Class 10 NCERT Solutions English Chapter 5 - Footprints Without Feet

Griffin, the scientist, had carried out an experiment and become invisible. However he happened to step in some mud, and left footprints as he walked which were observed by two boys who followed them fascinated, until the muddy impressions became fainter and finally disappeared altogether.

Since it was mid winter he slipped into a big London store for warmth. There he fitted himself out with warm clothes. Soon, with shoes, an overcoat and a wide-brimmed hat, he became a fully dressed and visible person.  He settled down to sleep on a pile of quilts and in this way was visible to the assistants at the store the next morning.

Griffin, the scientist, had carried out an experiment to prove that the human body could become invisible. Finally he swallowed certain rare drugs and his body became transparent.

Brilliant scientist though he was, Griffin was rather a lawless person. His landlord disliked him and tried to eject him. In revenge Griffin set fire to the house. To get away without being seen he had removed his clothes. Thus it was that he became homeless and was wandering on the streets, without clothes, without money, and quite invisible.

The arrival of a stranger at an inn in winter was in itself a strange occurrence. Mrs. Hall the landlord’s wife, made every effort to be friendly with the stranger but Griffin had no desire to talk, and told her that his reason for coming to Iping was a desire for solitude. He did not wish to be disturbed in his work. Besides, an accident had affected his face. His desire for solitude, his uncommon appearance, strange habits and irritable temper all made Mrs. Hall find the scientist eccentric.

Very early in the morning a clergyman and his wife were awakened by noises in the study. Creeping downstairs, they heard the chink of money being taken from the clergyman’s desk. Without making any noise and with a poker grasped firmly in his hand, the clergyman flung open the door and shouted ‘surrender’. To their amazement -they realised that the room appeared to be empty. They looked under the desk, and behind the curtains, and even up the chimney but there wasn’t a sign of anybody. Yet the desk had been opened and the housekeeping money was missing. The clergyman kept saying for the rest of the day that it was an ‘Extraordinary affair!”

The other  extraordinary things that happened at the inn was when the landlord and his wife were up early, and were surprised to see the scientist’s door wide open. Usually it was shut and locked, and when they peeped round the door, they saw nobody, but, the bedclothes were cold, showing that the scientist must have been up for some time; what was stranger was that the clothes and bandages that he always wore were lying about the room. Suddenly Mrs. Hall heard a sniff close to her ear and a moment later the hat on the bedpost leapt up and dashed itself into her face. Then the bedroom chair came alive and springing into the air it charged straight at her, legs foremost. As she and her husband turned away in terror, the extraordinary chair pushed them both out of the room and then appeared to slam and lock the door after them.

Mrs. Hall almost fell down the stairs in hysterics and was convinced that the room was haunted by spirits, and that the stranger had somehow caused these to enter into her furniture.

When news of the burglary at the clergyman’s home became known, the strange scientist was strongly suspected of having had a hand in it. Suspicion grew even stronger when he suddenly produced some ready cash, though he had admitted not long before that he had no money. When Mrs. Hall questioned him about the mysterious happenings in the room the bandages, whiskers, spectacles, and even nose were thrown off and the horrified people in the bar found themselves staring at a headless man. Mr Jaffers, the constable, was quite surprised to find that he had to arrest a man without a head. There followed a remarkable scene as the policeman tried to get hold of a man who was becoming more and more invisible as he threw off one garment after another Some people tried to help him, but found themselves hit by blows that seemed to come from nowhere.

In the end Jaffers was knocked unconscious as he made a last attempt to hold on to the unseen scientist.

Griffin, had carried out experiment after experiment to prove that the human body could become invisible. Finally he swallowed certain rare drugs and his body became as transparent as a sheet of glass though it also remained as solid as glass.

Griffin however was rather a lawless person. His landlord disliked him and tried to eject him. In revenge Griffin set fire to the house. To get away without being seen he had to remove his clothes. Thus it was that he became a homeless wanderer, without clothes, without money, and quite invisible.

Since it was mid winter, he entered a big London store for warmth and as soon as the doors were shut he was able to give himself the pleasure of clothing and feeding himself without regard to expense. He broke open boxes and wrappers and fitted himself out with warm clothes.

Once out of the big store and shivering with cold he hurried to Drury Lane, the centre of the theatre world and found a suitable shop. He made his way, invisible, upstairs and came out a little later wearing bandages round his forehead, dark glasses, false nose, big bushy side-whiskers, and a large hat. To escape without being seen, he callously attacked the shopkeeper from behind, after which he robbed him of all the money he could find.

Griffin was a brilliant scientist who carried out experiment after experiment to prove that the human body could become invisible. Finally he swallowed certain rare drugs and his body became as transparent as a sheet of glass — though it also remained as solid as glass. But he was not an honest person as he used his discovery of invisibility to attack and hurt people, steal money from shopkeepers and others like the clergy and made people furious and scared of him.

At the store he fed and clothed himself without regard to expense.

He was very revengeful and because his landlord disliked him and tried to eject him he set fireto the house.