Текст книги "Человек-невидимка / The Invisible Man"

Герберт Уэллс / Herbert Wells
Человек-Невидимка  / The invisible man

© Глушенкова Е.В., адаптация текста, словарь

© ООО «Издательство АСТ», 2019

Chapter I
The Strange Man’s Arrival

The stranger came in February, as it was snowing heavily, walking from Bramblehurst Railway Station, and carrying a little black bag. He came into the “Coach and Horses[1]1
  “Coach and Horses” – «Экипаж и лошади», название сельской гостиницы


[Закрыть]” more dead than alive. “A fire!” he cried, “A room and a fire!” He shook the snow off himself, and followed Mrs. Hall into her guest room, where he put some sovereigns on the table.

Mrs. Hall lit the fire and left him there while she went to prepare him a meal. A guest to stop at Iping in the winter time was an unheard-of piece of luck[2]2
  an unheard-of piece of luck – неслыханная удача


[Закрыть], especially a guest who paid in cash.

When lunch was ready, she carried plates, and glasses into the room. She was surprised to see that her visitor still wore his hat and coat, and stood with his back to her and looking out of the window at the falling snow, with his gloved hands behind him.

“Can I take your hat and coat, sir,” she said, “and dry them in the kitchen?”

“No,” he said.

He turned his head and looked at her over his shoulder. “I’ll keep them on,” he said; and she noticed that he wore big blue spectacles and had whiskers. The spectacles, the whiskers, and his coat collar completely hid his face.

“Very well, sir,” she said. “As you like. In a moment the room will be warmer.”

He made no answer, and Mrs. Hall, feeling that it was a bad time for a conversation, quickly laid the table and left the room. When she returned he was still standing there, his collar turned up, his hat hiding his face completely.

She put down the eggs and bacon, and said to him:

“Your lunch is served, sir.”

“Thank you,” he said, and did not turn round until she closed the door.

As she went to the kitchen she saw her help Millie still making mustard. “That girl!” she said. “She’s so long!” And she herself finished mixing the mustard. She had cooked the ham and eggs, laid the table, and done everything, while Millie had not mixed the mustard! And a new guest wanted to stay! Then she filled the mustard-pot, and carried it into the guest room.

She knocked and entered at once. She put down the mustard-pot on the table, and then she noticed the coat and hat on a chair in front of the fire. She wanted to take these things to the kitchen. “May take them to dry now?” she asked.

“Leave the hat,” said her visitor in a muffled voice, and turning, she saw he had raised his head and was looking at her.

For a moment she stood looking at him, too surprised to speak.

He held a white napkin, which she had given him, over the lower part of his face, so that his mouth was completely hidden, and that was the reason of his muffled voice. But what surprised Mrs. Hall most was the fact that all the forehead above his blue glasses was covered by a white bandage, and that another bandage covered his ears, so that only his pink nose could be seen. It was bright pink. He wore a jacket with a high collar turned up about his neck. The thick black hair could be seen between the bandages. This muffled and bandaged head was so strange that for a moment she stood speechless. He remained holding the napkin, as she saw now, with a gloved hand. “Leave the hat,” he said, speaking through the napkin.

She began to recover from the shock she had received. She placed the hat on the chair again by the fire. “I didn’t know, sir,” she began, “that —” And she stopped, not knowing what to say.

“Thank you,” he said dryly, looking from her to the door, and then at her again.

“I’ll have them nicely dried, sir, at once,” she said, and carried his clothes out of the room. She shivered a little as she closed the door behind her, and her face showed her surprise.

The visitor sat and listened to the sound of her feet. He looked at the window before he took away the napkin; then rose and pulled the blind down. He returned to the table and his lunch.

“The poor man had an accident, or an operation or something,” said Mrs. Hall. “And he held that napkin over his mouth all the time. Talked through it!… Perhaps his mouth was hurt too.”

When Mrs. Hall went to clear away the stranger’s lunch her idea that his mouth must also have been cut[3]3
  his mouth must also have been cut – его рот, должно быть, тоже порезан


[Закрыть] in the accident was confirmed, for he was smoking a pipe, and all the time that she was in the room he held a muffler over the lower part of his face. He sat in an armchair with his back to the window, and spoke now, having eaten and drunk[4]4
  having eaten and drunk – наевшись и напившись


[Закрыть], less aggressively than before.

