me incapable of any strength of feeling. I was apathetic, and I

tried in vain to recover the enthusiasm of my first inquiries,

the passion of discovery that had enabled me to compass even the

downfall of my father's grey hairs. Nothing seemed to matter. I saw

pretty clearly this was a transient mood, due to overwork and want

of sleep, and that either by drugs or rest it would be possible to

recover my energies.

"All I could think clearly was that the thing had to be carried

through; the fixed idea still ruled me. And soon, for the money I

had was almost exhausted. I looked about me at the hillside, with

children playing and girls watching them, and tried to think of all

the fantastic advantages an invisible man would have in the world.

After a time I crawled home, took some food and a strong dose of

strychnine, and went to sleep in my clothes on my unmade bed.

Strychnine is a grand tonic, Kemp, to take the flabbiness out of

a man."

It's the devil," said Kemp. "It's the palaeolithic in a bottle."

I awoke vastly invigorated and rather irritable. You know?"

I know the stuff."

And there was someone rapping at the door. It was my landlord

with threats and inquiries, an old Polish Jew in a long grey coat

158

The Invisible Man