Ten o'clock the next morning found Mr. Marvel1, unshaven, dirty, and travel-stained, sitting with the books beside him and his hands deep in his pockets, looking very weary, nervous, and uncomfortable, and inflating2 his cheeks at infrequent intervals3, on the bench outside a little inn on the outskirts4 of Port Stowe. Beside him were the books, but now they were tied with string. The bundle had been abandoned in the pine-woods beyond Bramblehurst, in accordance with a change in the plans of the Invisible Man. Mr. Marvel sat on the bench, and although no one took the slightest notice of him, his agitation5 remained at fever heat. His hands would go ever and again to his various pockets with a curious nervous fumbling6.
When he had been sitting for the best part of an hour, however, an elderly mariner7, carrying a newspaper, came out of the inn and sat down beside him. "Pleasant day," said the mariner.
Mr. Marvel glanced about him with something very like terror. "Very," he said.
"Just seasonable weather for the time of year," said the mariner, taking no denial.
"Quite," said Mr. Marvel.
The mariner produced a toothpick, and (saving his regard) was engrossed9 thereby10 for some minutes. His eyes meanwhile were at liberty to examine Mr. Marvel's dusty figure, and the books beside him. As he had approached Mr. Marvel he had heard a sound like the dropping of coins into a pocket. He was struck by the contrast of Mr. Marvel's appearance with this suggestion of opulence11. Thence his mind wandered back again to a topic that had taken a curiously12 firm hold of his imagination.
"Books?" he said suddenly, noisily finishing with the toothpick.
Mr. Marvel started and looked at them. "Oh, yes," he said. "Yes, they're books."
"There's some extra-ordinary things in books," said the mariner.
"I believe you," said Mr. Marvel.
"And some extra-ordinary things out of 'em," said the mariner.
"True likewise," said Mr. Marvel. He eyed his interlocutor, and then glanced about him.
"There's some extra-ordinary things in newspapers, for example," said the mariner.
"There are."
"In _this_ newspaper," said the mariner.
"Ah!" said Mr. Marvel.
"There's a story," said the mariner, fixing Mr. Marvel with an eye that was firm and deliberate; "there's a story about an Invisible Man, for instance."
Mr. Marvel pulled his mouth askew13 and scratched his cheek and felt his ears glowing. "What will they be writing next?" he asked faintly. "Ostria, or America?"
"Neither," said the mariner. "_Here_."
"Lord!" said Mr. Marvel, starting.
"When I say _here_," said the mariner, to Mr. Marvel's intense relief, "I don't of course mean here in this place, I mean hereabouts."
"An Invisible Man!" said Mr. Marvel. "And what's _he_ been up to?"
"Everything," said the mariner, controlling Marvel with his eye, and then amplifying14, "every--blessed--thing."
"I ain't seen a paper these four days," said Marvel.
"Iping's the place he started at," said the mariner.
"In-_deed_!" said Mr. Marvel.
"He started there. And where he came from, nobody don't seem to know. Here it is: 'Pe-culiar Story from Iping.' And it says in this paper that the evidence is extra-ordinary strong--extra-ordinary."
"Lord!" said Mr. Marvel.
"But then, it's an extra-ordinary story. There is a clergyman and a medical gent witnesses--saw 'im all right and proper--or leastways didn't see 'im. He was staying, it says, at the 'Coach an' Horses,' and no one don't seem to have been aware of his misfortune, it says, aware of his misfortune, until in an Altercation15 in the inn, it says, his bandages on his head was torn off. It was then ob-served that his head was invisible. Attempts were At Once made to secure him, but casting off his garments, it says, he succeeded in escaping, but not until after a desperate struggle, in which he had inflicted16 serious injuries, it says, on our worthy17 and able constable18, Mr. J. A. Jaffers. Pretty straight story, eh? Names and everything."
"Lord!" said Mr. Marvel, looking nervously19 about him, trying to count the money in his pockets by his unaided sense of touch, and full of a strange and novel idea. "It sounds most astonishing."
"Don't it? Extra-ordinary, _I_ call it. Never heard tell of Invisible Men before, I haven't, but nowadays one hears such a lot of extra-ordinary things--that--"
"That all he did?" asked Marvel, trying to seem at his ease.