“I have some luggage,” he said, “at Bramblehurst Station,” and he asked her how he could have it sent[5]5
  he asked her how he could have it sent – он спросил, как его можно выслать (оборот have something done означает, что действие выполняется не подлежащим, а третьим лицом)


[Закрыть].

Her explanation disappointed him.

“Tomorrow!” he said. “Can’t I have it today?”

“It’s a bad road, sir,” she said, “There was an accident there a year ago. A gentleman killed. Accidents, sir, happen in a moment, don’t they?”

But the visitor did not feel like talking.

“They do,” he said, through his muffler, looking at her quietly from behind his glasses.

“But they take long enough to get well, sir, don’t they? My sister’s son, Tom, once just cut his arm. He was three months bandaged, sir.”

“I can quite understand that,” said the visitor.

“We were afraid, one time, that he’d have to have an operation, he was that bad, sir.”

The visitor laughed suddenly.

“Was he?” he said.

“He was, sir. And it was no laughing matter to them[6]6
  And it was no laughing matter to them – Им было не до смеха


[Закрыть], sir —”

“Will you get me some matches?” said the visitor. “My pipe is out.”

Mrs. Hall stopped suddenly. It was certainly rude of him after telling him about her family. She stood for a moment, remembered the sovereigns, and went for the matches. Evidently he did not want to speak about operations and bandages.

The visitor remained in his room until four o’clock. He was quite still during that time: he sat smoking by the fire.

Chapter II
Mr. Teddy Henfrey’s First Impressions

At four o’clock, when it was already dark, and Mrs. Hall wanted to go in and ask her visitor if he would take some tea, Teddy Henfrey, the clock-jobber[7]7
  clock-jobber – устар. часовщик


[Закрыть], came into the bar.

“Lord[8]8
  Lord – (восклицание) О Господи!


[Закрыть], Mrs. Hall,” said he, “but this is terrible weather!”

Mrs. Hall agreed, and then noticed he had his bag with him. “Now you’re here,” said she, “I’d be glad if you looked at the clock. The hour hand only points at six.”

And she led the way to the guest room, knocked and entered.

As she opened the door, she saw her visitor sitting in the armchair before the fire. The only light in the room was from the fire. It was quite dark. But for a second it seemed to her that the man had an enormous mouth wide open, it took the whole of the lower portion of his face. It was the impression of a moment. Then he put up his hand. She opened the door wide so that the room was lighter, and she saw him more clearly, with the muffler held to his face, just as she had seen him hold the napkin before. The shadows, she thought, had tricked her.

“Would you mind, sir, this man looking at the clock, sir?” she said.

“Look at the clock?” he said, speaking through his muffler; and then, “Certainly.”

Mr. Teddy Henfrey said he was “taken aback” when he saw this bandaged person.

“Good afternoon,” said the stranger. “I understand,” he said, turning to Mrs. Hall, “that this room is for my private use.”

“I thought, sir,” said Mrs. Hall, “you’d prefer the clock —”

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

Then he asked Mrs. Hall if she had asked anybody to bring his boxes from Bramblehurst. She told him she had spoken to the postman, and that they would be here tomorrow.

“Can’t it be done earlier?” he said. She answered coldly it couldn’t.

“I’ll explain,” he added, “what I haven’t explained before because I was too cold and tired. I am a scientist.”

“Indeed, sir,” said Mrs. Hall. She was much impressed.

“And my luggage contains some apparatus. And I’m anxious to get on with my experiments.”

“Of course, sir.”

“I came to Iping,” he went on, “to be alone. I do not want to be disturbed in my work. I had an accident —”

“I thought as much[9]9
  I thought as much – Я так и думала


[Закрыть],” said Mrs. Hall to herself.

“My eyes are sometimes so weak and painful that I have to be in the dark for hours. I want you to understand this.”

“Certainly, sir,” said Mrs. Hall. “And may I ask you —”

“That is all, I think” said the stranger, putting an end to the conversation.

Mr. Henfrey worked with the lamp close to him, which left the rest of the room in shadow. As he was curious by nature, Mr. Henfrey was not in a hurry to finish his work with the idea of having a conversation with the stranger. But the stranger stood there, perfectly silent and still. Henfrey looked up, and there was the bandaged head and huge, dark glasses. For a minute they remained staring at one another. Then Henfrey looked down again. Very uncomfortable position! Should he say that the weather was very cold for the time of the year?

