Chapter I: Front Matter

+-------------------------------------------------+ |Transcriber’s note: | | | |Obvious typographic errors have been corrected. | | | +-------------------------------------------------+

TALES OF THE UNEXPECTED

Mr WELLS has also written the following novels:

Love and Mr Lewisham. Kipps. Mr Polly. The Wheels of Chance. The New Machiavelli. Ann Veronica. Tono-Bungay. The Research Magnificent. Marriage. Bealby. The Passionate Friends. The Wife of Sir Isaac Harman. Mr Britling Sees It Through. The Soul of a Bishop. John and Peter. The Undying Fire. The Secret Places of the Heart.

The following fantastic and imaginative romances:

The War of the Worlds. The Time Machine. The Wonderful Visit. The Island of Dr Moreau. The Sea Lady. When the Sleeper Wakes. The Food of the Gods. The War in the Air. The First Men in the Moon. In the Days of the Comet. The World Set Free. The Invisible Man.

Numerous short stories collected under the following titles:

The Country of the Blind. Tales of Space and Time. The Stolen Bacillus. The Plattner Story. Twelve Stories and a dream.

A series of books on social, religious, and political questions:

Anticipations (1900). Mankind in the Making. First and Last Things. New Worlds for Old. A Modern Utopia. The Future in America. God the Invisible King. The Outline of History. Washington and the Hope of Peace. The Salvaging of Civilisation.

And two little books about children’s play, called,

Floor Games and Little Wars.

TALES OF THE UNEXPECTED

BY H. G. WELLS

LONDON: 48 PALL MALL W. COLLINS SONS & CO. LTD. GLASGOW MELBOURNE AUCKLAND

_Manufactured in Great Britain_

CONTENTS

PAGE
THE REMARKABLE CASE OF DAVIDSON’S EYES 7

THE MOTH 20

THE STORY OF THE LATE MR ELVESHAM 33

UNDER THE KNIFE 54

THE PLATTNER STORY 71

THE CRYSTAL EGG 96

THE MAN WHO COULD WORK MIRACLES 118

A DREAM OF ARMAGEDDON 140

THE NEW ACCELERATOR 172

THE DOOR IN THE WALL 190

THE APPLE 211

THE TEMPTATION OF HARRINGAY 221

SKELMERSDALE IN FAIRYLAND 228

THE INEXPERIENCED GHOST 245

THE STOLEN BODY 261

THE REMARKABLE CASE OF DAVIDSON’S EYES