Chapter 17 The Experiment
For a moment Kemp sat in silence, staring at the back of the headless figure at the window. Then he rose, took the Invisible Man's arm and turned him away from the view. 'You're tired,' he said, 'and while I'm sitting down, you walk around. Have my chair.' He got up and stood between Griffin and the nearest window. For a time Griffin sat silently, and then he went on with his story. 'I'd already left the College,' he said, 'when that happened. It was last December. I had taken a room in London, in a big house in Great Portland Street. 'It was all like a dream, that short visit to my father in my old home. When I returned to my room it seemed like waking from a dream to reality. Here were the things I knew and loved. Here was the equipment; the experiments were arranged and waiting. And now there was hardly any difficulty left, beyond the planning of details. 'I will tell you, Kemp, sooner or later, all the complicated details. We need not talk about that now. For the most part, except for certain words I chose to remember, they are written in those books that that tramp has hidden, in a way that only I can understand. We must hunt him down. 'First I tried some white wool. It was the strangest thing in the world to see it lose its substance, like smoke, and disappear. I could hardly believe I had done it. I put my hand into the emptiness and there was the thing as solid as ever. I felt it, and threw it on the floor. I had a little trouble finding it again. 'And then I heard a noise behind me and, turning, saw a white cat, very dirty, outside the window. A thought came into my head. "Everything is ready for you," I said, and went to the window, opened it, and called softly. She came in. The poor