The Invisible Man

Mr. Engus, a regular at the café-confectionery where the beautiful waitress Miss Laura worked, once made her an offer during one of his visits. But before she could answer, the girl told him the story of what happened to her. She spoke about two young people who once, almost on the same day, asked for her hand. One of them, Isidore Smys, was very short—almost a dwarf—and was always ready to pull some trick. The second, the tall and thin James Welkin, could even be called handsome if not for his terrible squint. He was quiet, but for some reason he worried the girl much more than Smys. Afraid that they might guess she refuses them because of their ugliness, Miss Laura said she would marry only the man who would carve out his place in life for himself. And the young men set off in search of happiness. Since then, she has seen neither of them—though the tiny Smys has sent her two letters, and from Welkin she received not a single line. Yet it was him she feared everywhere: she keeps hearing his voice and his dreadful laughter, no less distinctive than his squint—the laughter she heard at the moment when she received the first letter from his rival.