| 192 | 193 | 194 | 195 | 196 |
| 1 | 61 | 121 | 182 | 242 |
|
experiment I had dreamt of a thousand advantages. That afternoon
it seemed all disappointment. I went over the heads of the things
a man reckons desirable. No doubt invisibility made it possible
to get them, but it made it impossible to enjoy them when they
are got. Ambition--what is the good of pride of place when you
cannot appear there? What is the good of the love of woman when
her name must needs be Delilah? I have no taste for politics, for
the blackguardisms of fame, for philanthropy, for sport. What was
I to do? And for this I had become a wrapped-up mystery, a swathed
and bandaged caricature of a man!"
He paused, and his attitude suggested a roving glance at the
window.
"But how did you get to Iping?" said Kemp, anxious to keep his
guest busy talking.
"
I went there to work. I had one hope. It was a half idea! I have
it still. It is a full blown idea now. A way of getting back! Of
restoring what I have done. When I choose. When I have done all I
mean to do invisibly. And that is what I chiefly want to talk to
you about now."
"You went straight to Iping?"
"Yes. I had simply to get my three volumes of memoranda and my
194
Page
Quick Jump
|