Человек-невидимка / The Invisible Man + аудиоприложение

As the man ran he chinked like a well-filled purse. He looked neither to the right nor the left, but his eyes stared straight downhill to where the lamps were being lit, and the people were crowded in the street. A foam lay on his lips, and his breath came hoarse and noisy.

And then presently, far up the hill, a dog playing in the road yelped and ran under a gate. Then something-a wind-a pad, pad, pad, – a sound like a panting breathing, rushed by.

People screamed. They were shouting in the street before Marvel was halfway there.

“The Invisible Man is coming! The Invisible Man!”

Chapter XVI

In the “Jolly Cricketers”

The “Jolly Cricketers” is just at the bottom of the hill, where the tram-lines begin. The barman talked of horses with an anaemic cabman, while a black-beared man in gray ate biscuit and cheese, drank beer, and conversed with a policeman off duty.

“What’s the shouting about?” said the anaemic cabman.

Somebody ran by outside.

“Fire, perhaps,” said the barman.

Footsteps approached, running heavily, the door was pushed open violently, and Marvel, weeping and dishevelled, rushed in, made a convulsive turn, and attempted to shut the door.

“Coming!” he bawled, his voice shrieking with terror. “He’s coming. The Inisible Man! After me! Help! Help! Help!”

“Shut the doors,” said the policeman. “Who’s coming? What’s the matter?”

He went to the door, and it slammed.

“Let me go inside,” said Marvel, staggering and weeping, but still clutching the books. “Let me go inside. Lock me in-somewhere. I tell you he’s after me. I escaped. He said he’d kill me and he will.”

“You’re safe,” said the man with the black beard. “The door’s shut. What’s it all about?”

“Let me go inside,” said Marvel, and shrieked aloud as a blow suddenly made the fastened door shiver. There was a hurried rapping and a shouting outside.

“Hello,” cried the policeman, “who’s there?”

Mr. Marvel cried, “He’ll kill me-he’s got a knife or something. Help me!”

“Come in here,” said the barman.

And he held up the flap of the bar.

“Don’t open the door,” Mr. Marvel screamed. “Please don’t open the door! Where shall I hide?”

“This, this Invisible Man, then?” asked the man with the black beard. “I guess it’s about time to see him.