grammar - Shifting position of a noun clause within a sentence

I came across the following odd-sounding sentence while reading The Time Machine by H. G. Wells:

1. But how the trick was done he could not explain.

In this sentence, the clause 'how the trick was done' is a noun clause and functions as the object of the verb 'explain'. So it should go after the verb and the correct version of this sentence should be as follows:

2. But he could not explain how the trick was done.

Is this kind of shifting of noun clause normal in English literature?