Sat, Apr 13, 2024, 10:02 PM -07:00

1 files changed, 16624 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/wk5/pset/speller/texts/stoker.txt b/wk5/pset/speller/texts/stoker.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7fb73f5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/wk5/pset/speller/texts/stoker.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,16624 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Dracula, by Bram Stoker

+

+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with

+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or

+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included

+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net

+

+

+Title: Dracula

+

+Author: Bram Stoker

+

+Release Date: May 9, 2008 [EBook #345]

+

+Language: English

+

+Character set encoding: ASCII

+

+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DRACULA ***

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+DRACULA

+

+by

+

+Bram Stoker

+

+

+1897 edition

+

+

+

+

+TABLE OF CONTENTS

+

+

+CHAPTER

+

+  1  Jonathan Harker's Journal

+  2  Jonathan Harker's Journal

+  3  Jonathan Harker's Journal

+  4  Jonathan Harker's Journal

+  5  Letter From Miss Mina Murray To Miss Lucy Westenra

+  6  Mina Murray's Journal

+  7  Cutting From "The Dailygraph", 8 August

+  8  Mina Murray's Journal

+  9  Letter, Mina Harker To Lucy Westenra

+ 10  Letter, Dr. Seward To Hon. Arthur Holmwood

+ 11  Lucy Westenra's Diary

+ 12  Dr. Seward's Diary

+ 13  Dr. Seward's Diary

+ 14  Mina Harker's Journal

+ 15  Dr. Seward's Diary

+ 16  Dr. Seward's Diary

+ 17  Dr. Seward's Diary

+ 18  Dr. Seward's Diary

+ 19  Jonathan Harker's Journal

+ 20  Jonathan Harker's Journal

+ 21  Dr. Seward's Diary

+ 22  Jonathan Harker's Journal

+ 23  Dr. Seward's Diary

+ 24  Dr. Seward's Phonograph Diary

+ 25  Dr. Seward's Diary

+ 26  Dr. Seward's Diary

+ 27  Mina Harker's Journal

+

+

+

+

+CHAPTER 1

+

+

+Jonathan Harker's Journal

+

+3 May. Bistritz.--Left Munich at 8:35 P.M., on 1st May, arriving at

+Vienna early next morning; should have arrived at 6:46, but train was

+an hour late.  Buda-Pesth seems a wonderful place, from the glimpse

+which I got of it from the train and the little I could walk through

+the streets.  I feared to go very far from the station, as we had

+arrived late and would start as near the correct time as possible.

+

+The impression I had was that we were leaving the West and entering the

+East; the most western of splendid bridges over the Danube, which is

+here of noble width and depth, took us among the traditions of Turkish

+rule.

+

+We left in pretty good time, and came after nightfall to Klausenburgh.

+Here I stopped for the night at the Hotel Royale.  I had for dinner,

+or rather supper, a chicken done up some way with red pepper, which

+was very good but thirsty.  (Mem. get recipe for Mina.) I asked the

+waiter, and he said it was called "paprika hendl," and that, as it was

+a national dish, I should be able to get it anywhere along the

+Carpathians.

+

+I found my smattering of German very useful here, indeed, I don't know

+how I should be able to get on without it.

+

+Having had some time at my disposal when in London, I had visited the

+British Museum, and made search among the books and maps in the

+library regarding Transylvania; it had struck me that some

+foreknowledge of the country could hardly fail to have some importance

+in dealing with a nobleman of that country.

+

+

+I find that the district he named is in the extreme east of the

+country, just on the borders of three states, Transylvania, Moldavia,

+and Bukovina, in the midst of the Carpathian mountains; one of the

+wildest and least known portions of Europe.

+

+I was not able to light on any map or work giving the exact locality

+of the Castle Dracula, as there are no maps of this country as yet to

+compare with our own Ordance Survey Maps; but I found that Bistritz,

+the post town named by Count Dracula, is a fairly well-known place.  I

+shall enter here some of my notes, as they may refresh my memory when

+I talk over my travels with Mina.

+

+In the population of Transylvania there are four distinct

+nationalities:  Saxons in the South, and mixed with them the Wallachs,

+who are the descendants of the Dacians; Magyars in the West, and

+Szekelys in the East and North.  I am going among the latter, who

+claim to be descended from Attila and the Huns.  This may be so, for

+when the Magyars conquered the country in the eleventh century they

+found the Huns settled in it.

+

+I read that every known superstition in the world is gathered into the

+horseshoe of the Carpathians, as if it were the centre of some sort of

+imaginative whirlpool; if so my stay may be very interesting.  (Mem.,

+I must ask the Count all about them.)

+

+I did not sleep well, though my bed was comfortable enough, for I had

+all sorts of queer dreams.  There was a dog howling all night under my

+window, which may have had something to do with it; or it may have

+been the paprika, for I had to drink up all the water in my carafe,

+and was still thirsty.  Towards morning I slept and was wakened by the

+continuous knocking at my door, so I guess I must have been sleeping

+soundly then.

+

+I had for breakfast more paprika, and a sort of porridge of maize

+flour which they said was "mamaliga", and egg-plant stuffed with

+forcemeat, a very excellent dish, which they call "impletata". (Mem.,

+get recipe for this also.)

+

+I had to hurry breakfast, for the train started a little before eight,

+or rather it ought to have done so, for after rushing to the station

+at 7:30 I had to sit in the carriage for more than an hour before we

+began to move.

+

+It seems to me that the further east you go the more unpunctual are

+the trains.  What ought they to be in China?

+

+All day long we seemed to dawdle through a country which was full of

+beauty of every kind.  Sometimes we saw little towns or castles on the

+top of steep hills such as we see in old missals; sometimes we ran by

+rivers and streams which seemed from the wide stony margin on each

+side of them to be subject to great floods.  It takes a lot of water,

+and running strong, to sweep the outside edge of a river clear.

+

+At every station there were groups of people, sometimes crowds, and in

+all sorts of attire.  Some of them were just like the peasants at home

+or those I saw coming through France and Germany, with short jackets,

+and round hats, and home-made trousers; but others were very

+picturesque.

+

+The women looked pretty, except when you got near them, but they were

+very clumsy about the waist.  They had all full white sleeves of some

+kind or other, and most of them had big belts with a lot of strips of

+something fluttering from them like the dresses in a ballet, but of

+course there were petticoats under them.

+

+The strangest figures we saw were the Slovaks, who were more barbarian

+than the rest, with their big cow-boy hats, great baggy dirty-white

+trousers, white linen shirts, and enormous heavy leather belts, nearly

+a foot wide, all studded over with brass nails.  They wore high boots,

+with their trousers tucked into them, and had long black hair and

+heavy black moustaches.  They are very picturesque, but do not look

+prepossessing.  On the stage they would be set down at once as some

+old Oriental band of brigands.  They are, however, I am told, very

+harmless and rather wanting in natural self-assertion.

+

+It was on the dark side of twilight when we got to Bistritz, which is

+a very interesting old place.  Being practically on the frontier--for

+the Borgo Pass leads from it into Bukovina--it has had a very stormy

+existence, and it certainly shows marks of it.  Fifty years ago a

+series of great fires took place, which made terrible havoc on five

+separate occasions.  At the very beginning of the seventeenth century

+it underwent a siege of three weeks and lost 13,000 people, the

+casualties of war proper being assisted by famine and disease.

+

+Count Dracula had directed me to go to the Golden Krone Hotel, which I

+found, to my great delight, to be thoroughly old-fashioned, for of

+course I wanted to see all I could of the ways of the country.

+

+I was evidently expected, for when I got near the door I faced a

+cheery-looking elderly woman in the usual peasant dress--white

+undergarment with a long double apron, front, and back, of coloured

+stuff fitting almost too tight for modesty.  When I came close she

+bowed and said, "The Herr Englishman?"

+

+"Yes," I said, "Jonathan Harker."

+

+She smiled, and gave some message to an elderly man in white

+shirtsleeves, who had followed her to the door.

+

+He went, but immediately returned with a letter:

+

+"My friend.--Welcome to the Carpathians.  I am anxiously expecting

+you.  Sleep well tonight.  At three tomorrow the diligence will

+start for Bukovina; a place on it is kept for you.  At the Borgo

+Pass my carriage will await you and will bring you to me.  I trust

+that your journey from London has been a happy one, and that you

+will enjoy your stay in my beautiful land.--Your friend, Dracula."

+

+

+4 May--I found that my landlord had got a letter from the Count,

+directing him to secure the best place on the coach for me; but on

+making inquiries as to details he seemed somewhat reticent, and

+pretended that he could not understand my German.

+

+This could not be true, because up to then he had understood it

+perfectly; at least, he answered my questions exactly as if he did.

+

+He and his wife, the old lady who had received me, looked at each

+other in a frightened sort of way.  He mumbled out that the money had

+been sent in a letter, and that was all he knew.  When I asked him if

+he knew Count Dracula, and could tell me anything of his castle, both

+he and his wife crossed themselves, and, saying that they knew nothing

+at all, simply refused to speak further.  It was so near the time of

+starting that I had no time to ask anyone else, for it was all very

+mysterious and not by any means comforting.

+

+Just before I was leaving, the old lady came up to my room and said in

+a hysterical way:  "Must you go?  Oh!  Young Herr, must you go?"  She

+was in such an excited state that she seemed to have lost her grip of

+what German she knew, and mixed it all up with some other language

+which I did not know at all.  I was just able to follow her by asking

+many questions.  When I told her that I must go at once, and that I

+was engaged on important business, she asked again:

+

+"Do you know what day it is?"  I answered that it was the fourth of

+May.  She shook her head as she said again:

+

+"Oh, yes!  I know that!  I know that, but do you know what day it is?"

+

+On my saying that I did not understand, she went on:

+

+"It is the eve of St. George's Day.  Do you not know that tonight,

+when the clock strikes midnight, all the evil things in the world will

+have full sway?  Do you know where you are going, and what you are

+going to?"  She was in such evident distress that I tried to comfort

+her, but without effect.  Finally, she went down on her knees and

+implored me not to go; at least to wait a day or two before starting.

+

+It was all very ridiculous but I did not feel comfortable.  However,

+there was business to be done, and I could allow nothing to interfere

+with it.

+

+I tried to raise her up, and said, as gravely as I could, that I

+thanked her, but my duty was imperative, and that I must go.

+

+She then rose and dried her eyes, and taking a crucifix from her neck

+offered it to me.

+

+I did not know what to do, for, as an English Churchman, I have been

+taught to regard such things as in some measure idolatrous, and yet it

+seemed so ungracious to refuse an old lady meaning so well and in such

+a state of mind.

+

+She saw, I suppose, the doubt in my face, for she put the rosary round

+my neck and said, "For your mother's sake," and went out of the room.

+

+I am writing up this part of the diary whilst I am waiting for the

+coach, which is, of course, late; and the crucifix is still round my

+neck.

+

+Whether it is the old lady's fear, or the many ghostly traditions of

+this place, or the crucifix itself, I do not know, but I am not

+feeling nearly as easy in my mind as usual.

+

+If this book should ever reach Mina before I do, let it bring my

+goodbye.  Here comes the coach!

+

+

+5 May.  The Castle.--The gray of the morning has passed, and the sun

+is high over the distant horizon, which seems jagged, whether with

+trees or hills I know not, for it is so far off that big things and

+little are mixed.

+

+I am not sleepy, and, as I am not to be called till I awake, naturally

+I write till sleep comes.

+

+There are many odd things to put down, and, lest who reads them may

+fancy that I dined too well before I left Bistritz, let me put down my

+dinner exactly.

+

+I dined on what they called "robber steak"--bits of bacon, onion, and

+beef, seasoned with red pepper, and strung on sticks, and roasted over

+the fire, in simple style of the London cat's meat!

+

+The wine was Golden Mediasch, which produces a queer sting on the

+tongue, which is, however, not disagreeable.

+

+I had only a couple of glasses of this, and nothing else.

+

+When I got on the coach, the driver had not taken his seat, and I saw

+him talking to the landlady.

+

+They were evidently talking of me, for every now and then they looked

+at me, and some of the people who were sitting on the bench outside

+the door--came and listened, and then looked at me, most of them

+pityingly.  I could hear a lot of words often repeated, queer words,

+for there were many nationalities in the crowd, so I quietly got my

+polyglot dictionary from my bag and looked them out.

+

+I must say they were not cheering to me, for amongst them were

+"Ordog"--Satan, "Pokol"--hell, "stregoica"--witch, "vrolok" and

+"vlkoslak"--both mean the same thing, one being Slovak and the other

+Servian for something that is either werewolf or vampire.  (Mem., I

+must ask the Count about these superstitions.)

+

+When we started, the crowd round the inn door, which had by this time

+swelled to a considerable size, all made the sign of the cross and

+pointed two fingers towards me.

+

+With some difficulty, I got a fellow passenger to tell me what they

+meant.  He would not answer at first, but on learning that I was

+English, he explained that it was a charm or guard against the evil

+eye.

+

+This was not very pleasant for me, just starting for an unknown place

+to meet an unknown man.  But everyone seemed so kind-hearted, and so

+sorrowful, and so sympathetic that I could not but be touched.

+

+I shall never forget the last glimpse which I had of the inn yard and

+its crowd of picturesque figures, all crossing themselves, as they

+stood round the wide archway, with its background of rich foliage of

+oleander and orange trees in green tubs clustered in the centre of the

+yard.

+

+Then our driver, whose wide linen drawers covered the whole front of

+the boxseat,--"gotza" they call them--cracked his big whip over his

+four small horses, which ran abreast, and we set off on our journey.

+

+I soon lost sight and recollection of ghostly fears in the beauty of

+the scene as we drove along, although had I known the language, or

+rather languages, which my fellow-passengers were speaking, I might

+not have been able to throw them off so easily.  Before us lay a green

+sloping land full of forests and woods, with here and there steep

+hills, crowned with clumps of trees or with farmhouses, the blank

+gable end to the road.  There was everywhere a bewildering mass of

+fruit blossom--apple, plum, pear, cherry.  And as we drove by I could

+see the green grass under the trees spangled with the fallen petals.

+In and out amongst these green hills of what they call here the

+"Mittel Land" ran the road, losing itself as it swept round the grassy

+curve, or was shut out by the straggling ends of pine woods, which

+here and there ran down the hillsides like tongues of flame.  The road

+was rugged, but still we seemed to fly over it with a feverish haste.

+I could not understand then what the haste meant, but the driver was

+evidently bent on losing no time in reaching Borgo Prund.  I was told

+that this road is in summertime excellent, but that it had not yet

+been put in order after the winter snows.  In this respect it is

+different from the general run of roads in the Carpathians, for it is

+an old tradition that they are not to be kept in too good order.  Of

+old the Hospadars would not repair them, lest the Turk should think

+that they were preparing to bring in foreign troops, and so hasten the

+war which was always really at loading point.

+

+Beyond the green swelling hills of the Mittel Land rose mighty slopes

+of forest up to the lofty steeps of the Carpathians themselves.  Right

+and left of us they towered, with the afternoon sun falling full upon

+them and bringing out all the glorious colours of this beautiful

+range, deep blue and purple in the shadows of the peaks, green and

+brown where grass and rock mingled, and an endless perspective of

+jagged rock and pointed crags, till these were themselves lost in the

+distance, where the snowy peaks rose grandly.  Here and there seemed

+mighty rifts in the mountains, through which, as the sun began to

+sink, we saw now and again the white gleam of falling water.  One of

+my companions touched my arm as we swept round the base of a hill and

+opened up the lofty, snow-covered peak of a mountain, which seemed, as

+we wound on our serpentine way, to be right before us.

+

+"Look!  Isten szek!"--"God's seat!"--and he crossed himself reverently.

+

+As we wound on our endless way, and the sun sank lower and lower

+behind us, the shadows of the evening began to creep round us.  This

+was emphasized by the fact that the snowy mountain-top still held the

+sunset, and seemed to glow out with a delicate cool pink.  Here and

+there we passed Cszeks and slovaks, all in picturesque attire, but I

+noticed that goitre was painfully prevalent.  By the roadside were

+many crosses, and as we swept by, my companions all crossed

+themselves.  Here and there was a peasant man or woman kneeling before

+a shrine, who did not even turn round as we approached, but seemed in

+the self-surrender of devotion to have neither eyes nor ears for the

+outer world.  There were many things new to me.  For instance,

+hay-ricks in the trees, and here and there very beautiful masses of

+weeping birch, their white stems shining like silver through the

+delicate green of the leaves.

+

+Now and again we passed a leiter-wagon--the ordinary peasants's

+cart--with its long, snakelike vertebra, calculated to suit the

+inequalities of the road.  On this were sure to be seated quite a

+group of homecoming peasants, the Cszeks with their white, and the

+Slovaks with their coloured sheepskins, the latter carrying

+lance-fashion their long staves, with axe at end.  As the evening fell

+it began to get very cold, and the growing twilight seemed to merge

+into one dark mistiness the gloom of the trees, oak, beech, and pine,

+though in the valleys which ran deep between the spurs of the hills,

+as we ascended through the Pass, the dark firs stood out here and

+there against the background of late-lying snow.  Sometimes, as the

+road was cut through the pine woods that seemed in the darkness to be

+closing down upon us, great masses of greyness which here and there

+bestrewed the trees, produced a peculiarly weird and solemn effect,

+which carried on the thoughts and grim fancies engendered earlier in

+the evening, when the falling sunset threw into strange relief the

+ghost-like clouds which amongst the Carpathians seem to wind

+ceaselessly through the valleys.  Sometimes the hills were so steep

+that, despite our driver's haste, the horses could only go slowly.  I

+wished to get down and walk up them, as we do at home, but the driver

+would not hear of it.  "No, no," he said.  "You must not walk here.

+The dogs are too fierce."  And then he added, with what he evidently

+meant for grim pleasantry--for he looked round to catch the approving

+smile of the rest--"And you may have enough of such matters before you

+go to sleep."  The only stop he would make was a moment's pause to

+light his lamps.

