midday
Indeed the theory of madness is almost unavoidable . Mr. Wicksteed was a man of forty-five or forty-six , steward to Lord Burdock , of inoffensive habits and appearance , the very last person in the world to provoke such a terrible antagonist . Against him it would seem the Invisible Man used an iron rod dragged from a broken piece of fence . He stopped this quiet man , going quietly home to his midday meal , attacked him , beat down his feeble defences , broke his arm , felled him , and smashed his head to a jelly . Of course , he must have dragged this rod out of the fencing before he met his victim -- he must have been carrying it ready in his hand . Only two details beyond what has already been stated seem to bear on the matter . One is the circumstance that the gravel pit was not in Mr. Wicksteed 's direct path home , but nearly a couple of hundred yards out of his way .