“The weather —” he began.

“Why don’t you finish and go?” said the stranger, evidently in a state of rage. “All you’ve got to do is to fix the hour hand. You’re simply humbugging.”

“One minute more, sir.” And Mr. Henfrey finished and went.

But he went off feeling very annoyed. “Damn it!” said Mr. Henfrey to himself, walking through the falling snow, “If the police wanted you, you couldn’t be more bandaged.”

At the moment he saw Hall, who had married the owner of the “Coach and Horses” a few months before.

“How are you, Teddy?” Hall asked.

“You got a suspicious man at home!” said Teddy Henfrey.

“What’s that?” Hall asked.

“A strange customer is at the ‘Coach and Horses’,” said Teddy.

And he gave Hall a description of his wife’s guest. “Looks a bit like a disguise, doesn’t it? I’d like to see a man’s face if I had him in my place,” said Henfrey. “But women trust strangers. He’s taken your rooms, and he hasn’t even given a name, Hall.”

“You don’t say so[10]10
  You don’t say so! – Да что ты говоришь!


[Закрыть]!” said Hall.

“Yes,” said Teddy. “For a week. And he’s got a lot of luggage coming tomorrow, so he says.”

Teddy walked on feeling much better.

On his return, Hall instructed his wife to find out more about their guest and to look very closely at his luggage when it came next day.

“You mind your own business, Hall,” said Mrs. Hall, “and I’ll mind mine.”

She was very annoyed by Hall because she herself had some doubts about the stranger.

Chapter III
The Thousand and One Bottles

Next day his luggage arrived – and very remarkable luggage it was.

There were a couple of trunks, such as any man might have, but there was also a box of books – big, fat books – and a lot of boxes with glass bottles. The stranger, muffled in hat, coat, and gloves came out to meet Fearenside’s cart, not noticing Fearenside’s dog.

When the dog saw him, it sprang straight at his hand.

Fearenside cried, “Lie down!”

They saw the dog’s teeth slip the hand, and bite the stranger’s leg. It all happened in half a minute. No one spoke, every one shouted. The stranger looked swiftly at his torn glove and trousers, then turned and rushed into the inn.

They heard him go to his room.

Hall was also there staring. “He was bitten,” said Hall. “I’d better go and see.” And he went after the stranger.

He met Mrs. Hall in the inn.

“Fearenside’s dog,” he said, “bit him.”

He went straight to the stranger’s door, pushed it open, and entered without any ceremony.

The blind was down and the room dark. He saw a most unusual thing, a handless arm, and a face of three huge spots on white. Then he was struck violently, thrown back, the door closed in his face, and locked. He stood in the dark passage, wondering what he had seen. After a couple of minutes he came out of the “Coach and Horses.” Fearenside was telling some people about it all over again; there was Mrs. Hall saying his dog didn’t have any business to bite her guests. There were also some women and children, all of them saying: “I wouldn’t let it bite me”; “It isn’t right to have such dogs”; “What did it bite him for?” and so on.

Mr. Hall, staring at them from the steps, couldn’t believe what he had seen. Besides, his vocabulary was too small for his impressions.

“He doesn’t want any help, he says,” he said in answer to his wife’s questions. “We’d better take his luggage in.”

“The sooner you get those things in, the better,” cried an angry voice from the inn, and there stood the muffled stranger on the steps.

“Were you hurt, sir?” said Fearenside. “I’m sorry, the dog —”

“Not a bit,” said the stranger. “Didn’t break the skin. Hurry up with my luggage.”

When the first box was carried into his room, the stranger began to unpack it, and from it he began to take out bottles – little fat bottles containing powders, small bottles containing coloured and white fluids, blue bottles, wine bottles – putting them on the table under the window, round the floor, on the bookshelf – everywhere. The chemist’s shop in Bramblehurst did not have half so many.

As soon as the boxes were unpacked, the stranger started work, not troubling about the box of books outside, or other luggage. When Mrs. Hall took his dinner in to him, he was already so absorbed in his work, pouring little drops out of the bottles into test tubes, that he did not hear her until she had put his dinner on the table.

“I wish you wouldn’t come in[11]11
  I wish you wouldn’t come in – Я бы хотел, чтобы вы не входили


[Закрыть] without knocking,” he said, with abnormal exasperation that seemed so characteristic of him.

