Kemp gave a cry of incredulous amazement.

The Invisible Man rose and began pacing the little study. "You may

well exclaim. I remember that night. It was late at night--in the

daytime one was bothered with the gaping, silly students--and I

worked then sometimes till dawn. It came suddenly, splendid and

complete in my mind. I was alone; the laboratory was still, with the

tall lights burning brightly and silently. In all my great moments

I have been alone. 'One could make an animal--a tissue--transparent!

One could make it invisible! All except the pigments--I could be

invisible!' I said, suddenly realising what it meant to be an albino

with such knowledge. It was overwhelming. I left the filtering I was

doing, and went and stared out of the great window at the stars.

I could be invisible!' I repeated.

To do such a thing would be to transcend magic. And I beheld,

unclouded by doubt, a magnificent vision of all that invisibility

might mean to a man--the mystery, the power, the freedom. Drawbacks

I saw none. You have only to think! And I, a shabby, poverty-struck,

hemmed-in demonstrator, teaching fools in a provincial college,

might suddenly become--this. I ask you, Kemp if you ... Anyone, I

tell you, would have flung himself upon that research. And I worked

three years, and every mountain of difficulty I toiled over showed

another from its summit. The infinite details! And the exasperation!

A professor, a provincial professor, always prying. 'When are you

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