"It's enough, ain't it?" said the mariner.
"Didn't go Back by any chance?" asked Marvel. "Just escaped and that's all, eh?"
"All!" said the mariner. "Why!--ain't it enough?"
"Quite enough," said Marvel.
"I should think it was enough," said the mariner. "I should think it was enough."
"He didn't have any pals20--it don't say he had any pals, does it?" asked Mr. Marvel, anxious.
"Ain't one of a sort enough for you?" asked the mariner. "No, thank Heaven, as one might say, he didn't."
He nodded his head slowly. "It makes me regular uncomfortable, the bare thought of that chap running about the country! He is at present At Large, and from certain evidence it is supposed that he has--taken--_took_, I suppose they mean--the road to Port Stowe. You see we're right _in_ it! None of your American wonders, this time. And just think of the things he might do! Where'd you be, if he took a drop over and above, and had a fancy to go for you? Suppose he wants to rob--who can prevent him? He can trespass21, he can burgle, he could walk through a cordon22 of policemen as easy as me or you could give the slip to a blind man! Easier! For these here blind chaps hear uncommon23 sharp, I'm told. And wherever there was liquor he fancied--"
"He's got a tremenjous advantage, certainly," said Mr. Marvel. "And--well..."
"You're right," said the mariner. "He _has_."
All this time Mr. Marvel had been glancing about him intently, listening for faint footfalls, trying to detect imperceptible movements. He seemed on the point of some great resolution. He coughed behind his hand.
He looked about him again, listened, bent24 towards the mariner, and lowered his voice: "The fact of it is--I happen--to know just a thing or two about this Invisible Man. From private sources."
"Oh!" said the mariner, interested. "_You_?"
"Yes," said Mr. Marvel. "Me."
"Indeed!" said the mariner. "And may I ask--"
"You'll be astonished," said Mr. Marvel behind his hand. "It's tremenjous."
"Indeed!" said the mariner.
"The fact is," began Mr. Marvel eagerly in a confidential25 undertone. Suddenly his expression changed marvellously. "Ow!" he said. He rose stiffly in his seat. His face was eloquent26 of physical suffering. "Wow!" he said.
"What's up?" said the mariner, concerned.
"Toothache," said Mr. Marvel, and put his hand to his ear. He caught hold of his books. "I must be getting on, I think," he said. He edged in a curious way along the seat away from his interlocutor. "But you was just a-going to tell me about this here Invisible Man!" protested the mariner. Mr. Marvel seemed to consult with himself. "Hoax27," said a Voice. "It's a hoax," said Mr. Marvel.
"But it's in the paper," said the mariner.
"Hoax all the same," said Marvel. "I know the chap that started the lie. There ain't no Invisible Man whatsoever--Blimey."
"But how 'bout8 this paper? D'you mean to say--?"
"Not a word of it," said Marvel, stoutly28.
The mariner stared, paper in hand. Mr. Marvel jerkily faced about. "Wait a bit," said the mariner, rising and speaking slowly, "D'you mean to say--?"
"I do," said Mr. Marvel.
"Then why did you let me go on and tell you all this blarsted stuff, then? What d'yer mean by letting a man make a fool of himself like that for? Eh?"
Mr. Marvel blew out his cheeks. The mariner was suddenly very red indeed; he clenched29 his hands. "I been talking here this ten minutes," he said; "and you, you little pot-bellied, leathery-faced son of an old boot, couldn't have the elementary manners--"
"Don't you come bandying words with _me_," said Mr. Marvel.
"Bandying words! I'm a jolly good mind--"
"Come up," said a Voice, and Mr. Marvel was suddenly whirled about and started marching off in a curious spasmodic manner. "You'd better move on," said the mariner. "Who's moving on?" said Mr. Marvel. He was receding30 obliquely31 with a curious hurrying gait, with occasional violent jerks forward. Some way along the road he began a muttered monologue32, protests and recriminations.
"Silly devil!" said the mariner, legs wide apart, elbows akimbo, watching the receding figure. "I'll show you, you silly ass--hoaxing _me_! It's here--on the paper!"