“I knocked, but —”

“Perhaps you did. But in my investigations – my really very urgent and necessary investigations – I mustn’t be disturbed … I must ask you —”

“Certainly, sir. You can lock the door any time.”

“A very good idea,” said the stranger.

He was so odd, standing there, so aggressive, bottle in one hand and test tube in the other, that Mrs. Hall was quite alarmed. She laid the table. He turned and sat down with his back to her.

All the afternoon he worked with the door locked, for the most part in silence. But once there was a sound of bottles ringing together, as though the table had been hit. Fearing something was the matter, Mrs. Hall went to the door and listened.

“I can’t go on,” he was shouting; “I can’t go on! Three hundred thousand, four hundred thousand! It may take me all my life!… Patience! Fool! fool!”

Then the room was silent. The stranger was at work again.

Chapter IV
Mr. Cuss Meets the Stranger

The stranger stayed quietly in Iping until April.

Hall did not like him, and whenever he talked of getting rid of him, Mrs. Hall said “Wait till the summer, when the artists begin to come. Then we’ll see. He may be unpleasant, but pays regularly.”

The stranger did not go to church, he worked, as Mrs. Hall thought, from time to time. Some days he got up early and worked all day. On others he got up late, smoked, or slept in the arm-chair by the fire. He had no communication with the world. His habit of talking to himself in a low voice grew, but though Mrs. Hall listened near the door she could make neither head nor tail of what she heard[12]12
  she could make neither head nor tail of what she heard – она не могла ничего понять из того, что слышала


[Закрыть].

He rarely went out by day, but in the evening he went out muffled up in any weather, and he chose the loneliest places. His spectacles and bandaged face frightened villagers.

It was natural that a person of such an unusual appearance and behaviour was much talked about in Iping. People were curious about his occupation. When asked, Mrs. Hall explained very carefully that he was a scientist, and then said that he “discovered things.” Her visitor had had an accident, she said, which changed the colour of his face and hands, and he was ashamed of it and avoided public attention.

There was also a view that he was a criminal trying to escape from the police. This idea first came to Mr. Teddy Henfrey, but no one knew of a crime from the middle or end of February. Another theory was that the stranger was a terrorist in disguise, preparing explosions. Yet another view was that the stranger a lunatic. But whatever they thought of him, people in Iping disliked him. His irritability made him no friends there.

Cuss, the village doctor, was very curious. The bandages excited his professional interest; the thousand-and-one bottles were also of interest to him. He looked for an excuse to visit the stranger, and at last he called on him to collect money for a village nurse. He was surprised that Mr. Hall did not know his guest’s name.

Cuss knocked on the door and entered, and then the door closed and Mrs. Hall couldn’t hear their conversation.

She could hear their voices for the next ten minutes, then a cry of surprise, a chair falling, laughter, quick steps to the door, and Cuss appeared, his face white. He left the inn without looking at her. Then she heard the stranger laughing quietly, the door closed, and all was silent again.

Cuss went straight to Bunting, the vicar.

“Am I mad?” Cuss began at once, as he entered the vicar’s little study. “Do I look mad?”

“What’s happened?” said the vicar.

“That man at the inn —”

“Well?”

“I went in,” he said, “and began to ask for money for the nurse. I spoke of the nurse, and all time looked round. Bottles – chemicals – everywhere. Would he give the money? He said he’d consider it. I asked him if he was doing research. He said he was. A long research? He got very angry, a ‘damnable long research,’ said he. ‘Damn you! What do you want here?’ I apologised. Draught of air from window lifted a paper from the table. He was working in a room with an open fireplace. In a moment I saw the paper burning. The man rushed to the fire and stretched his arm. There was no hand. Just an empty sleeve. Lord! I thought, there’s something odd in that. What keeps that sleeve up and open if there’s nothing in it? There was nothing in it, I tell you. ‘Good God!’ I said. He stared at me, and then at his sleeve.”

“Well?”

“That’s all. He never said a word, just put his sleeve in his pocket. ‘How,’ said I, ‘can you move an empty sleeve like that?’ ‘You saw it was an empty sleeve?’ He came to me, and stood quite close. Then he pulled his sleeve out of his pocket again, and raised his arm towards me. ‘Well?’ said I; ‘there’s nothing in it.’ I could see right down it. And then something struck my nose.”

