped at my place,” said Henfrey. “But women are so trustful.”

      “You don't know everything,” said Mr. Hall to his wife later, resolved to find out more about the personality of his guest.

      “You mind you own business, Hall,” said Mrs. Hall, “and I'll mind mine.”

Glossary

      hour hand['auə,hænd] – cущ. часовая стрелка

      doze[dəuz] – гл. дремать, клевать носом

      confront[kən'frʌnt] – гл. стоять лицом к лицу; сталкиваться лицом к лицу

      to take aback – захватить врасплох; поразить

      experimental investigator [ɪksperɪ'mentl ɪn'vestɪgeɪtə] – исследователь-экспериментатор

      appliance [ə'plaɪən(t)s] – cущ. аппарат, прибор; приспособление, устройство

      solitude['sɔlɪt(j)u:d] – cущ. одиночество; уединение, изоляция (о человеке)

      glare [glɛə] – гл. пристально или сердито смотреть (на кого-л.)

      to fall into conversation – завязать разговор

      rage[reɪʤ] – сущ. ярость, гнев, бешенство; приступ сильного гнева

      trudge[trʌʤ] – гл. идти с трудом, устало тащиться

      trustful ['trʌstf(ə)l] – прил. доверчивый

      Chapter 3

      The Thousand and One Bottles

      The next day the stranger's luggage arrived through the slush. There was a pair of trunks and a box of books-big, thick books, some of which were just in an incomprehensible handwriting-and a dozen or more boxes and cases, containing glass bottles. The stranger, muffled in his hat, coat and gloves, came out impatiently to meet the cart. “Come along with those boxes,” he said. “I've been waiting long enough.”

      Then he turned and rushed swiftly up the steps into the inn. Mr. Hall went straight upstairs, and the stranger's door being ajar, he pushed it open and entered.

      The blind was down and the room dim. He caught a glimpse of what seemed a handless arm waving towards him. Then he was struck violently in the chest, hurled back, and the door slammed in his face and locked. It was so rapid that it gave him no time to observe.

      A couple of minutes after, he joined the little group outside the “Coach and Horses.”

      Mr. Hall, staring at them from the steps and listening, found it incredible that he had seen upstairs. Besides, his vocabulary was too limited to express his impressions.

      “Come along,” cried an angry voice in the doorway. “The sooner you get those things in the better. Hurry up!”

      When the first box was carried into the parlour, the stranger flung himself upon it eagerly, and began to unpack it, scattering the straw on Mrs. Hall's carpet. And from it he began to produce bottles-little bottles containing powders, small and slender bottles with coloured and white fluids, blue bottles labeled Poison, bottles with round bodies and slender necks, large green glass bottles, large white glass bottles-putting them in rows everywhere.

      The stranger went to the window and set to work, not bothering in the least about the litter of straw, the fire which had gone out, the box of books outside or the trunks and his other luggage that had gone upstairs.

      When Mrs. Hall brought his dinner, he was already so absorbed in his work that he did not hear her until she had put the tray on the table.

      Then he half turned his head and immediately turned it away again. But she saw he had removed his glasses; and it seemed to her that his eye sockets were extraordinarily hollow. He put on his spectacles again, and then turned