The Invisible Man: A Grotesque Romance Read online

  CHAPTER VIII

  IN TRANSIT

  The eighth chapter is exceedingly brief, and relates that Gibbons,the amateur naturalist of the district, while lying out on thespacious open downs without a soul within a couple of miles of him,as he thought, and almost dozing, heard close to him the sound asof a man coughing, sneezing, and then swearing savagely to himself;and looking, beheld nothing. Yet the voice was indisputable. Itcontinued to swear with that breadth and variety that distinguishesthe swearing of a cultivated man. It grew to a climax, diminishedagain, and died away in the distance, going as it seemed to him inthe direction of Adderdean. It lifted to a spasmodic sneeze andended. Gibbons had heard nothing of the morning's occurrences, butthe phenomenon was so striking and disturbing that his philosophicaltranquillity vanished; he got up hastily, and hurried down thesteepness of the hill towards the village, as fast as he could go.