Bunting began to laugh.

“There wasn’t anything there!” said Cuss. “I was so surprised, I hit his sleeve, and it felt exactly like hitting an arm. And there wasn’t an arm!”

Mr. Bunting thought it over. He looked suspiciously at Cuss. “It’s a most remarkable story,” he said.

Chapter V
Strange Events in Iping

The facts of the burglary at the Vicarage were told by the vicar and his wife. It occurred at night late in April.

Mrs. Bunting woke up suddenly at night, with a strong impression that the door of their bedroom had opened and closed. She then heard the sound of bare feet walking along the passage. She woke up Mr. Bunting, who did not strike a light, but went out of the bedroom to listen. He heard some noise in his study downstairs, and then a sneeze.

He returned to his bedroom, took a poker, and went downstairs as noiselessly as possible. Everything was still, except some noise in the study. Then the study was lit by a candle. Mr. Bunting was now in the hall, and through the door he could see the desk, and a candle on it. But he could not see the burglar. He stood there in the hall not knowing what to do, and Mrs. Bunting, her face white, went slowly downstairs after him.

They heard the chink of money, and realized that the burglar had found the gold – two pounds ten. Gripping the poker firmly, Mr. Bunting rushed into the room, followed by Mrs. Bunting.

The room was empty.

Yet they were certain they had heard somebody moving in the room. For half a minute they stood still, then Mrs. Bunting went across the room and looked under the desk, behind the curtains, and Mr. Bunting looked up the chimney.

“The candle!” said Mr. Bunting. “Who lit the candle?”

“The money’s gone!” said Mrs. Bunting.

There was a sneeze in the passage. They rushed out, and heard the kitchen door close.

“Bring the candle!” said Mr. Bunting. As he opened the kitchen door, he saw the back door just opening, but nobody went out of the door.

It opened, stood open for a moment, and then closed. When they entered the kitchen it was empty. They examined all the house. There was nobody there.

* * *

That morning Mr. Hall and Mrs. Hall both got up early and went to the cellar. Their business there was of a secret nature, and had something to do with their beer.

When they entered the cellar, Mrs. Hall found she had forgotten to bring down a bottle of sarsaparilla[13]13
  sarsaparilla – сарсапарель, растение, корень которого содержит вещества, способные образовывать пену. Миссис Холл клала сарсапарель в пиво, чтобы увеличить пенистость.


[Закрыть]. Hall went upstairs for it.

He was surprised to see that the stranger’s door was ajar. He went to his own room and found the bottle.

But as he came downstairs, he noticed that the front door had been unbolted – that the door was, in fact, simply closed. When he saw this, he stopped, then, knocked on the stranger’s door. There was no answer. He knocked again; then opened the door and entered. The room was empty. And what was still odder, on the chair and the bed were all the clothes and the bandages of their guest. Even his big hat was there on the bed.

Hall turned and hurried down to his wife, down the cellar steps.

“He is not in the room. And the front door’s unbolted.”

Mrs. Hall decided to see the empty room for herself. As they came up the cellar steps, they both heard the front door open and shut.

She opened the door and stood looking round the room. She came up to the bed and put her hand on the pillow and then under the clothes.

“Cold,” she said. “He’s been up for an hour or more.”

As she did so a most extraordinary thing happened. The bed-clothes gathered themselves together, and then jumped off the bed. It was as if a hand had taken and thrown them on the floor. Then the stranger’s hat jumped off the bed, and flew straight at Mrs. Hall’s face. Then the chair, laughing in a voice like the stranger’s, turned itself up and flew at Mrs. Hall. She screamed and turned, and then the chair legs pushed her and Hall out of the room. The door shut and was locked.

“These were spirits,” said Mrs. Hall. “I know these were spirits. I’ve read in papers of them. Tables and chairs flying and dancing … Don’t let him come in again. I should have guessed [14]14
  I should have guessed – мне следовало догадаться


[Закрыть]… With his bandaged head, and never going to church on Sunday. And all the bottles – more than anyone needs. He’s put the spirits into the furniture … My good old furniture!”

Suddenly and most wonderfully the door of the guest room opened, and as they looked up in amazement, they saw the muffled figure of the stranger, staring at them. “Go to the devil!” shouted the stranger. Then he entered his room, and slammed the door in their faces.