+

+When it grew dark there seemed to be some excitement amongst the

+passengers, and they kept speaking to him, one after the other, as

+though urging him to further speed.  He lashed the horses unmercifully

+with his long whip, and with wild cries of encouragement urged them on

+to further exertions.  Then through the darkness I could see a sort of

+patch of grey light ahead of us, as though there were a cleft in the

+hills.  The excitement of the passengers grew greater.  The crazy

+coach rocked on its great leather springs, and swayed like a boat

+tossed on a stormy sea.  I had to hold on.  The road grew more level,

+and we appeared to fly along.  Then the mountains seemed to come

+nearer to us on each side and to frown down upon us.  We were entering

+on the Borgo Pass.  One by one several of the passengers offered me

+gifts, which they pressed upon me with an earnestness which would take

+no denial.  These were certainly of an odd and varied kind, but each

+was given in simple good faith, with a kindly word, and a blessing,

+and that same strange mixture of fear-meaning movements which I had

+seen outside the hotel at Bistritz--the sign of the cross and the

+guard against the evil eye.  Then, as we flew along, the driver leaned

+forward, and on each side the passengers, craning over the edge of the

+coach, peered eagerly into the darkness.  It was evident that

+something very exciting was either happening or expected, but though I

+asked each passenger, no one would give me the slightest explanation.

+This state of excitement kept on for some little time.  And at last we

+saw before us the Pass opening out on the eastern side.  There were

+dark, rolling clouds overhead, and in the air the heavy, oppressive

+sense of thunder.  It seemed as though the mountain range had

+separated two atmospheres, and that now we had got into the thunderous

+one.  I was now myself looking out for the conveyance which was to

+take me to the Count.  Each moment I expected to see the glare of

+lamps through the blackness, but all was dark.  The only light was the

+flickering rays of our own lamps, in which the steam from our

+hard-driven horses rose in a white cloud.  We could see now the sandy

+road lying white before us, but there was on it no sign of a vehicle.

+The passengers drew back with a sigh of gladness, which seemed to mock

+my own disappointment.  I was already thinking what I had best do,

+when the driver, looking at his watch, said to the others something

+which I could hardly hear, it was spoken so quietly and in so low a

+tone, I thought it was "An hour less than the time."  Then turning to

+me, he spoke in German worse than my own.

+

+"There is no carriage here.  The Herr is not expected after all.  He

+will now come on to Bukovina, and return tomorrow or the next day,

+better the next day."  Whilst he was speaking the horses began to

+neigh and snort and plunge wildly, so that the driver had to hold them

+up.  Then, amongst a chorus of screams from the peasants and a

+universal crossing of themselves, a caleche, with four horses, drove

+up behind us, overtook us, and drew up beside the coach.  I could see

+from the flash of our lamps as the rays fell on them, that the horses

+were coal-black and splendid animals.  They were driven by a tall man,

+with a long brown beard and a great black hat, which seemed to hide

+his face from us.  I could only see the gleam of a pair of very bright

+eyes, which seemed red in the lamplight, as he turned to us.

+

+He said to the driver, "You are early tonight, my friend."

+

+The man stammered in reply, "The English Herr was in a hurry."

+

+To which the stranger replied, "That is why, I suppose, you wished him

+to go on to Bukovina.  You cannot deceive me, my friend.  I know too

+much, and my horses are swift."

+

+As he spoke he smiled, and the lamplight fell on a hard-looking mouth,

+with very red lips and sharp-looking teeth, as white as ivory.  One of

+my companions whispered to another the line from Burger's "Lenore".

+

+"Denn die Todten reiten Schnell."  ("For the dead travel fast.")

+

+The strange driver evidently heard the words, for he looked up with a

+gleaming smile.  The passenger turned his face away, at the same time

+putting out his two fingers and crossing himself.  "Give me the Herr's

+luggage," said the driver, and with exceeding alacrity my bags were

+handed out and put in the caleche.  Then I descended from the side of

+the coach, as the caleche was close alongside, the driver helping me

+with a hand which caught my arm in a grip of steel.  His strength must

+have been prodigious.

+

+Without a word he shook his reins, the horses turned, and we swept

+into the darkness of the pass.  As I looked back I saw the steam from

+the horses of the coach by the light of the lamps, and projected

+against it the figures of my late companions crossing themselves.

+Then the driver cracked his whip and called to his horses, and off

+they swept on their way to Bukovina.  As they sank into the darkness I

+felt a strange chill, and a lonely feeling come over me.  But a cloak

+was thrown over my shoulders, and a rug across my knees, and the

+driver said in excellent German--"The night is chill, mein Herr, and

+my master the Count bade me take all care of you.  There is a flask of

+slivovitz (the plum brandy of the country) underneath the seat, if you

+should require it."

+

+I did not take any, but it was a comfort to know it was there all the

+same.  I felt a little strangely, and not a little frightened.  I

+think had there been any alternative I should have taken it, instead

+of prosecuting that unknown night journey.  The carriage went at a

+hard pace straight along, then we made a complete turn and went along

+another straight road.  It seemed to me that we were simply going over

+and over the same ground again, and so I took note of some salient

+point, and found that this was so.  I would have liked to have asked

+the driver what this all meant, but I really feared to do so, for I

+thought that, placed as I was, any protest would have had no effect in

+case there had been an intention to delay.

+

+By-and-by, however, as I was curious to know how time was passing, I

+struck a match, and by its flame looked at my watch.  It was within a

+few minutes of midnight.  This gave me a sort of shock, for I suppose

+the general superstition about midnight was increased by my recent

+experiences.  I waited with a sick feeling of suspense.

+

+Then a dog began to howl somewhere in a farmhouse far down the road, a

+long, agonized wailing, as if from fear.  The sound was taken up by

+another dog, and then another and another, till, borne on the wind

+which now sighed softly through the Pass, a wild howling began, which

+seemed to come from all over the country, as far as the imagination

+could grasp it through the gloom of the night.

+

+At the first howl the horses began to strain and rear, but the driver

+spoke to them soothingly, and they quieted down, but shivered and

+sweated as though after a runaway from sudden fright.  Then, far off

+in the distance, from the mountains on each side of us began a louder

+and a sharper howling, that of wolves, which affected both the horses

+and myself in the same way.  For I was minded to jump from the caleche

+and run, whilst they reared again and plunged madly, so that the

+driver had to use all his great strength to keep them from bolting.

+In a few minutes, however, my own ears got accustomed to the sound,

+and the horses so far became quiet that the driver was able to descend

+and to stand before them.

+

+He petted and soothed them, and whispered something in their ears, as

+I have heard of horse-tamers doing, and with extraordinary effect, for

+under his caresses they became quite manageable again, though they

+still trembled.  The driver again took his seat, and shaking his

+reins, started off at a great pace.  This time, after going to the far

+side of the Pass, he suddenly turned down a narrow roadway which ran

+sharply to the right.

+

+Soon we were hemmed in with trees, which in places arched right over

+the roadway till we passed as through a tunnel.  And again great

+frowning rocks guarded us boldly on either side.  Though we were in

+shelter, we could hear the rising wind, for it moaned and whistled

+through the rocks, and the branches of the trees crashed together as

+we swept along.  It grew colder and colder still, and fine, powdery

+snow began to fall, so that soon we and all around us were covered

+with a white blanket.  The keen wind still carried the howling of the

+dogs, though this grew fainter as we went on our way.  The baying of

+the wolves sounded nearer and nearer, as though they were closing

+round on us from every side.  I grew dreadfully afraid, and the horses

+shared my fear.  The driver, however, was not in the least disturbed.

+He kept turning his head to left and right, but I could not see

+anything through the darkness.

+

+Suddenly, away on our left I saw a faint flickering blue flame.  The

+driver saw it at the same moment.  He at once checked the horses, and,

+jumping to the ground, disappeared into the darkness.  I did not know

+what to do, the less as the howling of the wolves grew closer.  But

+while I wondered, the driver suddenly appeared again, and without a

+word took his seat, and we resumed our journey.  I think I must have

+fallen asleep and kept dreaming of the incident, for it seemed to be

+repeated endlessly, and now looking back, it is like a sort of awful

+nightmare.  Once the flame appeared so near the road, that even in the

+darkness around us I could watch the driver's motions.  He went

+rapidly to where the blue flame arose, it must have been very faint,

+for it did not seem to illumine the place around it at all, and

+gathering a few stones, formed them into some device.

+

+Once there appeared a strange optical effect.  When he stood between

+me and the flame he did not obstruct it, for I could see its ghostly

+flicker all the same.  This startled me, but as the effect was only

+momentary, I took it that my eyes deceived me straining through the

+darkness.  Then for a time there were no blue flames, and we sped

+onwards through the gloom, with the howling of the wolves around us,

+as though they were following in a moving circle.

+

+At last there came a time when the driver went further afield than he

+had yet gone, and during his absence, the horses began to tremble

+worse than ever and to snort and scream with fright.  I could not see

+any cause for it, for the howling of the wolves had ceased altogether.

+But just then the moon, sailing through the black clouds, appeared

+behind the jagged crest of a beetling, pine-clad rock, and by its

+light I saw around us a ring of wolves, with white teeth and lolling

+red tongues, with long, sinewy limbs and shaggy hair.  They were a

+hundred times more terrible in the grim silence which held them than

+even when they howled.  For myself, I felt a sort of paralysis of

+fear.  It is only when a man feels himself face to face with such

+horrors that he can understand their true import.

+

+All at once the wolves began to howl as though the moonlight had had

+some peculiar effect on them.  The horses jumped about and reared, and

+looked helplessly round with eyes that rolled in a way painful to

+see.  But the living ring of terror encompassed them on every side,

+and they had perforce to remain within it.  I called to the coachman

+to come, for it seemed to me that our only chance was to try to break

+out through the ring and to aid his approach, I shouted and beat the

+side of the caleche, hoping by the noise to scare the wolves from the

+side, so as to give him a chance of reaching the trap.  How he came

+there, I know not, but I heard his voice raised in a tone of imperious

+command, and looking towards the sound, saw him stand in the roadway.

+As he swept his long arms, as though brushing aside some impalpable

+obstacle, the wolves fell back and back further still.  Just then a

+heavy cloud passed across the face of the moon, so that we were again

+in darkness.

+

+When I could see again the driver was climbing into the caleche, and

+the wolves disappeared.  This was all so strange and uncanny that a

+dreadful fear came upon me, and I was afraid to speak or move.  The

+time seemed interminable as we swept on our way, now in almost

+complete darkness, for the rolling clouds obscured the moon.

+

+We kept on ascending, with occasional periods of quick descent, but in

+the main always ascending.  Suddenly, I became conscious of the fact

+that the driver was in the act of pulling up the horses in the

+courtyard of a vast ruined castle, from whose tall black windows came

+no ray of light, and whose broken battlements showed a jagged line

+against the sky.

+

+

+

+

+CHAPTER 2

+

+

+Jonathan Harker's Journal Continued

+

+5 May.--I must have been asleep, for certainly if I had been fully

+awake I must have noticed the approach of such a remarkable place.  In

+the gloom the courtyard looked of considerable size, and as several

+dark ways led from it under great round arches, it perhaps seemed

+bigger than it really is.  I have not yet been able to see it by

+daylight.

+

+When the caleche stopped, the driver jumped down and held out his hand

+to assist me to alight.  Again I could not but notice his prodigious

+strength.  His hand actually seemed like a steel vice that could have

+crushed mine if he had chosen.  Then he took my traps, and placed them

+on the ground beside me as I stood close to a great door, old and

+studded with large iron nails, and set in a projecting doorway of

+massive stone.  I could see even in the dim light that the stone was

+massively carved, but that the carving had been much worn by time and

+weather.  As I stood, the driver jumped again into his seat and shook

+the reins.  The horses started forward, and trap and all disappeared

+down one of the dark openings.

+

+I stood in silence where I was, for I did not know what to do.  Of

+bell or knocker there was no sign.  Through these frowning walls and

+dark window openings it was not likely that my voice could penetrate.

+The time I waited seemed endless, and I felt doubts and fears crowding

+upon me.  What sort of place had I come to, and among what kind of

+people?  What sort of grim adventure was it on which I had embarked?

+Was this a customary incident in the life of a solicitor's clerk sent

+out to explain the purchase of a London estate to a foreigner?

+Solicitor's clerk!  Mina would not like that.  Solicitor, for just

+before leaving London I got word that my examination was successful,

+and I am now a full-blown solicitor!  I began to rub my eyes and pinch

+myself to see if I were awake.  It all seemed like a horrible

+nightmare to me, and I expected that I should suddenly awake, and find

+myself at home, with the dawn struggling in through the windows, as I

+had now and again felt in the morning after a day of overwork.  But my

+flesh answered the pinching test, and my eyes were not to be

+deceived.  I was indeed awake and among the Carpathians.  All I could

+do now was to be patient, and to wait the coming of morning.

+

+Just as I had come to this conclusion I heard a heavy step approaching

+behind the great door, and saw through the chinks the gleam of a

+coming light.  Then there was the sound of rattling chains and the

+clanking of massive bolts drawn back.  A key was turned with the loud

+grating noise of long disuse, and the great door swung back.

+

+Within, stood a tall old man, clean shaven save for a long white

+moustache, and clad in black from head to foot, without a single speck

+of colour about him anywhere.  He held in his hand an antique silver

+lamp, in which the flame burned without a chimney or globe of any

+kind, throwing long quivering shadows as it flickered in the draught

+of the open door.  The old man motioned me in with his right hand with

+a courtly gesture, saying in excellent English, but with a strange

+intonation.

+

+"Welcome to my house!  Enter freely and of your own free will!"  He

+made no motion of stepping to meet me, but stood like a statue, as

+though his gesture of welcome had fixed him into stone.  The instant,

+however, that I had stepped over the threshold, he moved impulsively

+forward, and holding out his hand grasped mine with a strength which

+made me wince, an effect which was not lessened by the fact that it

+seemed cold as ice, more like the hand of a dead than a living man.

+Again he said,

+

+"Welcome to my house!  Enter freely.  Go safely, and leave something

+of the happiness you bring!"  The strength of the handshake was so

+much akin to that which I had noticed in the driver, whose face I had

+not seen, that for a moment I doubted if it were not the same person

+to whom I was speaking.  So to make sure, I said interrogatively,

+"Count Dracula?"

+

+He bowed in a courtly way as he replied, "I am Dracula, and I bid you

+welcome, Mr. Harker, to my house.  Come in, the night air is chill,

+and you must need to eat and rest."  As he was speaking, he put the lamp

+on a bracket on the wall, and stepping out, took my luggage.  He had

+carried it in before I could forestall him.  I protested, but he

+insisted.

+

+"Nay, sir, you are my guest.  It is late, and my people are not

+available.  Let me see to your comfort myself."  He insisted on carrying

+my traps along the passage, and then up a great winding stair, and

+along another great passage, on whose stone floor our steps rang

+heavily.  At the end of this he threw open a heavy door, and I

+rejoiced to see within a well-lit room in which a table was spread for

+supper, and on whose mighty hearth a great fire of logs, freshly

+replenished, flamed and flared.

+

+The Count halted, putting down my bags, closed the door, and crossing

+the room, opened another door, which led into a small octagonal room

+lit by a single lamp, and seemingly without a window of any sort.

+Passing through this, he opened another door, and motioned me to

+enter.  It was a welcome sight.  For here was a great bedroom well

+lighted and warmed with another log fire, also added to but lately,

+for the top logs were fresh, which sent a hollow roar up the wide

+chimney.  The Count himself left my luggage inside and withdrew,

+saying, before he closed the door.

+

+"You will need, after your journey, to refresh yourself by making your

+toilet.  I trust you will find all you wish.  When you are ready, come

+into the other room, where you will find your supper prepared."

+

+The light and warmth and the Count's courteous welcome seemed to have

+dissipated all my doubts and fears.  Having then reached my normal

+state, I discovered that I was half famished with hunger.  So making a

+hasty toilet, I went into the other room.

+

+I found supper already laid out.  My host, who stood on one side of

+the great fireplace, leaning against the stonework, made a graceful

+wave of his hand to the table, and said,

+

+"I pray you, be seated and sup how you please.  You will I trust,

+excuse me that I do not join you, but I have dined already, and I do

+not sup."

+

+I handed to him the sealed letter which Mr. Hawkins had entrusted to

+me.  He opened it and read it gravely.  Then, with a charming smile,

+he handed it to me to read.  One passage of it, at least, gave me a

+thrill of pleasure.

+

+"I must regret that an attack of gout, from which malady I am a

+constant sufferer, forbids absolutely any travelling on my part for

+some time to come.  But I am happy to say I can send a sufficient

+substitute, one in whom I have every possible confidence.  He is a

+young man, full of energy and talent in his own way, and of a very

+faithful disposition.  He is discreet and silent, and has grown into

+manhood in my service.  He shall be ready to attend on you when you

+will during his stay, and shall take your instructions in all

+matters."

+

+The count himself came forward and took off the cover of a dish, and I

+fell to at once on an excellent roast chicken.  This, with some cheese

+and a salad and a bottle of old tokay, of which I had two glasses, was

+my supper.  During the time I was eating it the Count asked me many

+questions as to my journey, and I told him by degrees all I had

+experienced.

+

+By this time I had finished my supper, and by my host's desire had

+drawn up a chair by the fire and begun to smoke a cigar which he

+offered me, at the same time excusing himself that he did not smoke.

+I had now an opportunity of observing him, and found him of a very

+marked physiognomy.

+

+His face was a strong, a very strong, aquiline, with high bridge of

+the thin nose and peculiarly arched nostrils, with lofty domed

+forehead, and hair growing scantily round the temples but profusely

+elsewhere.  His eyebrows were very massive, almost meeting over the

+nose, and with bushy hair that seemed to curl in its own profusion.

+The mouth, so far as I could see it under the heavy moustache, was

+fixed and rather cruel-looking, with peculiarly sharp white teeth.

