The Invisible Man: Chapter 12 Summary & Analysis

While Griffin is threatening Cuss and Bunting inside the parlor at the inn, nearby Mr. Hall and Teddy Henfrey are sitting together talking. They hear sounds and smell a strange odor coming from the parlor, and ask if everything is all right. Bunting replies tensely that everything is fine, and that they shouldn’t interrupt. Henfrey and Hall declare that this is “odd” and continue to eavesdrop on the room. Mrs. Hall appears and, seeing the two men spying, tells them to stop. Disappointed, they tiptoe away.

Henfrey says he heard the window in the parlor room, and he, Mr. Hall, and Mrs. Hall stand listening closely. It is at this moment that Huxter comes running, shouting “Stop thief!” Henfrey and Mr. and Mrs. Hall run after Huxter, and see him tumble to the ground, bringing two other men with him. A crowd quickly gathers around, crushing the three men on the floor. The situation turns into an “indecorous sprawl,” and Cuss staggers away to the Coach and Horses. He hears Griffin’s voice; it sounds as if Griffin has been struck.

Cuss shouts to Bunting, who is still in the inn, that Griffin is back and that he has “gone mad.” Panicked, Bunting climbs out of the window and runs up the hill as fast as he can. At this point Griffin’s temper becomes completely out of control. He breaks all the windows in the Coach and Horses, and then shoves a streetlamp through the window of a house belonging to another woman. He cuts the telegraph wire, and then disappears. Everyone in Iping is too frightened to come out of their houses for two hours.