Mr. Marvel retorted incoherently and, receding, was hidden by a bend in the road, but the mariner still stood magnificent in the midst of the way, until the approach of a butcher's cart dislodged him. Then he turned himself towards Port Stowe. "Full of extra-ordinary asses," he said softly to himself. "Just to take me down a bit--that was his silly game--It's on the paper!"
And there was another extraordinary thing he was presently to hear, that had happened quite close to him. And that was a vision of a "fist full of money" (no less) travelling without visible agency, along by the wall at the corner of St. Michael's Lane. A brother mariner had seen this wonderful sight that very morning. He had snatched at the money forthwith and had been knocked headlong, and when he had got to his feet the butterfly money had vanished. Our mariner was in the mood to believe anything, he declared, but that was a bit _too_ stiff. Afterwards, however, he began to think things over.
The story of the flying money was true. And all about that neighbourhood, even from the august London and Country Banking33 Company, from the tills of shops and inns--doors standing34 that sunny weather entirely35 open--money had been quietly and dexterously36 making off that day in handfuls and rouleaux, floating quietly along by walls and shady places, dodging37 quickly from the approaching eyes of men. And it had, though no man had traced it, invariably ended its mysterious flight in the pocket of that agitated38 gentleman in the obsolete39 silk hat, sitting outside the little inn on the outskirts of Port Stowe.
It was ten days after--and indeed only when the Burdock story was already old--that the mariner collated40 these facts and began to understand how near he had been to the wonderful Invisible Man.
收听单词发音 |
1
marvel
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| vi.(at)惊叹vt.感到惊异；n.令人惊异的事 | |
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inflating
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| v.使充气（于轮胎、气球等）( inflate的现在分词 )；（使）膨胀；（使）通货膨胀；物价上涨 | |
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3
intervals
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| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
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outskirts
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| n.郊外，郊区 | |
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agitation
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| n.搅动；搅拌；鼓动，煽动 | |
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fumbling
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| n. 摸索,漏接 v. 摸索,摸弄,笨拙的处理 | |
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mariner
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| n.水手号不载人航天探测器，海员，航海者 | |
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bout
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| n.侵袭，发作；一次(阵，回)；拳击等比赛 | |
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engrossed
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| adj.全神贯注的 | |
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thereby
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| adv.因此，从而 | |
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opulence
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| n.财富，富裕 | |
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curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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askew
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| adv.斜地；adj.歪斜的 | |
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amplifying
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| 放大，扩大( amplify的现在分词 )； 增强； 详述 | |
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altercation
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| n.争吵，争论 | |
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inflicted
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| 把…强加给，使承受，遭受( inflict的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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constable
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| n.(英国)警察，警官 | |
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nervously
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| adv.神情激动地，不安地 | |
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20
pals
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| n.朋友( pal的名词复数 )；老兄；小子；（对男子的不友好的称呼）家伙 | |
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21
trespass
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| n./v.侵犯，闯入私人领地 | |
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22
cordon
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| n.警戒线，哨兵线 | |
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23
uncommon
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| adj.罕见的，非凡的，不平常的 | |
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24
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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confidential
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| adj.秘（机）密的，表示信任的，担任机密工作的 | |
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eloquent
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| adj.雄辩的，口才流利的；明白显示出的 | |
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hoax
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| v.欺骗，哄骗，愚弄；n.愚弄人，恶作剧 | |
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stoutly
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| adv.牢固地，粗壮的 | |
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29
clenched
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| v.紧握，抓紧，咬紧( clench的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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30
receding
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| v.逐渐远离( recede的现在分词 )；向后倾斜；自原处后退或避开别人的注视；尤指问题 | |
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obliquely
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| adv.斜； 倾斜； 间接； 不光明正大 | |
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monologue
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| n.长篇大论，（戏剧等中的）独白 | |
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banking
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| n.银行业，银行学，金融业 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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35
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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36
dexterously
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| adv.巧妙地，敏捷地 | |
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37
dodging
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| n.避开，闪过，音调改变v.闪躲( dodge的现在分词 )；回避 | |
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38
agitated
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| adj.被鼓动的，不安的 | |
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obsolete
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| adj.已废弃的，过时的 | |
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40
collated
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| v.校对( collate的过去式和过去分词 )；整理；核对；整理（文件或书等） | |
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