+These protruded over the lips, whose remarkable ruddiness showed

+astonishing vitality in a man of his years.  For the rest, his ears

+were pale, and at the tops extremely pointed.  The chin was broad and

+strong, and the cheeks firm though thin.  The general effect was one

+of extraordinary pallor.

+

+Hitherto I had noticed the backs of his hands as they lay on his knees

+in the firelight, and they had seemed rather white and fine.  But

+seeing them now close to me, I could not but notice that they were

+rather coarse, broad, with squat fingers.  Strange to say, there were

+hairs in the centre of the palm.  The nails were long and fine, and

+cut to a sharp point.  As the Count leaned over me and his hands

+touched me, I could not repress a shudder.  It may have been that his

+breath was rank, but a horrible feeling of nausea came over me, which,

+do what I would, I could not conceal.

+

+The Count, evidently noticing it, drew back.  And with a grim sort of

+smile, which showed more than he had yet done his protruberant teeth,

+sat himself down again on his own side of the fireplace.  We were both

+silent for a while, and as I looked towards the window I saw the first

+dim streak of the coming dawn.  There seemed a strange stillness over

+everything.  But as I listened, I heard as if from down below in the

+valley the howling of many wolves.  The Count's eyes gleamed, and he

+said.

+

+"Listen to them, the children of the night.  What music they make!"

+Seeing, I suppose, some expression in my face strange to him, he

+added, "Ah, sir, you dwellers in the city cannot enter into the

+feelings of the hunter."  Then he rose and said.

+

+"But you must be tired.  Your bedroom is all ready, and tomorrow you

+shall sleep as late as you will.  I have to be away till the

+afternoon, so sleep well and dream well!"  With a courteous bow, he

+opened for me himself the door to the octagonal room, and I entered my

+bedroom.

+

+I am all in a sea of wonders.  I doubt.  I fear.  I think strange

+things, which I dare not confess to my own soul.  God keep me, if only

+for the sake of those dear to me!

+

+

+7 May.--It is again early morning, but I have rested and enjoyed the

+last twenty-four hours.  I slept till late in the day, and awoke of my

+own accord.  When I had dressed myself I went into the room where we

+had supped, and found a cold breakfast laid out, with coffee kept hot

+by the pot being placed on the hearth.  There was a card on the table,

+on which was written--"I have to be absent for a while.  Do not wait

+for me.  D."  I set to and enjoyed a hearty meal.  When I had done, I

+looked for a bell, so that I might let the servants know I had

+finished, but I could not find one.  There are certainly odd

+deficiencies in the house, considering the extraordinary evidences of

+wealth which are round me.  The table service is of gold, and so

+beautifully wrought that it must be of immense value.  The curtains

+and upholstery of the chairs and sofas and the hangings of my bed are

+of the costliest and most beautiful fabrics, and must have been of

+fabulous value when they were made, for they are centuries old, though

+in excellent order.  I saw something like them in Hampton Court, but

+they were worn and frayed and moth-eaten.  But still in none of the

+rooms is there a mirror.  There is not even a toilet glass on my

+table, and I had to get the little shaving glass from my bag before I

+could either shave or brush my hair.  I have not yet seen a servant

+anywhere, or heard a sound near the castle except the howling of

+wolves.  Some time after I had finished my meal, I do not know whether

+to call it breakfast or dinner, for it was between five and six

+o'clock when I had it, I looked about for something to read, for I did

+not like to go about the castle until I had asked the Count's

+permission.  There was absolutely nothing in the room, book,

+newspaper, or even writing materials, so I opened another door in the

+room and found a sort of library.  The door opposite mine I tried, but

+found locked.

+

+In the library I found, to my great delight, a vast number of English

+books, whole shelves full of them, and bound volumes of magazines and

+newspapers.  A table in the centre was littered with English magazines

+and newspapers, though none of them were of very recent date.  The

+books were of the most varied kind, history, geography, politics,

+political economy, botany, geology, law, all relating to England and

+English life and customs and manners.  There were even such books of

+reference as the London Directory, the "Red" and "Blue" books,

+Whitaker's Almanac, the Army and Navy Lists, and it somehow gladdened

+my heart to see it, the Law List.

+

+Whilst I was looking at the books, the door opened, and the Count

+entered.  He saluted me in a hearty way, and hoped that I had had a

+good night's rest.  Then he went on.

+

+"I am glad you found your way in here, for I am sure there is much

+that will interest you.  These companions," and he laid his hand on

+some of the books, "have been good friends to me, and for some years

+past, ever since I had the idea of going to London, have given me

+many, many hours of pleasure.  Through them I have come to know your

+great England, and to know her is to love her.  I long to go through

+the crowded streets of your mighty London, to be in the midst of the

+whirl and rush of humanity, to share its life, its change, its death,

+and all that makes it what it is.  But alas!  As yet I only know your

+tongue through books.  To you, my friend, I look that I know it to

+speak."

+

+"But, Count," I said, "You know and speak English thoroughly!"  He

+bowed gravely.

+

+"I thank you, my friend, for your all too-flattering estimate, but yet

+I fear that I am but a little way on the road I would travel.  True, I

+know the grammar and the words, but yet I know not how to speak them."

+

+"Indeed," I said, "You speak excellently."

+

+"Not so," he answered.  "Well, I know that, did I move and speak in

+your London, none there are who would not know me for a stranger.  That

+is not enough for me.  Here I am noble.  I am a Boyar.  The common

+people know me, and I am master.  But a stranger in a strange land, he

+is no one.  Men know him not, and to know not is to care not for.  I

+am content if I am like the rest, so that no man stops if he sees me,

+or pauses in his speaking if he hears my words, 'Ha, ha!  A stranger!'

+I have been so long master that I would be master still, or at least

+that none other should be master of me.  You come to me not alone as

+agent of my friend Peter Hawkins, of Exeter, to tell me all about my

+new estate in London.  You shall, I trust, rest here with me a while,

+so that by our talking I may learn the English intonation.  And I

+would that you tell me when I make error, even of the smallest, in my

+speaking.  I am sorry that I had to be away so long today, but you

+will, I know forgive one who has so many important affairs in hand."

+

+Of course I said all I could about being willing, and asked if I might

+come into that room when I chose.  He answered, "Yes, certainly," and

+added.

+

+"You may go anywhere you wish in the castle, except where the doors

+are locked, where of course you will not wish to go.  There is reason

+that all things are as they are, and did you see with my eyes and know

+with my knowledge, you would perhaps better understand."  I said I was

+sure of this, and then he went on.

+

+"We are in Transylvania, and Transylvania is not England.  Our ways

+are not your ways, and there shall be to you many strange things.  Nay,

+from what you have told me of your experiences already, you know

+something of what strange things there may be."

+

+This led to much conversation, and as it was evident that he wanted to

+talk, if only for talking's sake, I asked him many questions regarding

+things that had already happened to me or come within my notice.

+Sometimes he sheered off the subject, or turned the conversation by

+pretending not to understand, but generally he answered all I asked

+most frankly.  Then as time went on, and I had got somewhat bolder, I

+asked him of some of the strange things of the preceding night, as for

+instance, why the coachman went to the places where he had seen the

+blue flames.  He then explained to me that it was commonly believed

+that on a certain night of the year, last night, in fact, when all

+evil spirits are supposed to have unchecked sway, a blue flame is seen

+over any place where treasure has been concealed.

+

+"That treasure has been hidden," he went on, "in the region through

+which you came last night, there can be but little doubt.  For it was

+the ground fought over for centuries by the Wallachian, the Saxon, and

+the Turk.  Why, there is hardly a foot of soil in all this region that

+has not been enriched by the blood of men, patriots or invaders.  In

+the old days there were stirring times, when the Austrian and the

+Hungarian came up in hordes, and the patriots went out to meet them,

+men and women, the aged and the children too, and waited their coming

+on the rocks above the passes, that they might sweep destruction on

+them with their artificial avalanches.  When the invader was

+triumphant he found but little, for whatever there was had been

+sheltered in the friendly soil."

+

+"But how," said I, "can it have remained so long undiscovered, when

+there is a sure index to it if men will but take the trouble to look?"

+The Count smiled, and as his lips ran back over his gums, the long,

+sharp, canine teeth showed out strangely.  He answered:

+

+"Because your peasant is at heart a coward and a fool!  Those flames

+only appear on one night, and on that night no man of this land will,

+if he can help it, stir without his doors.  And, dear sir, even if he

+did he would not know what to do.  Why, even the peasant that you tell

+me of who marked the place of the flame would not know where to look

+in daylight even for his own work.  Even you would not, I dare be

+sworn, be able to find these places again?"

+

+"There you are right," I said.  "I know no more than the dead where

+even to look for them."  Then we drifted into other matters.

+

+"Come," he said at last, "tell me of London and of the house which you

+have procured for me."  With an apology for my remissness, I went into

+my own room to get the papers from my bag.  Whilst I was placing them

+in order I heard a rattling of china and silver in the next room, and

+as I passed through, noticed that the table had been cleared and the

+lamp lit, for it was by this time deep into the dark.  The lamps were

+also lit in the study or library, and I found the Count lying on the

+sofa, reading, of all things in the world, an English Bradshaw's

+Guide.  When I came in he cleared the books and papers from the table,

+and with him I went into plans and deeds and figures of all sorts.  He

+was interested in everything, and asked me a myriad questions about

+the place and its surroundings.  He clearly had studied beforehand all

+he could get on the subject of the neighbourhood, for he evidently at

+the end knew very much more than I did.  When I remarked this, he

+answered.

+

+"Well, but, my friend, is it not needful that I should?  When I go

+there I shall be all alone, and my friend Harker Jonathan, nay, pardon

+me.  I fall into my country's habit of putting your patronymic first,

+my friend Jonathan Harker will not be by my side to correct and aid

+me.  He will be in Exeter, miles away, probably working at papers of

+the law with my other friend, Peter Hawkins.  So!"

+

+We went thoroughly into the business of the purchase of the estate at

+Purfleet.  When I had told him the facts and got his signature to the

+necessary papers, and had written a letter with them ready to post to

+Mr. Hawkins, he began to ask me how I had come across so suitable a

+place.  I read to him the notes which I had made at the time, and

+which I inscribe here.

+

+"At Purfleet, on a byroad, I came across just such a place as seemed

+to be required, and where was displayed a dilapidated notice that the

+place was for sale.  It was surrounded by a high wall, of ancient

+structure, built of heavy stones, and has not been repaired for a

+large number of years.  The closed gates are of heavy old oak and

+iron, all eaten with rust.

+

+"The estate is called Carfax, no doubt a corruption of the old Quatre

+Face, as the house is four sided, agreeing with the cardinal points of

+the compass.  It contains in all some twenty acres, quite surrounded

+by the solid stone wall above mentioned.  There are many trees on it,

+which make it in places gloomy, and there is a deep, dark-looking pond

+or small lake, evidently fed by some springs, as the water is clear

+and flows away in a fair-sized stream.  The house is very large and of

+all periods back, I should say, to mediaeval times, for one part is of

+stone immensely thick, with only a few windows high up and heavily

+barred with iron.  It looks like part of a keep, and is close to an

+old chapel or church.  I could not enter it, as I had not the key of

+the door leading to it from the house, but I have taken with my Kodak

+views of it from various points.  The house had been added to, but in

+a very straggling way, and I can only guess at the amount of ground it

+covers, which must be very great.  There are but few houses close at

+hand, one being a very large house only recently added to and formed

+into a private lunatic asylum.  It is not, however, visible from the

+grounds."

+

+When I had finished, he said, "I am glad that it is old and big.  I

+myself am of an old family, and to live in a new house would kill me.

+A house cannot be made habitable in a day, and after all, how few days

+go to make up a century.  I rejoice also that there is a chapel of old

+times.  We Transylvanian nobles love not to think that our bones may

+lie amongst the common dead.  I seek not gaiety nor mirth, not the

+bright voluptuousness of much sunshine and sparkling waters which

+please the young and gay.  I am no longer young, and my heart, through

+weary years of mourning over the dead, is not attuned to mirth.  Moreover,

+the walls of my castle are broken.  The shadows are many, and the wind

+breathes cold through the broken battlements and casements.  I love

+the shade and the shadow, and would be alone with my thoughts when I

+may."  Somehow his words and his look did not seem to accord, or else

+it was that his cast of face made his smile look malignant and

+saturnine.

+

+Presently, with an excuse, he left me, asking me to pull my papers

+together.  He was some little time away, and I began to look at some

+of the books around me.  One was an atlas, which I found opened

+naturally to England, as if that map had been much used.  On looking

+at it I found in certain places little rings marked, and on examining

+these I noticed that one was near London on the east side, manifestly

+where his new estate was situated.  The other two were Exeter, and

+Whitby on the Yorkshire coast.

+

+It was the better part of an hour when the Count returned.  "Aha!" he

+said.  "Still at your books?  Good!  But you must not work always.

+Come!  I am informed that your supper is ready."  He took my arm, and

+we went into the next room, where I found an excellent supper ready on

+the table.  The Count again excused himself, as he had dined out on

+his being away from home.  But he sat as on the previous night, and

+chatted whilst I ate.  After supper I smoked, as on the last evening,

+and the Count stayed with me, chatting and asking questions on every

+conceivable subject, hour after hour.  I felt that it was getting very

+late indeed, but I did not say anything, for I felt under obligation

+to meet my host's wishes in every way.  I was not sleepy, as the long

+sleep yesterday had fortified me, but I could not help experiencing

+that chill which comes over one at the coming of the dawn, which is

+like, in its way, the turn of the tide.  They say that people who are

+near death die generally at the change to dawn or at the turn of the

+tide.  Anyone who has when tired, and tied as it were to his post,

+experienced this change in the atmosphere can well believe it.  All at

+once we heard the crow of the cock coming up with preternatural

+shrillness through the clear morning air.

+

+Count Dracula, jumping to his feet, said, "Why there is the morning

+again!  How remiss I am to let you stay up so long.  You must make

+your conversation regarding my dear new country of England less

+interesting, so that I may not forget how time flies by us," and with

+a courtly bow, he quickly left me.

+

+I went into my room and drew the curtains, but there was little to

+notice.  My window opened into the courtyard, all I could see was the

+warm grey of quickening sky.  So I pulled the curtains again, and have

+written of this day.

+

+

+8 May.--I began to fear as I wrote in this book that I was getting too

+diffuse.  But now I am glad that I went into detail from the first,

+for there is something so strange about this place and all in it that

+I cannot but feel uneasy.  I wish I were safe out of it, or that I had

+never come.  It may be that this strange night existence is telling on

+me, but would that that were all!  If there were any one to talk to I

+could bear it, but there is no one.  I have only the Count to speak

+with, and he--I fear I am myself the only living soul within the

+place.  Let me be prosaic so far as facts can be.  It will help me to

+bear up, and imagination must not run riot with me.  If it does I am

+lost.  Let me say at once how I stand, or seem to.

+

+I only slept a few hours when I went to bed, and feeling that I could

+not sleep any more, got up.  I had hung my shaving glass by the

+window, and was just beginning to shave.  Suddenly I felt a hand on my

+shoulder, and heard the Count's voice saying to me, "Good morning."  I

+started, for it amazed me that I had not seen him, since the

+reflection of the glass covered the whole room behind me.  In starting

+I had cut myself slightly, but did not notice it at the moment.  Having

+answered the Count's salutation, I turned to the glass again to see

+how I had been mistaken.  This time there could be no error, for the

+man was close to me, and I could see him over my shoulder.  But there

+was no reflection of him in the mirror!  The whole room behind me was

+displayed, but there was no sign of a man in it, except myself.

+

+This was startling, and coming on the top of so many strange things,

+was beginning to increase that vague feeling of uneasiness which I

+always have when the Count is near.  But at the instant I saw that the

+cut had bled a little, and the blood was trickling over my chin.  I

+laid down the razor, turning as I did so half round to look for some

+sticking plaster.  When the Count saw my face, his eyes blazed with a

+sort of demoniac fury, and he suddenly made a grab at my throat.  I

+drew away and his hand touched the string of beads which held the

+crucifix.  It made an instant change in him, for the fury passed so

+quickly that I could hardly believe that it was ever there.

+

+"Take care," he said, "take care how you cut yourself.  It is more

+dangerous that you think in this country."  Then seizing the shaving

+glass, he went on, "And this is the wretched thing that has done the

+mischief.  It is a foul bauble of man's vanity.  Away with it!"  And

+opening the window with one wrench of his terrible hand, he flung out

+the glass, which was shattered into a thousand pieces on the stones of

+the courtyard far below.  Then he withdrew without a word.  It is very

+annoying, for I do not see how I am to shave, unless in my watch-case

+or the bottom of the shaving pot, which is fortunately of metal.

+

+When I went into the dining room, breakfast was prepared, but I could

+not find the Count anywhere.  So I breakfasted alone.  It is strange

+that as yet I have not seen the Count eat or drink.  He must be a very

+peculiar man!  After breakfast I did a little exploring in the

+castle.  I went out on the stairs, and found a room looking towards

+the South.

+

+The view was magnificent, and from where I stood there was every

+opportunity of seeing it.  The castle is on the very edge of a

+terrific precipice.  A stone falling from the window would fall a

+thousand feet without touching anything!  As far as the eye can reach

+is a sea of green tree tops, with occasionally a deep rift where there

+is a chasm.  Here and there are silver threads where the rivers wind

+in deep gorges through the forests.

+

+But I am not in heart to describe beauty, for when I had seen the view

+I explored further.  Doors, doors, doors everywhere, and all locked

+and bolted.  In no place save from the windows in the castle walls is

+there an available exit.  The castle is a veritable prison, and I am a

+prisoner!

