It was the strangest thing in the world to hear that voice coming

as if out of empty space, but the Sussex peasants are perhaps the

most matter-of-fact people under the sun. Jaffers got up also and

produced a pair of handcuffs. Then he stared.

I say!" said Jaffers, brought up short by a dim realization of the

incongruity of the whole business, "Darn it! Can't use 'em as I can

see."

The stranger ran his arm down his waistcoat, and as if by a miracle

the buttons to which his empty sleeve pointed became undone. Then

he said something about his shin, and stooped down. He seemed to be

fumbling with his shoes and socks.

Why!" said Huxter, suddenly, "that's not a man at all. It's just

empty clothes. Look! You can see down his collar and the linings of

his clothes. I could put my arm--"

He extended his hand; it seemed to meet something in mid-air, and

he drew it back with a sharp exclamation. "I wish you'd keep your

fingers out of my eye," said the aerial voice, in a tone of savage

expostulation. "The fact is, I'm all here--head, hands, legs, and

all the rest of it, but it happens I'm invisible. It's a confounded

nuisance, but I am. That's no reason why I should be poked to

pieces by every stupid bumpkin in Iping, is it?"

The Invisible Man