The Invisible Man by G. K. Chesterton
"The Invisible Man" by G. K. Chesterton is a mystery story that revolves around the character of John Turnbull Angus and his romantic interest, Laura Hope. The narrative begins with Angus attempting to win Laura's affection while she recounts the peculiar history of her past admirers: a dwarf and a man with a disfiguring squint. Both suitors, having been encouraged by Laura's diplomatic refusals, seek to improve their fortunes to win her love. One of them, Isidore Smythe, becomes successful through his invention of household robots, while the other, Welkin, mysteriously vanishes.
Tension escalates when Smythe receives a threatening note, allegedly from Welkin, warning him against pursuing Laura. The story unfolds with a series of ominous events, leading to Smythe's disappearance and the discovery of blood at his apartment. Angus suspects an "invisible man" is behind the chaos. However, the astute priest Father Brown deduces that the real culprit is Welkin, who had entered undetected while disguised as a postal carrier. Ultimately, the tale explores themes of perception and the unseen forces that shape our interactions, culminating in a clever resolution of the mystery.
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The Invisible Man by G. K. Chesterton
First published: 1911
Type of plot: Mystery and detective
Time of work: 1910
Locale: England
Principal Characters:
Father Brown , a detective-priestLaura Hope , a clerk in a confectioneryJohn Turnbull Angus , a suitor of Laura HopeIsidore Smythe , an inventor and competing suitor for LauraJames Welkin , a rejected suitor of Laura who threatens Isidore SmytheFlambeau , Father Brown's protégé
The Story
The story begins as John Turnbull Angus pines for his reluctant, would-be fiancé, Laura Hope, outside the confectioner's shop where she works. Angus enters the shop and begins his familiar banter about marriage and the particular bliss that Miss Hope would presumably enjoy as his bride. She attempts to discourage the ardor of her young suitor by telling him the history of her past admirers.
Laura's father, she tells Angus, was the owner of an inn in Ludbury, outside London, and she often served tables there. Two of her customers, one a dwarf, the other a man with an appalling and disfiguring squint, sought her hand in marriage. Trying not to hurt their feelings and declining to tell them that the real reason she could not marry them was that they were "impossibly ugly," she told them instead that she could not possibly marry anyone who had not "made his way in the world." This white lie, however, merely encouraged further competition between the two, as both of them left to seek their fortunes and win her love.
After leaving her father's inn, Laura discovered that one of the two, Isidore Smythe, had become a success. Smythe had made a fortune with his Silent Service, providing household robots that performed various custodial chores in the home. The other suitor, Welkin, had disappeared mysteriously, but Laura had the strange experience of hearing his laughter without seeing his physical form. She now lives in fear that one or both of them will appear and that she will be forced to marry one of them.
As she finishes this strange tale, and Angus begins to make light of it, Smythe appears just in time to discover a threatening note written on stamp paper pasted to the window of the confectionery: "If you marry Smythe, he will die." Smythe declares that the note is in Welkin's handwriting, and he and Angus resolve to return to Smythe's apartment and enlist the aid of Flambeau, a local detective. While at the apartment, Angus is struck by the strangeness of Smythe's home, filled as it is with the silent robots that serve Smythe and his guest. As an air of otherworldliness pervades, Smythe shows Angus another note that he has received from Welkin: "If you have been to see her today, I shall kill you." Sensing imminent danger, Angus leaves to find Flambeau and solemnly charges the chestnut seller and the police officer outside Smythe's apartment to watch it carefully and monitor anyone who enters or leaves it.
Angus encounters Father Brown at Flambeau's house, and the three of them hasten back to Smythe's apartment only to find blood on the floor and Smythe missing. On being questioned, the chestnut seller and the police officer testify that no one has entered Smythe's apartment. Angus declares wildly that an "invisible man" is responsible for the crime. As Smythe's body is found in the canal, Father Brown takes charge of the investigation.
The priest surveys the scene and suggests that no preternatural invisible man has committed a crime, but one who has become "invisible" by virtue of his familiarity to the observers. Welkin, dressed as the postal carrier, had previously delivered the threatening notes and easily entered the apartment without attracting notice, murdering Smythe and carrying his dwarfish body away in his mail sack. The resourceful Father Brown has solved another mystery.