+

+

+

+

+CHAPTER 3

+

+

+Jonathan Harker's Journal Continued

+

+When I found that I was a prisoner a sort of wild feeling came over

+me.  I rushed up and down the stairs, trying every door and peering

+out of every window I could find, but after a little the conviction of

+my helplessness overpowered all other feelings.  When I look back

+after a few hours I think I must have been mad for the time, for I

+behaved much as a rat does in a trap.  When, however, the conviction

+had come to me that I was helpless I sat down quietly, as quietly as I

+have ever done anything in my life, and began to think over what was

+best to be done.  I am thinking still, and as yet have come to no

+definite conclusion.  Of one thing only am I certain.  That it is no

+use making my ideas known to the Count.  He knows well that I am

+imprisoned, and as he has done it himself, and has doubtless his own

+motives for it, he would only deceive me if I trusted him fully with

+the facts.  So far as I can see, my only plan will be to keep my

+knowledge and my fears to myself, and my eyes open.  I am, I know,

+either being deceived, like a baby, by my own fears, or else I am in

+desperate straits, and if the latter be so, I need, and shall need,

+all my brains to get through.

+

+I had hardly come to this conclusion when I heard the great door below

+shut, and knew that the Count had returned.  He did not come at once

+into the library, so I went cautiously to my own room and found him

+making the bed.  This was odd, but only confirmed what I had all along

+thought, that there are no servants in the house.  When later I saw

+him through the chink of the hinges of the door laying the table in

+the dining room, I was assured of it.  For if he does himself all

+these menial offices, surely it is proof that there is no one else in

+the castle, it must have been the Count himself who was the driver of

+the coach that brought me here.  This is a terrible thought, for if

+so, what does it mean that he could control the wolves, as he did, by

+only holding up his hand for silence?  How was it that all the people

+at Bistritz and on the coach had some terrible fear for me?  What

+meant the giving of the crucifix, of the garlic, of the wild rose, of

+the mountain ash?

+

+Bless that good, good woman who hung the crucifix round my neck!  For

+it is a comfort and a strength to me whenever I touch it.  It is odd

+that a thing which I have been taught to regard with disfavour and as

+idolatrous should in a time of loneliness and trouble be of help.  Is

+it that there is something in the essence of the thing itself, or that

+it is a medium, a tangible help, in conveying memories of sympathy and

+comfort?  Some time, if it may be, I must examine this matter and try

+to make up my mind about it.  In the meantime I must find out all I

+can about Count Dracula, as it may help me to understand.  Tonight he

+may talk of himself, if I turn the conversation that way.  I must be

+very careful, however, not to awake his suspicion.

+

+

+Midnight.--I have had a long talk with the Count.  I asked him a few

+questions on Transylvania history, and he warmed up to the subject

+wonderfully.  In his speaking of things and people, and especially of

+battles, he spoke as if he had been present at them all.  This he

+afterwards explained by saying that to a Boyar the pride of his house

+and name is his own pride, that their glory is his glory, that their

+fate is his fate.  Whenever he spoke of his house he always said "we",

+and spoke almost in the plural, like a king speaking.  I wish I could

+put down all he said exactly as he said it, for to me it was most

+fascinating.  It seemed to have in it a whole history of the country.

+He grew excited as he spoke, and walked about the room pulling his

+great white moustache and grasping anything on which he laid his hands

+as though he would crush it by main strength.  One thing he said which

+I shall put down as nearly as I can, for it tells in its way the story

+of his race.

+

+"We Szekelys have a right to be proud, for in our veins flows the

+blood of many brave races who fought as the lion fights, for lordship.

+Here, in the whirlpool of European races, the Ugric tribe bore down

+from Iceland the fighting spirit which Thor and Wodin gave them, which

+their Berserkers displayed to such fell intent on the seaboards of

+Europe, aye, and of Asia and Africa too, till the peoples thought that

+the werewolves themselves had come.  Here, too, when they came, they

+found the Huns, whose warlike fury had swept the earth like a living

+flame, till the dying peoples held that in their veins ran the blood

+of those old witches, who, expelled from Scythia had mated with the

+devils in the desert.  Fools, fools!  What devil or what witch was

+ever so great as Attila, whose blood is in these veins?"  He held up

+his arms.  "Is it a wonder that we were a conquering race, that we

+were proud, that when the Magyar, the Lombard, the Avar, the Bulgar,

+or the Turk poured his thousands on our frontiers, we drove them back?

+Is it strange that when Arpad and his legions swept through the

+Hungarian fatherland he found us here when he reached the frontier,

+that the Honfoglalas was completed there?  And when the Hungarian

+flood swept eastward, the Szekelys were claimed as kindred by the

+victorious Magyars, and to us for centuries was trusted the guarding

+of the frontier of Turkeyland.  Aye, and more than that, endless duty

+of the frontier guard, for as the Turks say, 'water sleeps, and the

+enemy is sleepless.'  Who more gladly than we throughout the Four

+Nations received the 'bloody sword,' or at its warlike call flocked

+quicker to the standard of the King?  When was redeemed that great

+shame of my nation, the shame of Cassova, when the flags of the

+Wallach and the Magyar went down beneath the Crescent?  Who was it but

+one of my own race who as Voivode crossed the Danube and beat the Turk

+on his own ground?  This was a Dracula indeed!  Woe was it that his

+own unworthy brother, when he had fallen, sold his people to the Turk

+and brought the shame of slavery on them!  Was it not this Dracula,

+indeed, who inspired that other of his race who in a later age again

+and again brought his forces over the great river into Turkeyland,

+who, when he was beaten back, came again, and again, though he had to

+come alone from the bloody field where his troops were being

+slaughtered, since he knew that he alone could ultimately triumph!

+They said that he thought only of himself.  Bah!  What good are

+peasants without a leader?  Where ends the war without a brain and

+heart to conduct it?  Again, when, after the battle of Mohacs, we

+threw off the Hungarian yoke, we of the Dracula blood were amongst

+their leaders, for our spirit would not brook that we were not free.

+Ah, young sir, the Szekelys, and the Dracula as their heart's blood,

+their brains, and their swords, can boast a record that mushroom

+growths like the Hapsburgs and the Romanoffs can never reach.  The

+warlike days are over.  Blood is too precious a thing in these days of

+dishonourable peace, and the glories of the great races are as a tale

+that is told."

+

+It was by this time close on morning, and we went to bed.  (Mem., this

+diary seems horribly like the beginning of the "Arabian Nights," for

+everything has to break off at cockcrow, or like the ghost of Hamlet's

+father.)

+

+

+12 May.--Let me begin with facts, bare, meager facts, verified by

+books and figures, and of which there can be no doubt.  I must not

+confuse them with experiences which will have to rest on my own

+observation, or my memory of them.  Last evening when the Count came

+from his room he began by asking me questions on legal matters and on

+the doing of certain kinds of business.  I had spent the day wearily

+over books, and, simply to keep my mind occupied, went over some of

+the matters I had been examined in at Lincoln's Inn.  There was a

+certain method in the Count's inquiries, so I shall try to put them

+down in sequence.  The knowledge may somehow or some time be useful to

+me.

+

+First, he asked if a man in England might have two solicitors or more.

+I told him he might have a dozen if he wished, but that it would not

+be wise to have more than one solicitor engaged in one transaction, as

+only one could act at a time, and that to change would be certain to

+militate against his interest.  He seemed thoroughly to understand,

+and went on to ask if there would be any practical difficulty in having

+one man to attend, say, to banking, and another to look after

+shipping, in case local help were needed in a place far from the home

+of the banking solicitor.  I asked to explain more fully, so that I

+might not by any chance mislead him, so he said,

+

+"I shall illustrate.  Your friend and mine, Mr. Peter Hawkins, from

+under the shadow of your beautiful cathedral at Exeter, which is far

+from London, buys for me through your good self my place at London.

+Good!  Now here let me say frankly, lest you should think it strange

+that I have sought the services of one so far off from London instead

+of some one resident there, that my motive was that no local interest

+might be served save my wish only, and as one of London residence

+might, perhaps, have some purpose of himself or friend to serve, I

+went thus afield to seek my agent, whose labours should be only to my

+interest.  Now, suppose I, who have much of affairs, wish to ship

+goods, say, to Newcastle, or Durham, or Harwich, or Dover, might it

+not be that it could with more ease be done by consigning to one in

+these ports?"

+

+I answered that certainly it would be most easy, but that we

+solicitors had a system of agency one for the other, so that local

+work could be done locally on instruction from any solicitor, so that

+the client, simply placing himself in the hands of one man, could have

+his wishes carried out by him without further trouble.

+

+"But," said he, "I could be at liberty to direct myself.  Is it not

+so?"

+

+"Of course," I replied, and "Such is often done by men of business,

+who do not like the whole of their affairs to be known by any one

+person."

+

+"Good!" he said, and then went on to ask about the means of making

+consignments and the forms to be gone through, and of all sorts of

+difficulties which might arise, but by forethought could be guarded

+against.  I explained all these things to him to the best of my

+ability, and he certainly left me under the impression that he would

+have made a wonderful solicitor, for there was nothing that he did not

+think of or foresee.  For a man who was never in the country, and who

+did not evidently do much in the way of business, his knowledge and

+acumen were wonderful.  When he had satisfied himself on these points

+of which he had spoken, and I had verified all as well as I could by

+the books available, he suddenly stood up and said, "Have you written

+since your first letter to our friend Mr. Peter Hawkins, or to any

+other?"

+

+It was with some bitterness in my heart that I answered that I had

+not, that as yet I had not seen any opportunity of sending letters to

+anybody.

+

+"Then write now, my young friend," he said, laying a heavy hand on my

+shoulder, "write to our friend and to any other, and say, if it will

+please you, that you shall stay with me until a month from now."

+

+"Do you wish me to stay so long?" I asked, for my heart grew cold at

+the thought.

+

+"I desire it much, nay I will take no refusal.  When your master,

+employer, what you will, engaged that someone should come on his

+behalf, it was understood that my needs only were to be consulted.  I

+have not stinted.  Is it not so?"

+

+What could I do but bow acceptance?  It was Mr. Hawkins' interest, not

+mine, and I had to think of him, not myself, and besides, while Count

+Dracula was speaking, there was that in his eyes and in his bearing

+which made me remember that I was a prisoner, and that if I wished it

+I could have no choice.  The Count saw his victory in my bow, and his

+mastery in the trouble of my face, for he began at once to use them,

+but in his own smooth, resistless way.

+

+"I pray you, my good young friend, that you will not discourse of

+things other than business in your letters.  It will doubtless please

+your friends to know that you are well, and that you look forward to

+getting home to them.  Is it not so?"  As he spoke he handed me three

+sheets of note paper and three envelopes.  They were all of the

+thinnest foreign post, and looking at them, then at him, and noticing

+his quiet smile, with the sharp, canine teeth lying over the red

+underlip, I understood as well as if he had spoken that I should be

+more careful what I wrote, for he would be able to read it.  So I

+determined to write only formal notes now, but to write fully to Mr.

+Hawkins in secret, and also to Mina, for to her I could write

+shorthand, which would puzzle the Count, if he did see it.  When I had

+written my two letters I sat quiet, reading a book whilst the Count

+wrote several notes, referring as he wrote them to some books on his

+table.  Then he took up my two and placed them with his own, and put

+by his writing materials, after which, the instant the door had closed

+behind him, I leaned over and looked at the letters, which were face

+down on the table.  I felt no compunction in doing so for under the

+circumstances I felt that I should protect myself in every way I

+could.

+

+One of the letters was directed to Samuel F. Billington, No. 7, The

+Crescent, Whitby, another to Herr Leutner, Varna.  The third was to

+Coutts & Co., London, and the fourth to Herren Klopstock & Billreuth,

+bankers, Buda Pesth.  The second and fourth were unsealed.  I was just

+about to look at them when I saw the door handle move.  I sank back in

+my seat, having just had time to resume my book before the Count,

+holding still another letter in his hand, entered the room.  He took

+up the letters on the table and stamped them carefully, and then

+turning to me, said,

+

+"I trust you will forgive me, but I have much work to do in private

+this evening.  You will, I hope, find all things as you wish."  At the

+door he turned, and after a moment's pause said, "Let me advise you,

+my dear young friend.  Nay, let me warn you with all seriousness, that

+should you leave these rooms you will not by any chance go to sleep in

+any other part of the castle.  It is old, and has many memories, and

+there are bad dreams for those who sleep unwisely.  Be warned!  Should

+sleep now or ever overcome you, or be like to do, then haste to your

+own chamber or to these rooms, for your rest will then be safe.  But

+if you be not careful in this respect, then," He finished his speech

+in a gruesome way, for he motioned with his hands as if he were washing

+them.  I quite understood.  My only doubt was as to whether any dream

+could be more terrible than the unnatural, horrible net of gloom and

+mystery which seemed closing around me.

+

+

+Later.--I endorse the last words written, but this time there is no

+doubt in question.  I shall not fear to sleep in any place where he is

+not.  I have placed the crucifix over the head of my bed, I imagine

+that my rest is thus freer from dreams, and there it shall remain.

+

+When he left me I went to my room.  After a little while, not hearing

+any sound, I came out and went up the stone stair to where I could

+look out towards the South.  There was some sense of freedom in the

+vast expanse, inaccessible though it was to me, as compared with the

+narrow darkness of the courtyard.  Looking out on this, I felt that I

+was indeed in prison, and I seemed to want a breath of fresh air,

+though it were of the night.  I am beginning to feel this nocturnal

+existence tell on me.  It is destroying my nerve.  I start at my own

+shadow, and am full of all sorts of horrible imaginings.  God knows

+that there is ground for my terrible fear in this accursed place!  I

+looked out over the beautiful expanse, bathed in soft yellow moonlight

+till it was almost as light as day.  In the soft light the distant

+hills became melted, and the shadows in the valleys and gorges of

+velvety blackness.  The mere beauty seemed to cheer me.  There was

+peace and comfort in every breath I drew.  As I leaned from the window

+my eye was caught by something moving a storey below me, and somewhat

+to my left, where I imagined, from the order of the rooms, that the

+windows of the Count's own room would look out.  The window at which I

+stood was tall and deep, stone-mullioned, and though weatherworn, was

+still complete.  But it was evidently many a day since the case had

+been there.  I drew back behind the stonework, and looked carefully

+out.

+

+What I saw was the Count's head coming out from the window.  I did not

+see the face, but I knew the man by the neck and the movement of his

+back and arms.  In any case I could not mistake the hands which I had

+had some many opportunities of studying.  I was at first interested

+and somewhat amused, for it is wonderful how small a matter will

+interest and amuse a man when he is a prisoner.  But my very feelings

+changed to repulsion and terror when I saw the whole man slowly emerge

+from the window and begin to crawl down the castle wall over the

+dreadful abyss, face down with his cloak spreading out around him like

+great wings.  At first I could not believe my eyes.  I thought it was

+some trick of the moonlight, some weird effect of shadow, but I kept

+looking, and it could be no delusion.  I saw the fingers and toes

+grasp the corners of the stones, worn clear of the mortar by the

+stress of years, and by thus using every projection and inequality

+move downwards with considerable speed, just as a lizard moves along a

+wall.

+

+What manner of man is this, or what manner of creature, is it in the

+semblance of man?  I feel the dread of this horrible place

+overpowering me.  I am in fear, in awful fear, and there is no escape

+for me.  I am encompassed about with terrors that I dare not think of.

+

+

+15 May.--Once more I have seen the count go out in his lizard fashion.

+He moved downwards in a sidelong way, some hundred feet down, and a

+good deal to the left.  He vanished into some hole or window.  When

+his head had disappeared, I leaned out to try and see more, but

+without avail.  The distance was too great to allow a proper angle of

+sight.  I knew he had left the castle now, and thought to use the

+opportunity to explore more than I had dared to do as yet.  I went

+back to the room, and taking a lamp, tried all the doors.  They were

+all locked, as I had expected, and the locks were comparatively new.

+But I went down the stone stairs to the hall where I had entered

+originally.  I found I could pull back the bolts easily enough and

+unhook the great chains.  But the door was locked, and the key was

+gone!  That key must be in the Count's room.  I must watch should his

+door be unlocked, so that I may get it and escape.  I went on to make

+a thorough examination of the various stairs and passages, and to try

+the doors that opened from them.  One or two small rooms near the hall

+were open, but there was nothing to see in them except old furniture,

+dusty with age and moth-eaten.  At last, however, I found one door at

+the top of the stairway which, though it seemed locked, gave a little

+under pressure.  I tried it harder, and found that it was not really

+locked, but that the resistance came from the fact that the hinges had

+fallen somewhat, and the heavy door rested on the floor.  Here was an

+opportunity which I might not have again, so I exerted myself, and

+with many efforts forced it back so that I could enter.  I was now in

+a wing of the castle further to the right than the rooms I knew and a

+storey lower down.  From the windows I could see that the suite of

+rooms lay along to the south of the castle, the windows of the end

+room looking out both west and south.  On the latter side, as well as

+to the former, there was a great precipice.  The castle was built on

+the corner of a great rock, so that on three sides it was quite

+impregnable, and great windows were placed here where sling, or bow,

+or culverin could not reach, and consequently light and comfort,

+impossible to a position which had to be guarded, were secured.  To

+the west was a great valley, and then, rising far away, great jagged

+mountain fastnesses, rising peak on peak, the sheer rock studded with

+mountain ash and thorn, whose roots clung in cracks and crevices and

+crannies of the stone.  This was evidently the portion of the castle

+occupied by the ladies in bygone days, for the furniture had more an

+air of comfort than any I had seen.

+

+The windows were curtainless, and the yellow moonlight, flooding in

+through the diamond panes, enabled one to see even colours, whilst it

+softened the wealth of dust which lay over all and disguised in some

+measure the ravages of time and moth.  My lamp seemed to be of little

+effect in the brilliant moonlight, but I was glad to have it with me,

+for there was a dread loneliness in the place which chilled my heart

+and made my nerves tremble.  Still, it was better than living alone in

+the rooms which I had come to hate from the presence of the Count, and

+after trying a little to school my nerves, I found a soft quietude

+come over me.  Here I am, sitting at a little oak table where in old

+times possibly some fair lady sat to pen, with much thought and many

+blushes, her ill-spelt love letter, and writing in my diary in

+shorthand all that has happened since I closed it last.  It is the

+nineteenth century up-to-date with a vengeance.  And yet, unless my

+senses deceive me, the old centuries had, and have, powers of their

+own which mere "modernity" cannot kill.

+

+

+Later:  The morning of 16 May.--God preserve my sanity, for to this I

+am reduced.  Safety and the assurance of safety are things of the

+past.  Whilst I live on here there is but one thing to hope for, that

+I may not go mad, if, indeed, I be not mad already.  If I be sane,

+then surely it is maddening to think that of all the foul things that

+lurk in this hateful place the Count is the least dreadful to me, that

+to him alone I can look for safety, even though this be only whilst I

+can serve his purpose.  Great God!  Merciful God, let me be calm, for

+out of that way lies madness indeed.  I begin to get new lights on

+certain things which have puzzled me.  Up to now I never quite knew

+what Shakespeare meant when he made Hamlet say, "My tablets!  Quick,

+my tablets!  'tis meet that I put it down," etc., For now, feeling as

+though my own brain were unhinged or as if the shock had come which

+must end in its undoing, I turn to my diary for repose.  The habit of

+entering accurately must help to soothe me.

+

+The Count's mysterious warning frightened me at the time.  It frightens

+me more not when I think of it, for in the future he has a fearful

+hold upon me.  I shall fear to doubt what he may say!

+

+When I had written in my diary and had fortunately replaced the book

+and pen in my pocket I felt sleepy.  The Count's warning came into my

+mind, but I took pleasure in disobeying it.  The sense of sleep was

+upon me, and with it the obstinacy which sleep brings as outrider.  The

+soft moonlight soothed, and the wide expanse without gave a sense of

+freedom which refreshed me.  I determined not to return tonight to the

+gloom-haunted rooms, but to sleep here, where, of old, ladies had sat

+and sung and lived sweet lives whilst their gentle breasts were sad

+for their menfolk away in the midst of remorseless wars.  I drew a

+great couch out of its place near the corner, so that as I lay, I

+could look at the lovely view to east and south, and unthinking of and

+uncaring for the dust, composed myself for sleep.  I suppose I must

+have fallen asleep.  I hope so, but I fear, for all that followed was

+startlingly real, so real that now sitting here in the broad, full

+sunlight of the morning, I cannot in the least believe that it was all

+sleep.

+

+I was not alone.  The room was the same, unchanged in any way since I

+came into it.  I could see along the floor, in the brilliant

+moonlight, my own footsteps marked where I had disturbed the long

+accumulation of dust.  In the moonlight opposite me were three young

+women, ladies by their dress and manner.  I thought at the time that I

+must be dreaming when I saw them, they threw no shadow on the floor.

+They came close to me, and looked at me for some time, and then

+whispered together.  Two were dark, and had high aquiline noses, like

+the Count, and great dark, piercing eyes, that seemed to be almost red

+when contrasted with the pale yellow moon.  The other was fair, as

+fair as can be, with great masses of golden hair and eyes like pale

+sapphires.  I seemed somehow to know her face, and to know it in

+connection with some dreamy fear, but I could not recollect at the

+moment how or where.  All three had brilliant white teeth that shone

+like pearls against the ruby of their voluptuous lips.  There was

+something about them that made me uneasy, some longing and at the same

+time some deadly fear.  I felt in my heart a wicked, burning desire

+that they would kiss me with those red lips.  It is not good to note

+this down, lest some day it should meet Mina's eyes and cause her

+pain, but it is the truth.  They whispered together, and then they all

+three laughed, such a silvery, musical laugh, but as hard as though

+the sound never could have come through the softness of human lips.

+It was like the intolerable, tingling sweetness of waterglasses when

+played on by a cunning hand.  The fair girl shook her head

+coquettishly, and the other two urged her on.

+

+One said, "Go on!  You are first, and we shall follow.  Yours is the

+right to begin."

+

+The other added, "He is young and strong.  There are kisses for us

+all."

+

+I lay quiet, looking out from under my eyelashes in an agony of

+delightful anticipation.  The fair girl advanced and bent over me till

+I could feel the movement of her breath upon me.  Sweet it was in one

+sense, honey-sweet, and sent the same tingling through the nerves as

+her voice, but with a bitter underlying the sweet, a bitter

+offensiveness, as one smells in blood.

+

+I was afraid to raise my eyelids, but looked out and saw perfectly

+under the lashes.  The girl went on her knees, and bent over me,

+simply gloating.  There was a deliberate voluptuousness which was both

+thrilling and repulsive, and as she arched her neck she actually

+licked her lips like an animal, till I could see in the moonlight the

+moisture shining on the scarlet lips and on the red tongue as it

+lapped the white sharp teeth.  Lower and lower went her head as the

+lips went below the range of my mouth and chin and seemed to fasten on

+my throat.  Then she paused, and I could hear the churning sound of

+her tongue as it licked her teeth and lips, and I could feel the hot

+breath on my neck.  Then the skin of my throat began to tingle as

+one's flesh does when the hand that is to tickle it approaches nearer,

+nearer.  I could feel the soft, shivering touch of the lips on the

+super sensitive skin of my throat, and the hard dents of two sharp

+teeth, just touching and pausing there.  I closed my eyes in

+languorous ecstasy and waited, waited with beating heart.

+

+But at that instant, another sensation swept through me as quick as

+lightning.  I was conscious of the presence of the Count, and of his

+being as if lapped in a storm of fury.  As my eyes opened

+involuntarily I saw his strong hand grasp the slender neck of the fair

+woman and with giant's power draw it back, the blue eyes transformed

+with fury, the white teeth champing with rage, and the fair cheeks

+blazing red with passion.  But the Count!  Never did I imagine such

+wrath and fury, even to the demons of the pit.  His eyes were

+positively blazing.  The red light in them was lurid, as if the flames

+of hell fire blazed behind them.  His face was deathly pale, and the

+lines of it were hard like drawn wires.  The thick eyebrows that met

+over the nose now seemed like a heaving bar of white-hot metal.  With

+a fierce sweep of his arm, he hurled the woman from him, and then

+motioned to the others, as though he were beating them back.  It was

+the same imperious gesture that I had seen used to the wolves.  In a

+voice which, though low and almost in a whisper seemed to cut through

+the air and then ring in the room he said,

+

+"How dare you touch him, any of you?  How dare you cast eyes on him

+when I had forbidden it?  Back, I tell you all!  This man belongs to

+me!  Beware how you meddle with him, or you'll have to deal with me."

+

+The fair girl, with a laugh of ribald coquetry, turned to answer him.

+"You yourself never loved.  You never love!"  On this the other women

+joined, and such a mirthless, hard, soulless laughter rang through the

+room that it almost made me faint to hear.  It seemed like the

+pleasure of fiends.

+

+Then the Count turned, after looking at my face attentively, and said

+in a soft whisper, "Yes, I too can love.  You yourselves can tell it

+from the past.  Is it not so?  Well, now I promise you that when I am

+done with him you shall kiss him at your will.  Now go!  Go!  I must

+awaken him, for there is work to be done."

+

+"Are we to have nothing tonight?" said one of them, with a low laugh,

+as she pointed to the bag which he had thrown upon the floor, and

+which moved as though there were some living thing within it.  For

+answer he nodded his head.  One of the women jumped forward and opened

+it.  If my ears did not deceive me there was a gasp and a low wail, as

+of a half smothered child.  The women closed round, whilst I was

+aghast with horror.  But as I looked, they disappeared, and with them

+the dreadful bag.  There was no door near them, and they could not

+have passed me without my noticing.  They simply seemed to fade into

+the rays of the moonlight and pass out through the window, for I could

+see outside the dim, shadowy forms for a moment before they entirely

+faded away.

+

+Then the horror overcame me, and I sank down unconscious.

+

+

+

+

+CHAPTER 4

+

+

+Jonathan Harker's Journal Continued

+

+I awoke in my own bed.  If it be that I had not dreamt, the Count must

+have carried me here.  I tried to satisfy myself on the subject, but

+could not arrive at any unquestionable result.  To be sure, there were

+certain small evidences, such as that my clothes were folded and laid

+by in a manner which was not my habit.  My watch was still unwound,

+and I am rigorously accustomed to wind it the last thing before going

+to bed, and many such details.  But these things are no proof, for

+they may have been evidences that my mind was not as usual, and, for

+some cause or another, I had certainly been much upset.  I must watch

+for proof.  Of one thing I am glad.  If it was that the Count carried

+me here and undressed me, he must have been hurried in his task, for

+my pockets are intact.  I am sure this diary would have been a mystery

+to him which he would not have brooked.  He would have taken or

+destroyed it.  As I look round this room, although it has been to me

+so full of fear, it is now a sort of sanctuary, for nothing can be

+more dreadful than those awful women, who were, who are, waiting to

+suck my blood.

+

+

+18 May.--I have been down to look at that room again in daylight, for

+I must know the truth.  When I got to the doorway at the top of the

+stairs I found it closed.  It had been so forcibly driven against the

+jamb that part of the woodwork was splintered.  I could see that the

+bolt of the lock had not been shot, but the door is fastened from the

+inside.  I fear it was no dream, and must act on this surmise.

+

+

+19 May.--I am surely in the toils.  Last night the Count asked me in

+the suavest tones to write three letters, one saying that my work here

+was nearly done, and that I should start for home within a few days,

+another that I was starting on the next morning from the time of the

+letter, and the third that I had left the castle and arrived at

+Bistritz.  I would fain have rebelled, but felt that in the present

+state of things it would be madness to quarrel openly with the Count

+whilst I am so absolutely in his power.  And to refuse would be to

+excite his suspicion and to arouse his anger.  He knows that I know

+too much, and that I must not live, lest I be dangerous to him.  My

+only chance is to prolong my opportunities.  Something may occur which

+will give me a chance to escape.  I saw in his eyes something of that

+gathering wrath which was manifest when he hurled that fair woman from

+him.  He explained to me that posts were few and uncertain, and that

+my writing now would ensure ease of mind to my friends.  And he

+assured me with so much impressiveness that he would countermand the

+later letters, which would be held over at Bistritz until due time in

+case chance would admit of my prolonging my stay, that to oppose him

+would have been to create new suspicion.  I therefore pretended to

+fall in with his views, and asked him what dates I should put on the

+letters.

+

+He calculated a minute, and then said, "The first should be June 12,

+the second June 19, and the third June 29."

+

+I know now the span of my life.  God help me!

+

+

+28 May.--There is a chance of escape, or at any rate of being able to

+send word home.  A band of Szgany have come to the castle, and are

+encamped in the courtyard.  These are gipsies.  I have notes of them

+in my book.  They are peculiar to this part of the world, though

+allied to the ordinary gipsies all the world over.  There are

+thousands of them in Hungary and Transylvania, who are almost outside

+all law.  They attach themselves as a rule to some great noble or

+boyar, and call themselves by his name.  They are fearless and without

+religion, save superstition, and they talk only their own varieties of

+the Romany tongue.

+

+I shall write some letters home, and shall try to get them to have

+them posted.  I have already spoken to them through my window to begin

+acquaintanceship.  They took their hats off and made obeisance and

+many signs, which however, I could not understand any more than I

+could their spoken language . . .

+

+I have written the letters.  Mina's is in shorthand, and I simply ask

+Mr. Hawkins to communicate with her.  To her I have explained my

+situation, but without the horrors which I may only surmise.  It would

+shock and frighten her to death were I to expose my heart to her.

+Should the letters not carry, then the Count shall not yet know my

+secret or the extent of my knowledge. . . .

+

+

+I have given the letters.  I threw them through the bars of my window

+with a gold piece, and made what signs I could to have them posted.

+The man who took them pressed them to his heart and bowed, and then

+put them in his cap.  I could do no more.  I stole back to the study,

+and began to read.  As the Count did not come in, I have written

+here . . .

+

+

+The Count has come.  He sat down beside me, and said in his smoothest

+voice as he opened two letters, "The Szgany has given me these, of

+which, though I know not whence they come, I shall, of course, take

+care.  See!"--He must have looked at it.--"One is from you, and to my

+friend Peter Hawkins.  The other,"--here he caught sight of the

+strange symbols as he opened the envelope, and the dark look came into

+his face, and his eyes blazed wickedly,--"The other is a vile thing,

+an outrage upon friendship and hospitality!  It is not signed.  Well!

+So it cannot matter to us."  And he calmly held letter and envelope in

+the flame of the lamp till they were consumed.

+

+Then he went on, "The letter to Hawkins, that I shall, of course send

+on, since it is yours.  Your letters are sacred to me.  Your pardon,

+my friend, that unknowingly I did break the seal.  Will you not cover

+it again?"  He held out the letter to me, and with a courteous bow

+handed me a clean envelope.

+

+I could only redirect it and hand it to him in silence.  When he went

+out of the room I could hear the key turn softly.  A minute later I

+went over and tried it, and the door was locked.

+

+When, an hour or two after, the Count came quietly into the room, his

+coming awakened me, for I had gone to sleep on the sofa.  He was very

+courteous and very cheery in his manner, and seeing that I had been

+sleeping, he said, "So, my friend, you are tired?  Get to bed.  There

+is the surest rest.  I may not have the pleasure of talk tonight,

+since there are many labours to me, but you will sleep, I pray."

+

+I passed to my room and went to bed, and, strange to say, slept

+without dreaming.  Despair has its own calms.

+

+31 May.--This morning when I woke I thought I would provide myself

+with some papers and envelopes from my bag and keep them in my pocket,

+so that I might write in case I should get an opportunity, but again a

+surprise, again a shock!

+

+Every scrap of paper was gone, and with it all my notes, my memoranda,

+relating to railways and travel, my letter of credit, in fact all that

+might be useful to me were I once outside the castle.  I sat and

+pondered awhile, and then some thought occurred to me, and I made

+search of my portmanteau and in the wardrobe where I had placed my

+clothes.

+

+The suit in which I had travelled was gone, and also my overcoat and

+rug.  I could find no trace of them anywhere.  This looked like some

+new scheme of villainy . . .

+

+

+17 June.--This morning, as I was sitting on the edge of my bed

+cudgelling my brains, I heard without a crackling of whips and

+pounding and scraping of horses' feet up the rocky path beyond the

+courtyard.  With joy I hurried to the window, and saw drive into the

+yard two great leiter-wagons, each drawn by eight sturdy horses, and

+at the head of each pair a Slovak, with his wide hat, great

+nail-studded belt, dirty sheepskin, and high boots.  They had also

+their long staves in hand.  I ran to the door, intending to descend

+and try and join them through the main hall, as I thought that way

+might be opened for them.  Again a shock, my door was fastened on the

+outside.

+

+Then I ran to the window and cried to them.  They looked up at me

+stupidly and pointed, but just then the "hetman" of the Szgany came

+out, and seeing them pointing to my window, said something, at which

+they laughed.

+

+Henceforth no effort of mine, no piteous cry or agonized entreaty,

+would make them even look at me.  They resolutely turned away.  The

+leiter-wagons contained great, square boxes, with handles of thick

+rope.  These were evidently empty by the ease with which the Slovaks

+handled them, and by their resonance as they were roughly moved.

+

+When they were all unloaded and packed in a great heap in one corner

+of the yard, the Slovaks were given some money by the Szgany, and

+spitting on it for luck, lazily went each to his horse's head.

+Shortly afterwards, I heard the crackling of their whips die away in

+the distance.

+

+

+24 June.--Last night the Count left me early, and locked himself into

+his own room.  As soon as I dared I ran up the winding stair, and

+looked out of the window, which opened South.  I thought I would watch

+for the Count, for there is something going on.  The Szgany are

+quartered somewhere in the castle and are doing work of some kind.  I

+know it, for now and then, I hear a far-away muffled sound as of

+mattock and spade, and, whatever it is, it must be the end of some

+ruthless villainy.

+

+I had been at the window somewhat less than half an hour, when I saw

+something coming out of the Count's window.  I drew back and watched

+carefully, and saw the whole man emerge.  It was a new shock to me to

+find that he had on the suit of clothes which I had worn whilst

+travelling here, and slung over his shoulder the terrible bag which I

+had seen the women take away.  There could be no doubt as to his

+quest, and in my garb, too!  This, then, is his new scheme of evil,

+that he will allow others to see me, as they think, so that he may

+both leave evidence that I have been seen in the towns or villages

+posting my own letters, and that any wickedness which he may do shall

+by the local people be attributed to me.

+

+It makes me rage to think that this can go on, and whilst I am shut up

+here, a veritable prisoner, but without that protection of the law

+which is even a criminal's right and consolation.

+

+I thought I would watch for the Count's return, and for a long time

+sat doggedly at the window.  Then I began to notice that there were

+some quaint little specks floating in the rays of the moonlight.  They

+were like the tiniest grains of dust, and they whirled round and

+gathered in clusters in a nebulous sort of way.  I watched them with a

+sense of soothing, and a sort of calm stole over me.  I leaned back in

+the embrasure in a more comfortable position, so that I could enjoy

+more fully the aerial gambolling.

+

+Something made me start up, a low, piteous howling of dogs somewhere

+far below in the valley, which was hidden from my sight.  Louder it

+seemed to ring in my ears, and the floating moats of dust to take new

+shapes to the sound as they danced in the moonlight.  I felt myself

+struggling to awake to some call of my instincts.  Nay, my very soul

+was struggling, and my half-remembered sensibilities were striving to

+answer the call.  I was becoming hypnotised!

+

+Quicker and quicker danced the dust.  The moonbeams seemed to quiver

+as they went by me into the mass of gloom beyond.  More and more they

+gathered till they seemed to take dim phantom shapes.  And then I

+started, broad awake and in full possession of my senses, and ran

+screaming from the place.

+

+The phantom shapes, which were becoming gradually materialised from

+the moonbeams, were those three ghostly women to whom I was doomed.

+

+I fled, and felt somewhat safer in my own room, where there was no

+moonlight, and where the lamp was burning brightly.

+

+When a couple of hours had passed I heard something stirring in the

+Count's room, something like a sharp wail quickly suppressed.  And

+then there was silence, deep, awful silence, which chilled me.  With a

+beating heart, I tried the door, but I was locked in my prison, and

+could do nothing.  I sat down and simply cried.

+

+As I sat I heard a sound in the courtyard without, the agonised cry of

+a woman.  I rushed to the window, and throwing it up, peered between

+the bars.

+

+There, indeed, was a woman with dishevelled hair, holding her hands

+over her heart as one distressed with running.  She was leaning

+against the corner of the gateway.  When she saw my face at the window

+she threw herself forward, and shouted in a voice laden with menace,

+"Monster, give me my child!"

+

+She threw herself on her knees, and raising up her hands, cried the

+same words in tones which wrung my heart.  Then she tore her hair and

+beat her breast, and abandoned herself to all the violences of

+extravagant emotion.  Finally, she threw herself forward, and though I

+could not see her, I could hear the beating of her naked hands against

+the door.

+

+Somewhere high overhead, probably on the tower, I heard the voice of

+the Count calling in his harsh, metallic whisper.  His call seemed to

+be answered from far and wide by the howling of wolves.  Before many

+minutes had passed a pack of them poured, like a pent-up dam when

+liberated, through the wide entrance into the courtyard.

+

+There was no cry from the woman, and the howling of the wolves was but

+short.  Before long they streamed away singly, licking their lips.

+

+I could not pity her, for I knew now what had become of her child, and

+she was better dead.

+

+What shall I do?  What can I do?  How can I escape from this dreadful

+thing of night, gloom, and fear?

+

+

+25 June.--No man knows till he has suffered from the night how sweet

+and dear to his heart and eye the morning can be.  When the sun grew

+so high this morning that it struck the top of the great gateway

+opposite my window, the high spot which it touched seemed to me as if

+the dove from the ark had lighted there.  My fear fell from me as if

+it had been a vaporous garment which dissolved in the warmth.

+

+I must take action of some sort whilst the courage of the day is upon

+me.  Last night one of my post-dated letters went to post, the first

+of that fatal series which is to blot out the very traces of my

+existence from the earth.

+

+Let me not think of it.  Action!

+

+It has always been at night-time that I have been molested or

+threatened, or in some way in danger or in fear.  I have not yet seen

+the Count in the daylight.  Can it be that he sleeps when others wake,

+that he may be awake whilst they sleep?  If I could only get into his

+room!  But there is no possible way.  The door is always locked, no

+way for me.

+

+Yes, there is a way, if one dares to take it.  Where his body has gone

+why may not another body go?  I have seen him myself crawl from his

+window.  Why should not I imitate him, and go in by his window?  The

+chances are desperate, but my need is more desperate still.  I shall

+risk it.  At the worst it can only be death, and a man's death is not

+a calf's, and the dreaded Hereafter may still be open to me.  God help

+me in my task!  Goodbye, Mina, if I fail.  Goodbye, my faithful friend

+and second father.  Goodbye, all, and last of all Mina!

+

+

+Same day, later.--I have made the effort, and God helping me, have

+come safely back to this room.  I must put down every detail in order.

+I went whilst my courage was fresh straight to the window on the south

+side, and at once got outside on this side.  The stones are big and

+roughly cut, and the mortar has by process of time been washed away

+between them.  I took off my boots, and ventured out on the desperate

+way.  I looked down once, so as to make sure that a sudden glimpse of

+the awful depth would not overcome me, but after that kept my eyes

+away from it.  I know pretty well the direction and distance of the

+Count's window, and made for it as well as I could, having regard to

+the opportunities available.  I did not feel dizzy, I suppose I was

+too excited, and the time seemed ridiculously short till I found

+myself standing on the window sill and trying to raise up the sash.  I

+was filled with agitation, however, when I bent down and slid feet

+foremost in through the window.  Then I looked around for the Count,

+but with surprise and gladness, made a discovery.  The room was

+empty!  It was barely furnished with odd things, which seemed to have

+never been used.

+

+The furniture was something the same style as that in the south rooms,

+and was covered with dust.  I looked for the key, but it was not in

+the lock, and I could not find it anywhere.  The only thing I found

+was a great heap of gold in one corner, gold of all kinds, Roman, and

+British, and Austrian, and Hungarian, and Greek and Turkish money,

+covered with a film of dust, as though it had lain long in the ground.

+None of it that I noticed was less than three hundred years old.

+There were also chains and ornaments, some jewelled, but all of them

+old and stained.

+

+At one corner of the room was a heavy door.  I tried it, for, since I

+could not find the key of the room or the key of the outer door, which

+was the main object of my search, I must make further examination, or

+all my efforts would be in vain.  It was open, and led through a stone

+passage to a circular stairway, which went steeply down.

+

+I descended, minding carefully where I went for the stairs were dark,

+being only lit by loopholes in the heavy masonry.  At the bottom there

+was a dark, tunnel-like passage, through which came a deathly, sickly

+odour, the odour of old earth newly turned.  As I went through the

+passage the smell grew closer and heavier.  At last I pulled open a

+heavy door which stood ajar, and found myself in an old ruined chapel,

+which had evidently been used as a graveyard.  The roof was broken,

+and in two places were steps leading to vaults, but the ground had

+recently been dug over, and the earth placed in great wooden boxes,

+manifestly those which had been brought by the Slovaks.

+

+There was nobody about, and I made a search over every inch of the

+ground, so as not to lose a chance.  I went down even into the vaults,

+where the dim light struggled, although to do so was a dread to my

+very soul.  Into two of these I went, but saw nothing except fragments

+of old coffins and piles of dust.  In the third, however, I made a

+discovery.

+

+There, in one of the great boxes, of which there were fifty in all, on

+a pile of newly dug earth, lay the Count!  He was either dead or

+asleep.  I could not say which, for eyes were open and stony, but

+without the glassiness of death, and the cheeks had the warmth of life

+through all their pallor.  The lips were as red as ever.  But there

+was no sign of movement, no pulse, no breath, no beating of the heart.

+

+I bent over him, and tried to find any sign of life, but in vain.  He

+could not have lain there long, for the earthy smell would have passed

+away in a few hours.  By the side of the box was its cover, pierced

+with holes here and there.  I thought he might have the keys on him,

+but when I went to search I saw the dead eyes, and in them dead though

+they were, such a look of hate, though unconscious of me or my

+presence, that I fled from the place, and leaving the Count's room by

+the window, crawled again up the castle wall.  Regaining my room, I

+threw myself panting upon the bed and tried to think.

+

+

+29 June.--Today is the date of my last letter, and the Count has taken

+steps to prove that it was genuine, for again I saw him leave the

+castle by the same window, and in my clothes.  As he went down the

+wall, lizard fashion, I wished I had a gun or some lethal weapon, that

+I might destroy him.  But I fear that no weapon wrought along by man's

+hand would have any effect on him.  I dared not wait to see him

+return, for I feared to see those weird sisters.  I came back to the

+library, and read there till I fell asleep.

+

+I was awakened by the Count, who looked at me as grimly as a man could

+look as he said, "Tomorrow, my friend, we must part.  You return to

+your beautiful England, I to some work which may have such an end that

+we may never meet.  Your letter home has been despatched.  Tomorrow I

+shall not be here, but all shall be ready for your journey.  In the

+morning come the Szgany, who have some labours of their own here, and

+also come some Slovaks.  When they have gone, my carriage shall come

+for you, and shall bear you to the Borgo Pass to meet the diligence

+from Bukovina to Bistritz.  But I am in hopes that I shall see more of

+you at Castle Dracula."

+

+I suspected him, and determined to test his sincerity.  Sincerity!  It

+seems like a profanation of the word to write it in connection with

+such a monster, so I asked him point-blank, "Why may I not go

+tonight?"

+

+"Because, dear sir, my coachman and horses are away on a mission."

+

+"But I would walk with pleasure.  I want to get away at once."

+

+He smiled, such a soft, smooth, diabolical smile that I knew there was

+some trick behind his smoothness.  He said, "And your baggage?"

+

+"I do not care about it.  I can send for it some other time."

+

+The Count stood up, and said, with a sweet courtesy which made me rub

+my eyes, it seemed so real, "You English have a saying which is close

+to my heart, for its spirit is that which rules our boyars, 'Welcome

+the coming, speed the parting guest.'  Come with me, my dear young

+friend.  Not an hour shall you wait in my house against your will,

+though sad am I at your going, and that you so suddenly desire it.

+Come!"  With a stately gravity, he, with the lamp, preceded me down

+the stairs and along the hall.  Suddenly he stopped.  "Hark!"

+

+Close at hand came the howling of many wolves.  It was almost as if

+the sound sprang up at the rising of his hand, just as the music of a

+great orchestra seems to leap under the baton of the conductor.  After

+a pause of a moment, he proceeded, in his stately way, to the door,

+drew back the ponderous bolts, unhooked the heavy chains, and began to

+draw it open.

+

+To my intense astonishment I saw that it was unlocked.  Suspiciously,

+I looked all round, but could see no key of any kind.

+

+As the door began to open, the howling of the wolves without grew

+louder and angrier.  Their red jaws, with champing teeth, and their

+blunt-clawed feet as they leaped, came in through the opening door.  I

+knew than that to struggle at the moment against the Count was

+useless.  With such allies as these at his command, I could do

+nothing.

+

+But still the door continued slowly to open, and only the Count's body

+stood in the gap.  Suddenly it struck me that this might be the moment

+and means of my doom.  I was to be given to the wolves, and at my own

+instigation.  There was a diabolical wickedness in the idea great

+enough for the Count, and as the last chance I cried out, "Shut the

+door!  I shall wait till morning."  And I covered my face with my

+hands to hide my tears of bitter disappointment.

+

+With one sweep of his powerful arm, the Count threw the door shut, and

+the great bolts clanged and echoed through the hall as they shot back

+into their places.

+

+In silence we returned to the library, and after a minute or two I went

+to my own room.  The last I saw of Count Dracula was his kissing his

+hand to me, with a red light of triumph in his eyes, and with a smile

+that Judas in hell might be proud of.

+

+When I was in my room and about to lie down, I thought I heard a

+whispering at my door.  I went to it softly and listened.  Unless my

+ears deceived me, I heard the voice of the Count.

+

+"Back!  Back to your own place!  Your time is not yet come.  Wait!

+Have patience!  Tonight is mine.  Tomorrow night is yours!"

+

+There was a low, sweet ripple of laughter, and in a rage I threw open

+the door, and saw without the three terrible women licking their lips.

+As I appeared, they all joined in a horrible laugh, and ran away.

+

+I came back to my room and threw myself on my knees.  It is then so

+near the end?  Tomorrow!  Tomorrow!  Lord, help me, and those to whom

+I am dear!

+

+

+30 June.--These may be the last words I ever write in this diary.  I

+slept till just before the dawn, and when I woke threw myself on my

+knees, for I determined that if Death came he should find me ready.

+

+At last I felt that subtle change in the air, and knew that the

+morning had come.  Then came the welcome cockcrow, and I felt that I

+was safe.  With a glad heart, I opened the door and ran down the hall.

+I had seen that the door was unlocked, and now escape was before me.

+With hands that trembled with eagerness, I unhooked the chains and

+threw back the massive bolts.

+

+But the door would not move.  Despair seized me.  I pulled and pulled

+at the door, and shook it till, massive as it was, it rattled in its

+casement.  I could see the bolt shot.  It had been locked after I left

+the Count.

+

+Then a wild desire took me to obtain the key at any risk, and I

+determined then and there to scale the wall again, and gain the

+Count's room.  He might kill me, but death now seemed the happier

+choice of evils.  Without a pause I rushed up to the east window, and

+scrambled down the wall, as before, into the Count's room.  It was

+empty, but that was as I expected.  I could not see a key anywhere,

+but the heap of gold remained.  I went through the door in the corner

+and down the winding stair and along the dark passage to the old

+chapel.  I knew now well enough where to find the monster I sought.

+

+The great box was in the same place, close against the wall, but the

+lid was laid on it, not fastened down, but with the nails ready in

+their places to be hammered home.

+

+I knew I must reach the body for the key, so I raised the lid, and

+laid it back against the wall.  And then I saw something which filled

+my very soul with horror.  There lay the Count, but looking as if his

+youth had been half restored.  For the white hair and moustache were

+changed to dark iron-grey.  The cheeks were fuller, and the white skin

+seemed ruby-red underneath.  The mouth was redder than ever, for on

+the lips were gouts of fresh blood, which trickled from the corners of

+the mouth and ran down over the chin and neck.  Even the deep, burning

+eyes seemed set amongst swollen flesh, for the lids and pouches

+underneath were bloated.  It seemed as if the whole awful creature

+were simply gorged with blood.  He lay like a filthy leech, exhausted

+with his repletion.

+

+I shuddered as I bent over to touch him, and every sense in me

+revolted at the contact, but I had to search, or I was lost.  The

+coming night might see my own body a banquet in a similar war to those

+horrid three.  I felt all over the body, but no sign could I find of

+the key.  Then I stopped and looked at the Count.  There was a mocking

+smile on the bloated face which seemed to drive me mad.  This was the

+being I was helping to transfer to London, where, perhaps, for

+centuries to come he might, amongst its teeming millions, satiate his

+lust for blood, and create a new and ever-widening circle of

+semi-demons to batten on the helpless.

+

+The very thought drove me mad.  A terrible desire came upon me to rid

+the world of such a monster.  There was no lethal weapon at hand, but

+I seized a shovel which the workmen had been using to fill the cases,

+and lifting it high, struck, with the edge downward, at the hateful

+face.  But as I did so the head turned, and the eyes fell upon me,

+with all their blaze of basilisk horror.  The sight seemed to paralyze

+me, and the shovel turned in my hand and glanced from the face, merely

+making a deep gash above the forehead.  The shovel fell from my hand

+across the box, and as I pulled it away the flange of the blade caught

+the edge of the lid which fell over again, and hid the horrid thing

+from my sight.  The last glimpse I had was of the bloated face,

+blood-stained and fixed with a grin of malice which would have held

+its own in the nethermost hell.

+

+I thought and thought what should be my next move, but my brain seemed

+on fire, and I waited with a despairing feeling growing over me.  As I

+waited I heard in the distance a gipsy song sung by merry voices

+coming closer, and through their song the rolling of heavy wheels and

+the cracking of whips.  The Szgany and the Slovaks of whom the Count

+had spoken were coming.  With a last look around and at the box which

+contained the vile body, I ran from the place and gained the Count's

+room, determined to rush out at the moment the door should be opened.

+With strained ears, I listened, and heard downstairs the grinding of

+the key in the great lock and the falling back of the heavy door.

+There must have been some other means of entry, or some one had a key

+for one of the locked doors.

+

+Then there came the sound of many feet tramping and dying away in some

+passage which sent up a clanging echo.  I turned to run down again

+towards the vault, where I might find the new entrance, but at the

+moment there seemed to come a violent puff of wind, and the door to

+the winding stair blew to with a shock that set the dust from the

+lintels flying.  When I ran to push it open, I found that it was

+hopelessly fast.  I was again a prisoner, and the net of doom was

+closing round me more closely.

+

+As I write there is in the passage below a sound of many tramping feet

+and the crash of weights being set down heavily, doubtless the boxes,

+with their freight of earth.  There was a sound of hammering.  It is

+the box being nailed down.  Now I can hear the heavy feet tramping

+again along the hall, with many other idle feet coming behind them.

+

+The door is shut, the chains rattle.  There is a grinding of the key

+in the lock.  I can hear the key withdrawn, then another door opens

+and shuts.  I hear the creaking of lock and bolt.

+

+Hark!  In the courtyard and down the rocky way the roll of heavy

+wheels, the crack of whips, and the chorus of the Szgany as they pass

+into the distance.

+

+I am alone in the castle with those horrible women.  Faugh!  Mina is a

+woman, and there is nought in common.  They are devils of the Pit!

+

+I shall not remain alone with them.  I shall try to scale the castle

+wall farther than I have yet attempted.  I shall take some of the gold

+with me, lest I want it later.  I may find a way from this dreadful

+place.

+

+And then away for home!  Away to the quickest and nearest train!  Away

+from the cursed spot, from this cursed land, where the devil and his

+children still walk with earthly feet!

+

+At least God's mercy is better than that of those monsters, and the

+precipice is steep and high.  At its foot a man may sleep, as a man.

+Goodbye, all.  Mina!

+

+

+

+

+CHAPTER 5

+

+

+LETTER FROM MISS MINA MURRAY TO MISS LUCY WESTENRA

+

+9 May.

+

+My dearest Lucy,

+

+Forgive my long delay in writing, but I have been simply overwhelmed

+with work.  The life of an assistant schoolmistress is sometimes

+trying.  I am longing to be with you, and by the sea, where we can

+talk together freely and build our castles in the air.  I have been

+working very hard lately, because I want to keep up with Jonathan's

+studies, and I have been practicing shorthand very assiduously.

+When we are married I shall be able to be useful to Jonathan, and if

+I can stenograph well enough I can take down what he wants to say in

+this way and write it out for him on the typewriter, at which also I

+am practicing very hard.

+

+He and I sometimes write letters in shorthand, and he is

+keeping a stenographic journal of his travels abroad.  When

+I am with you I shall keep a diary in the same way.  I don't

+mean one of those two-pages-to-the-week-with-Sunday-squeezed-

+in-a-corner diaries, but a sort of journal which I can write

+in whenever I feel inclined.

+

+I do not suppose there will be much of interest to other people, but

+it is not intended for them.  I may show it to Jonathan some day if

+there is in it anything worth sharing, but it is really an exercise

+book.  I shall try to do what I see lady journalists do,

+interviewing and writing descriptions and trying to remember

+conversations.  I am told that, with a little practice, one can

+remember all that goes on or that one hears said during a day.

+

+However, we shall see.  I will tell you of my little plans when we

+meet.  I have just had a few hurried lines from Jonathan from

+Transylvania.  He is well, and will be returning in about a week.  I

+am longing to hear all his news.  It must be nice to see strange

+countries.  I wonder if we, I mean Jonathan and I, shall ever see

+them together.  There is the ten o'clock bell ringing.  Goodbye.

+

+Your loving

+

+Mina

+

+

+Tell me all the news when you write.  You have not told me

+anything for a long time.  I hear rumours, and especially

+of a tall, handsome, curly-haired man???

+

+

+

+LETTER, LUCY WESTENRA TO MINA MURRAY

+

+

+17, Chatham Street

+

+Wednesday

+

+My dearest Mina,

+

+

+I must say you tax me very unfairly with being a bad correspondent.

+I wrote you twice since we parted, and your last letter was only

+your second.  Besides, I have nothing to tell you.  There is really

+nothing to interest you.

+

+Town is very pleasant just now, and we go a great deal to

+picture-galleries and for walks and rides in the park.  As

+to the tall, curly-haired man, I suppose it was the one who

+was with me at the last Pop.  Someone has evidently been

+telling tales.

+

+That was Mr. Holmwood.  He often comes to see us, and he and

+Mamma get on very well together, they have so many things

+to talk about in common.

+

+We met some time ago a man that would just do for you, if you were

+not already engaged to Jonathan.  He is an excellent parti, being

+handsome, well off, and of good birth.  He is a doctor and really

+clever.  Just fancy!  He is only nine-and twenty, and he has an

+immense lunatic asylum all under his own care.  Mr. Holmwood

+introduced him to me, and he called here to see us, and often comes

+now.  I think he is one of the most resolute men I ever saw, and yet

+the most calm.  He seems absolutely imperturbable.  I can fancy what

+a wonderful power he must have over his patients.  He has a curious

+habit of looking one straight in the face, as if trying to read

+one's thoughts.  He tries this on very much with me, but I flatter

+myself he has got a tough nut to crack.  I know that from my glass.

+

+Do you ever try to read your own face?  I do, and I can

+tell you it is not a bad study, and gives you more trouble

+than you can well fancy if you have never tried it.

+

+He says that I afford him a curious psychological study, and

+I humbly think I do.  I do not, as you know, take sufficient

+interest in dress to be able to describe the new fashions.

+Dress is a bore.  That is slang again, but never mind.  Arthur

+says that every day.

+

+There, it is all out, Mina, we have told all our secrets to

+each other since we were children.  We have slept together

+and eaten together, and laughed and cried together, and

+now, though I have spoken, I would like to speak more.  Oh,

+Mina, couldn't you guess?  I love him.  I am blushing as I

+write, for although I think he loves me, he has not told me

+so in words.  But, oh, Mina, I love him.  I love him!  There,

+that does me good.

+

+I wish I were with you, dear, sitting by the fire undressing, as we

+used to sit, and I would try to tell you what I feel.  I do not know

+how I am writing this even to you.  I am afraid to stop, or I should

+tear up the letter, and I don't want to stop, for I do so want to

+tell you all. Let me hear from you at once, and tell me all that you

+think about it.  Mina, pray for my happiness.

+

+Lucy

+

+

+P.S.--I need not tell you this is a secret.

+Goodnight again.  L.

+

+

+

+

+LETTER, LUCY WESTENRA TO MINA MURRAY

+

+24 May

+

+My dearest Mina,

+

+Thanks, and thanks, and thanks again for your sweet letter.  It

+was so nice to be able to tell you and to have your sympathy.

+

+My dear, it never rains but it pours.  How true the old proverbs

+are.  Here am I, who shall be twenty in September, and yet I never

+had a proposal till today, not a real proposal, and today I had

+three.  Just fancy!  Three proposals in one day!  Isn't it awful!  I

+feel sorry, really and truly sorry, for two of the poor fellows.

+Oh, Mina, I am so happy that I don't know what to do with myself.

+And three proposals!  But, for goodness' sake, don't tell any of the

+girls, or they would be getting all sorts of extravagant ideas, and

+imagining themselves injured and slighted if in their very first day

+at home they did not get six at least.  Some girls are so vain!  You

+and I, Mina dear, who are engaged and are going to settle down soon

+soberly into old married women, can despise vanity.  Well, I must

+tell you about the three, but you must keep it a secret, dear, from

+every one except, of course, Jonathan.  You will tell him, because I

+would, if I were in your place, certainly tell Arthur.  A woman

+ought to tell her husband everything.  Don't you think so, dear?  And

+I must be fair.  Men like women, certainly their wives, to be quite

+as fair as they are.  And women, I am afraid, are not always quite

+as fair as they should be.

+

+Well, my dear, number One came just before lunch.  I told you of

+him, Dr. John Seward, the lunatic asylum man, with the strong jaw

+and the good forehead.  He was very cool outwardly, but was nervous

+all the same.  He had evidently been schooling himself as to all

+sorts of little things, and remembered them, but he almost managed

+to sit down on his silk hat, which men don't generally do when they

+are cool, and then when he wanted to appear at ease he kept playing

+with a lancet in a way that made me nearly scream.  He spoke to me,

+Mina, very straightforwardly.  He told me how dear I was to him,

+though he had known me so little, and what his life would be with me

+to help and cheer him.  He was going to tell me how unhappy he would

+be if I did not care for him, but when he saw me cry he said he was

+a brute and would not add to my present trouble.  Then he broke off

+and asked if I could love him in time, and when I shook my head his

+hands trembled, and then with some hesitation he asked me if I cared

+already for any one else.  He put it very nicely, saying that he did

+not want to wring my confidence from me, but only to know, because

+if a woman's heart was free a man might have hope.  And then, Mina,

+I felt a sort of duty to tell him that there was some one.  I only

+told him that much, and then he stood up, and he looked very strong

+and very grave as he took both my hands in his and said he hoped I

+would be happy, and that If I ever wanted a friend I must count him

+one of my best.

+

+Oh, Mina dear, I can't help crying, and you must excuse this letter

+being all blotted.  Being proposed to is all very nice and all that

+sort of thing, but it isn't at all a happy thing when you have to

+see a poor fellow, whom you know loves you honestly, going away and

+looking all broken hearted, and to know that, no matter what he may

+say at the moment, you are passing out of his life.  My dear, I must

+stop here at present, I feel so miserable, though I am so happy.

+

+Evening.

+

+Arthur has just gone, and I feel in better spirits than when I

+left off, so I can go on telling you about the day.

+

+Well, my dear, number Two came after lunch.  He is such a nice

+fellow, an American from Texas, and he looks so young and so fresh

+that it seems almost impossible that he has been to so many places

+and has such adventures.  I sympathize with poor Desdemona when she

+had such a stream poured in her ear, even by a black man.  I suppose

+that we women are such cowards that we think a man will save us from

+fears, and we marry him.  I know now what I would do if I were a man

+and wanted to make a girl love me.  No, I don't, for there was Mr.

+Morris telling us his stories, and Arthur never told any, and

+yet . . .

+

+My dear, I am somewhat previous.  Mr. Quincy P. Morris found me

+alone.  It seems that a man always does find a girl alone.  No, he

+doesn't, for Arthur tried twice to make a chance, and I helping him

+all I could, I am not ashamed to say it now.  I must tell you

+beforehand that Mr. Morris doesn't always speak slang, that is to

+say, he never does so to strangers or before them, for he is really

+well educated and has exquisite manners, but he found out that it

+amused me to hear him talk American slang, and whenever I was

+present, and there was no one to be shocked, he said such funny

+things.  I am afraid, my dear, he has to invent it all, for it fits

+exactly into whatever else he has to say.  But this is a way slang

+has.  I do not know myself if I shall ever speak slang.  I do not

+know if Arthur likes it, as I have never heard him use any as yet.

+

+Well, Mr. Morris sat down beside me and looked as happy and jolly as

+he could, but I could see all the same that he was very nervous.  He

+took my hand in his, and said ever so sweetly . . .

+

+"Miss Lucy, I know I ain't good enough to regulate the fixin's of

+your little shoes, but I guess if you wait till you find a man that

+is you will go join them seven young women with the lamps when you

+quit.  Won't you just hitch up alongside of me and let us go down

+the long road together, driving in double harness?"

+

+Well, he did look so good humoured and so jolly that it didn't seem

+half so hard to refuse him as it did poor Dr. Seward.  So I said, as

+lightly as I could, that I did not know anything of hitching, and

+that I wasn't broken to harness at all yet.  Then he said that he

+had spoken in a light manner, and he hoped that if he had made a

+mistake in doing so on so grave, so momentous, and occasion for him,

+I would forgive him.  He really did look serious when he was saying

+it, and I couldn't help feeling a sort of exultation that he was

+number Two in one day.  And then, my dear, before I could say a word

+he began pouring out a perfect torrent of love-making, laying his

+very heart and soul at my feet.  He looked so earnest over it that I

+shall never again think that a man must be playful always, and never

+earnest, because he is merry at times.  I suppose he saw something

+in my face which checked him, for he suddenly stopped, and said with

+a sort of manly fervour that I could have loved him for if I had

+been free . . .

+

+"Lucy, you are an honest hearted girl, I know.  I should not be here

+speaking to you as I am now if I did not believe you clean grit,

+right through to the very depths of your soul.  Tell me, like one

+good fellow to another, is there any one else that you care for?

+And if there is I'll never trouble you a hair's breadth again, but

+will be, if you will let me, a very faithful friend."

+

+My dear Mina, why are men so noble when we women are so little

+worthy of them?  Here was I almost making fun of this great hearted,

+true gentleman.  I burst into tears, I am afraid, my dear, you will

+think this a very sloppy letter in more ways than one, and I really

+felt very badly.

+

+Why can't they let a girl marry three men, or as many as

+want her, and save all this trouble?  But this is heresy,

+and I must not say it.  I am glad to say that, though I was

+crying, I was able to look into Mr. Morris' brave eyes, and

+I told him out straight . . .

+

+"Yes, there is some one I love, though he has not told me

+yet that he even loves me."  I was right to speak to him so

+frankly, for quite a light came into his face, and he put

+out both his hands and took mine, I think I put them into

+his, and said in a hearty way . . .

+

+"That's my brave girl.  It's better worth being late for a chance of

+winning you than being in time for any other girl in the world.

+Don't cry, my dear.  If it's for me, I'm a hard nut to crack, and I

+take it standing up.  If that other fellow doesn't know his

+happiness, well, he'd better look for it soon, or he'll have to deal

+with me.  Little girl, your honesty and pluck have made me a friend,

+and that's rarer than a lover, it's more selfish anyhow.  My dear,

+I'm going to have a pretty lonely walk between this and Kingdom

+Come.  Won't you give me one kiss?  It'll be something to keep off

+the darkness now and then.  You can, you know, if you like, for that

+other good fellow, or you could not love him, hasn't spoken yet."

+

+That quite won me, Mina, for it was brave and sweet of him,

+and noble too, to a rival, wasn't it?  And he so sad, so I

+leant over and kissed him.

+

+He stood up with my two hands in his, and as he looked down into my

+face, I am afraid I was blushing very much, he said, "Little girl, I

+hold your hand, and you've kissed me, and if these things don't make

+us friends nothing ever will.  Thank you for your sweet honesty to

+me, and goodbye."

+

+He wrung my hand, and taking up his hat, went straight out of the

+room without looking back, without a tear or a quiver or a pause,

+and I am crying like a baby.

+

+Oh, why must a man like that be made unhappy when there are lots of

+girls about who would worship the very ground he trod on?  I know I

+would if I were free, only I don't want to be free.  My dear, this

+quite upset me, and I feel I cannot write of happiness just at once,

+after telling you of it, and I don't wish to tell of the number

+Three until it can be all happy.  Ever your loving . . .

+

+Lucy

+

+

+P.S.--Oh, about number Three, I needn't tell you of number

+Three, need I?  Besides, it was all so confused.  It seemed

+only a moment from his coming into the room till both his

+arms were round me, and he was kissing me.  I am very, very

+happy, and I don't know what I have done to deserve it.  I

+must only try in the future to show that I am not ungrateful

+to God for all His goodness to me in sending to me such a

+lover, such a husband, and such a friend.

+

+Goodbye.

+

+

+

+DR. SEWARD'S DIARY (Kept in phonograph)

+

+25 May.--Ebb tide in appetite today.  Cannot eat, cannot rest, so

+diary instead.  Since my rebuff of yesterday I have a sort of empty

+feeling.  Nothing in the world seems of sufficient importance to be

+worth the doing.  As I knew that the only cure for this sort of thing

+was work, I went amongst the patients.  I picked out one who has

+afforded me a study of much interest.  He is so quaint that I am

+determined to understand him as well as I can.  Today I seemed to get

+nearer than ever before to the heart of his mystery.

+

+I questioned him more fully than I had ever done, with a view to

+making myself master of the facts of his hallucination.  In my manner

+of doing it there was, I now see, something of cruelty.  I seemed to

+wish to keep him to the point of his madness, a thing which I avoid

+with the patients as I would the mouth of hell.

+

+(Mem., Under what circumstances would I not avoid the pit of hell?)

+Omnia Romae venalia sunt.  Hell has its price!  If there be anything

+behind this instinct it will be valuable to trace it afterwards

+accurately, so I had better commence to do so, therefore . . .

+

+R. M, Renfield, age 59.  Sanguine temperament, great physical

+strength, morbidly excitable, periods of gloom, ending in some fixed

+idea which I cannot make out.  I presume that the sanguine temperament

+itself and the disturbing influence end in a mentally-accomplished

+finish, a possibly dangerous man, probably dangerous if unselfish.  In

+selfish men caution is as secure an armour for their foes as for

+themselves.  What I think of on this point is, when self is the fixed

+point the centripetal force is balanced with the centrifugal.  When

+duty, a cause, etc., is the fixed point, the latter force is

+paramount, and only accident or a series of accidents can balance it.

+

+

+

+LETTER, QUINCEY P. MORRIS TO HON.  ARTHUR HOLMOOD

+

+25 May.

+

+My dear Art,

+

+We've told yarns by the campfire in the prairies, and dressed one

+another's wounds after trying a landing at the Marquesas, and drunk

+healths on the shore of Titicaca.  There are more yarns to be told,

+and other wounds to be healed, and another health to be drunk.

+Won't you let this be at my campfire tomorrow night?  I have no

+hesitation in asking you, as I know a certain lady is engaged to a

+certain dinner party, and that you are free.  There will only be one

+other, our old pal at the Korea, Jack Seward.  He's coming, too, and

+we both want to mingle our weeps over the wine cup, and to drink a

+health with all our hearts to the happiest man in all the wide

+world, who has won the noblest heart that God has made and best

+worth winning.  We promise you a hearty welcome, and a loving

+greeting, and a health as true as your own right hand.  We shall

+both swear to leave you at home if you drink too deep to a certain

+pair of eyes.  Come!

+

+Yours, as ever and always,

+

+Quincey P. Morris

+

+

+

+

+

+TELEGRAM FROM ARTHUR HOLMWOOD TO QUINCEY P. MORRIS

+

+26 May

+

+

+Count me in every time.  I bear messages which will make both

+your ears tingle.

+

+Art

+

+

+

+

+CHAPTER 6

+

+

+MINA MURRAY'S JOURNAL

+

+24 July.  Whitby.--Lucy met me at the station, looking sweeter and

+lovelier than ever, and we drove up to the house at the Crescent in

+which they have rooms.  This is a lovely place.  The little river, the

+Esk, runs through a deep valley, which broadens out as it comes near

+the harbour.  A great viaduct runs across, with high piers, through

+which the view seems somehow further away than it really is.  The

+valley is beautifully green, and it is so steep that when you are on

+the high land on either side you look right across it, unless you are

+near enough to see down.  The houses of the old town--the side away

+from us, are all red-roofed, and seem piled up one over the other

+anyhow, like the pictures we see of Nuremberg.  Right over the town is

+the ruin of Whitby Abbey, which was sacked by the Danes, and which is

+the scene of part of "Marmion," where the girl was built up in the

+wall.  It is a most noble ruin, of immense size, and full of beautiful

+and romantic bits.  There is a legend that a white lady is seen in one

+of the windows.  Between it and the town there is another church, the

+parish one, round which is a big graveyard, all full of tombstones.

+This is to my mind the nicest spot in Whitby, for it lies right over

+the town, and has a full view of the harbour and all up the bay to

+where the headland called Kettleness stretches out into the sea.  It

+descends so steeply over the harbour that part of the bank has fallen

+away, and some of the graves have been destroyed.

+

+In one place part of the stonework of the graves stretches out over

+the sandy pathway far below.  There are walks, with seats beside them,

+through the churchyard, and people go and sit there all day long

+looking at the beautiful view and enjoying the breeze.

+

+I shall come and sit here often myself and work.  Indeed, I am writing

+now, with my book on my knee, and listening to the talk of three old

+men who are sitting beside me.  They seem to do nothing all day but

+sit here and talk.

+

+The harbour lies below me, with, on the far side, one long granite

+wall stretching out into the sea, with a curve outwards at the end of

+it, in the middle of which is a lighthouse.  A heavy seawall runs

+along outside of it.  On the near side, the seawall makes an elbow

+crooked inversely, and its end too has a lighthouse.  Between the two

+piers there is a narrow opening into the harbour, which then suddenly

+widens.

+

+It is nice at high water, but when the tide is out it shoals away to

+nothing, and there is merely the stream of the Esk, running between

+banks of sand, with rocks here and there.  Outside the harbour on this

+side there rises for about half a mile a great reef, the sharp of

+which runs straight out from behind the south lighthouse.  At the end

+of it is a buoy with a bell, which swings in bad weather, and sends in

+a mournful sound on the wind.

+

+They have a legend here that when a ship is lost bells are heard out at

+sea.  I must ask the old man about this.  He is coming this way . . .

+

+He is a funny old man.  He must be awfully old, for his face is

+gnarled and twisted like the bark of a tree.  He tells me that he is

+nearly a hundred, and that he was a sailor in the Greenland fishing

+fleet when Waterloo was fought.  He is, I am afraid, a very sceptical

+person, for when I asked him about the bells at sea and the White Lady

+at the abbey he said very brusquely,

+

+"I wouldn't fash masel' about them, miss.  Them things be all wore

+out.  Mind, I don't say that they never was, but I do say that they

+wasn't in my time.  They be all very well for comers and trippers, an'

+the like, but not for a nice young lady like you.  Them feet-folks

+from York and Leeds that be always eatin' cured herrin's and drinkin'

+tea an' lookin' out to buy cheap jet would creed aught.  I wonder

+masel' who'd be bothered tellin' lies to them, even the newspapers,

+which is full of fool-talk."

+

+I thought he would be a good person to learn interesting things from,

+so I asked him if he would mind telling me something about the whale

+fishing in the old days.  He was just settling himself to begin when

+the clock struck six, whereupon he laboured to get up, and said,

+

+"I must gang ageeanwards home now, miss.  My grand-daughter doesn't

+like to be kept waitin' when the tea is ready, for it takes me time to

+crammle aboon the grees, for there be a many of 'em, and miss, I lack

+belly-timber sairly by the clock."

+

+He hobbled away, and I could see him hurrying, as well as he could,

+down the steps.  The steps are a great feature on the place.  They

+lead from the town to the church, there are hundreds of them, I do not

+know how many, and they wind up in a delicate curve.  The slope is so

+gentle that a horse could easily walk up and down them.

+

+I think they must originally have had something to do with the abbey.

+I shall go home too.  Lucy went out, visiting with her mother, and as

+they were only duty calls, I did not go.

+

+

+1 August.--I came up here an hour ago with Lucy, and we had a most

+interesting talk with my old friend and the two others who always come

+and join him.  He is evidently the Sir Oracle of them, and I should

+think must have been in his time a most dictatorial person.

+

+He will not admit anything, and down faces everybody.  If he can't

+out-argue them he bullies them, and then takes their silence for

+agreement with his views.

+

+Lucy was looking sweetly pretty in her white lawn frock.  She has got

+a beautiful colour since she has been here.

+

+I noticed that the old men did not lose any time in coming and sitting

+near her when we sat down.  She is so sweet with old people, I think

+they all fell in love with her on the spot.  Even my old man succumbed

+and did not contradict her, but gave me double share instead.  I got

+him on the subject of the legends, and he went off at once into a sort

+of sermon.  I must try to remember it and put it down.

+

+"It be all fool-talk, lock, stock, and barrel, that's what it be and

+nowt else.  These bans an' wafts an' boh-ghosts an' bar-guests an'

+bogles an' all anent them is only fit to set bairns an' dizzy women

+a'belderin'.  They be nowt but air-blebs.  They, an' all grims an' signs

+an' warnin's, be all invented by parsons an' illsome berk-bodies an'

+railway touters to skeer an' scunner hafflin's, an' to get folks to do

+somethin' that they don't other incline to.  It makes me ireful to

+think o' them.  Why, it's them that, not content with printin' lies on

+paper an' preachin' them out of pulpits, does want to be cuttin' them

+on the tombstones.  Look here all around you in what airt ye will.  All

+them steans, holdin' up their heads as well as they can out of their

+pride, is acant, simply tumblin' down with the weight o' the lies

+wrote on them, 'Here lies the body' or 'Sacred to the memory' wrote on

+all of them, an' yet in nigh half of them there bean't no bodies at

+all, an' the memories of them bean't cared a pinch of snuff about,

+much less sacred.  Lies all of them, nothin' but lies of one kind or

+another!  My gog, but it'll be a quare scowderment at the Day of

+Judgment when they come tumblin' up in their death-sarks, all jouped

+together an' trying' to drag their tombsteans with them to prove how

+good they was, some of them trimmlin' an' dithering, with their hands

+that dozzened an' slippery from lyin' in the sea that they can't even

+keep their gurp o' them."

+

+I could see from the old fellow's self-satisfied air and the way in

+which he looked round for the approval of his cronies that he was

+"showing off," so I put in a word to keep him going.

+

+"Oh, Mr. Swales, you can't be serious.  Surely these tombstones are

+not all wrong?"

+

+"Yabblins!  There may be a poorish few not wrong, savin' where they

+make out the people too good, for there be folk that do think a

+balm-bowl be like the sea, if only it be their own.  The whole thing

+be only lies.  Now look you here.  You come here a stranger, an' you

+see this kirkgarth."

+

+I nodded, for I thought it better to assent, though I did not quite

+understand his dialect.  I knew it had something to do with the

+church.

+

+He went on, "And you consate that all these steans be aboon folk that

+be haped here, snod an' snog?"  I assented again.  "Then that be just

+where the lie comes in.  Why, there be scores of these laybeds that be

+toom as old Dun's 'baccabox on Friday night."

+

+He nudged one of his companions, and they all laughed.  "And, my gog!

+How could they be otherwise?  Look at that one, the aftest abaft the

+bier-bank, read it!"

+

+I went over and read, "Edward Spencelagh, master mariner, murdered by

+pirates off the coast of Andres, April, 1854, age 30."  When I came

+back Mr. Swales went on,

+

+"Who brought him home, I wonder, to hap him here?  Murdered off the

+coast of Andres!  An' you consated his body lay under!  Why, I could

+name ye a dozen whose bones lie in the Greenland seas above," he

+pointed northwards, "or where the currants may have drifted them.

+There be the steans around ye.  Ye can, with your young eyes, read the

+small print of the lies from here.  This Braithwaite Lowery, I knew

+his father, lost in the Lively off Greenland in '20, or Andrew

+Woodhouse, drowned in the same seas in 1777, or John Paxton, drowned

+off Cape Farewell a year later, or old John Rawlings, whose

+grandfather sailed with me, drowned in the Gulf of Finland in '50.  Do

+ye think that all these men will have to make a rush to Whitby when

+the trumpet sounds?  I have me antherums aboot it!  I tell ye that

+when they got here they'd be jommlin' and jostlin' one another that

+way that it 'ud be like a fight up on the ice in the old days, when

+we'd be at one another from daylight to dark, an' tryin' to tie up our

+cuts by the aurora borealis."  This was evidently local pleasantry, for

+the old man cackled over it, and his cronies joined in with gusto.

+

+"But," I said, "surely you are not quite correct, for you start on the

+assumption that all the poor people, or their spirits, will have to

+take their tombstones with them on the Day of Judgment.  Do you think

+that will be really necessary?"

+

+"Well, what else be they tombstones for?  Answer me that, miss!"

+

+"To please their relatives, I suppose."

+

+"To please their relatives, you suppose!"  This he said with intense

+scorn.  "How will it pleasure their relatives to know that lies is

+wrote over them, and that everybody in the place knows that they be

+lies?"

+

+He pointed to a stone at our feet which had been laid down as a slab,

+on which the seat was rested, close to the edge of the cliff.  "Read

+the lies on that thruff-stone," he said.

+

+The letters were upside down to me from where I sat, but Lucy was more

+opposite to them, so she leant over and read, "Sacred to the memory of

+George Canon, who died, in the hope of a glorious resurrection, on

+July 29, 1873, falling from the rocks at Kettleness.  This tomb was

+erected by his sorrowing mother to her dearly beloved son.  'He was the

+only son of his mother, and she was a widow.'  Really, Mr. Swales, I

+don't see anything very funny in that!"  She spoke her comment very

+gravely and somewhat severely.

+

+"Ye don't see aught funny!  Ha-ha!  But that's because ye don't gawm

+the sorrowin' mother was a hell-cat that hated him because he was

+acrewk'd, a regular lamiter he was, an' he hated her so that he

+committed suicide in order that she mightn't get an insurance she put

+on his life.  He blew nigh the top of his head off with an old musket

+that they had for scarin' crows with.  'Twarn't for crows then, for it

+brought the clegs and the dowps to him.  That's the way he fell off

+the rocks.  And, as to hopes of a glorious resurrection, I've often

+heard him say masel' that he hoped he'd go to hell, for his mother was

+so pious that she'd be sure to go to heaven, an' he didn't want to

+addle where she was.  Now isn't that stean at any rate," he hammered

+it with his stick as he spoke, "a pack of lies?  And won't it make

+Gabriel keckle when Geordie comes pantin' ut the grees with the

+tompstean balanced on his hump, and asks to be took as evidence!"

+

+I did not know what to say, but Lucy turned the conversation as she

+said, rising up, "Oh, why did you tell us of this?  It is my favourite

+seat, and I cannot leave it, and now I find I must go on sitting over

+the grave of a suicide."

+

+"That won't harm ye, my pretty, an' it may make poor Geordie gladsome

+to have so trim a lass sittin' on his lap.  That won't hurt ye.  Why,

+I've sat here off an' on for nigh twenty years past, an' it hasn't

+done me no harm.  Don't ye fash about them as lies under ye, or that

+doesn' lie there either!  It'll be time for ye to be getting scart

+when ye see the tombsteans all run away with, and the place as bare as

+a stubble-field.  There's the clock, and I must gang.  My service to

+ye, ladies!"  And off he hobbled.

+

+Lucy and I sat awhile, and it was all so beautiful before us that we

+took hands as we sat, and she told me all over again about Arthur and

+their coming marriage.  That made me just a little heart-sick, for I

+haven't heard from Jonathan for a whole month.

+

+

+The same day.  I came up here alone, for I am very sad.  There was no

+letter for me.  I hope there cannot be anything the matter with

+Jonathan.  The clock has just struck nine.  I see the lights scattered

+all over the town, sometimes in rows where the streets are, and

+sometimes singly.  They run right up the Esk and die away in the curve

+of the valley.  To my left the view is cut off by a black line of roof

+of the old house next to the abbey.  The sheep and lambs are bleating

+in the fields away behind me, and there is a clatter of donkeys' hoofs

+up the paved road below.  The band on the pier is playing a harsh

+waltz in good time, and further along the quay there is a Salvation

+Army meeting in a back street.  Neither of the bands hears the other,

+but up here I hear and see them both.  I wonder where Jonathan is and

+if he is thinking of me!  I wish he were here.

+

+

+

+DR. SEWARD'S DIARY

+

+5 June.--The case of Renfield grows more interesting the more I get to

+understand the man.  He has certain qualities very largely developed,

+selfishness, secrecy, and purpose.

+

+I wish I could get at what is the object of the latter.  He seems to

+have some settled scheme of his own, but what it is I do not know.

+His redeeming quality is a love of animals, though, indeed, he has

+such curious turns in it that I sometimes imagine he is only

+abnormally cruel.  His pets are of odd sorts.

+

+Just now his hobby is catching flies.  He has at present such a

+quantity that I have had myself to expostulate.  To my astonishment,

+he did not break out into a fury, as I expected, but took the matter

+in simple seriousness.  He thought for a moment, and then said, "May I

+have three days?  I shall clear them away."  Of course, I said that

+would do.  I must watch him.

+

+

+18 June.--He has turned his mind now to spiders, and has got several

+very big fellows in a box.  He keeps feeding them his flies, and the

+number of the latter is becoming sensibly diminished, although he has

+used half his food in attracting more flies from outside to his room.

+

+

+1 July.--His spiders are now becoming as great a nuisance as his

+flies, and today I told him that he must get rid of them.

+

+He looked very sad at this, so I said that he must some of them, at

+all events.  He cheerfully acquiesced in this, and I gave him the same

+time as before for reduction.

+

+He disgusted me much while with him, for when a horrid blowfly,

+bloated with some carrion food, buzzed into the room, he caught it,

+held it exultantly for a few moments between his finger and thumb, and

+before I knew what he was going to do, put it in his mouth and ate it.

+

+I scolded him for it, but he argued quietly that it was very good and

+very wholesome, that it was life, strong life, and gave life to him.

+This gave me an idea, or the rudiment of one.  I must watch how he

+gets rid of his spiders.

+

+He has evidently some deep problem in his mind, for he keeps a little

+notebook in which he is always jotting down something.  Whole pages of

+it are filled with masses of figures, generally single numbers added

+up in batches, and then the totals added in batches again, as though

+he were focussing some account, as the auditors put it.

+

+

+8 July.--There is a method in his madness, and the rudimentary idea in

+my mind is growing.  It will be a whole idea soon, and then, oh,

+unconscious cerebration, you will have to give the wall to your

+conscious brother.

+

+I kept away from my friend for a few days, so that I might notice if

+there were any change.  Things remain as they were except that he has

+parted with some of his pets and got a new one.

+

+He has managed to get a sparrow, and has already partially tamed it.

+His means of taming is simple, for already the spiders have

+diminished.  Those that do remain, however, are well fed, for he still

+brings in the flies by tempting them with his food.

+

+19 July--We are progressing.  My friend has now a whole colony of

+sparrows, and his flies and spiders are almost obliterated.  When I

+came in he ran to me and said he wanted to ask me a great favour, a

+very, very great favour.  And as he spoke, he fawned on me like a dog.

+

+I asked him what it was, and he said, with a sort of rapture in his

+voice and bearing, "A kitten, a nice, little, sleek playful kitten,

+that I can play with, and teach, and feed, and feed, and feed!"

+

+I was not unprepared for this request, for I had noticed how his pets

+went on increasing in size and vivacity, but I did not care that his

+pretty family of tame sparrows should be wiped out in the same manner

+as the flies and spiders.  So I said I would see about it, and asked

+him if he would not rather have a cat than a kitten.

+

+His eagerness betrayed him as he answered, "Oh, yes, I would like a

+cat!  I only asked for a kitten lest you should refuse me a cat.  No

+one would refuse me a kitten, would they?"

+

+I shook my head, and said that at present I feared it would not be

+possible, but that I would see about it.  His face fell, and I could

+see a warning of danger in it, for there was a sudden fierce, sidelong

+look which meant killing.  The man is an undeveloped homicidal

+maniac.  I shall test him with his present craving and see how it will

+work out, then I shall know more.

+

+

+10 pm.--I have visited him again and found him sitting in a corner

+brooding.  When I came in he threw himself on his knees before me and

+implored me to let him have a cat, that his salvation depended upon

+it.

+

+I was firm, however, and told him that he could not have it, whereupon

+he went without a word, and sat down, gnawing his fingers, in the

+corner where I had found him.  I shall see him in the morning early.

+

+

+20 July.--Visited Renfield very early, before attendant went his

+rounds.  Found him up and humming a tune.  He was spreading out his

+sugar, which he had saved, in the window, and was manifestly beginning

+his fly catching again, and beginning it cheerfully and with a good

+grace.

+

+I looked around for his birds, and not seeing them, asked him where

+they were.  He replied, without turning round, that they had all flown

+away.  There were a few feathers about the room and on his pillow a

+drop of blood.  I said nothing, but went and told the keeper to report

+to me if there were anything odd about him during the day.

+

+

+11 am.--The attendant has just been to see me to say that Renfield has

+been very sick and has disgorged a whole lot of feathers.  "My belief

+is, doctor," he said, "that he has eaten his birds, and that he just

+took and ate them raw!"

+

+

+11 pm.--I gave Renfield a strong opiate tonight, enough to make even

+him sleep, and took away his pocketbook to look at it.  The thought

+that has been buzzing about my brain lately is complete, and the

+theory proved.

+

+My homicidal maniac is of a peculiar kind.  I shall have to invent a

+new classification for him, and call him a zoophagous (life-eating)

+maniac.  What he desires is to absorb as many lives as he can, and he

+has laid himself out to achieve it in a cumulative way.  He gave many

+flies to one spider and many spiders to one bird, and then wanted a

+cat to eat the many birds.  What would have been his later steps?

+

+It would almost be worth while to complete the experiment.  It might

+be done if there were only a sufficient cause.  Men sneered at

+vivisection, and yet look at its results today!  Why not advance

+science in its most difficult and vital aspect, the knowledge of the

+brain?

+

+Had I even the secret of one such mind, did I hold the key to the

+fancy of even one lunatic, I might advance my own branch of science to

+a pitch compared with which Burdon-Sanderson's physiology or Ferrier's

+brain knowledge would be as nothing.  If only there were a sufficient

+cause!  I must not think too much of this, or I may be tempted.  A

+good cause might turn the scale with me, for may not I too be of an

+exceptional brain, congenitally?

+

+How well the man reasoned.  Lunatics always do within their own scope.

+I wonder at how many lives he values a man, or if at only one.  He has

+closed the account most accurately, and today begun a new record.  How

+many of us begin a new record with each day of our lives?

+

+To me it seems only yesterday that my whole life ended with my new

+hope, and that truly I began a new record.  So it shall be until the

+Great Recorder sums me up and closes my ledger account with a balance

+to profit or loss.

+

+Oh, Lucy, Lucy, I cannot be angry with you, nor can I be angry with my

+friend whose happiness is yours, but I must only wait on hopeless and

+work.  Work!  Work!

+

+If I could have as strong a cause as my poor mad friend there, a good,

+unselfish cause to make me work, that would be indeed happiness.

+

+

+

+MINA MURRAY'S JOURNAL

+

+26 July.--I am anxious, and it soothes me to express myself here.  It

+is like whispering to one's self and listening at the same time.  And

+there is also something about the shorthand symbols that makes it

+different from writing.  I am unhappy about Lucy and about Jonathan.

+I had not heard from Jonathan for some time, and was very concerned,

+but yesterday dear Mr. Hawkins, who is always so kind, sent me a

+letter from him.  I had written asking him if he had heard, and he

+said the enclosed had just been received.  It is only a line dated

+from Castle Dracula, and says that he is just starting for home.  That

+is not like Jonathan.  I do not understand it, and it makes me uneasy.

+

+Then, too, Lucy, although she is so well, has lately taken to her old

+habit of walking in her sleep.  Her mother has spoken to me about it,

+and we have decided that I am to lock the door of our room every

+night.

+

+Mrs. Westenra has got an idea that sleep-walkers always go out on

+roofs of houses and along the edges of cliffs and then get suddenly

+wakened and fall over with a despairing cry that echoes all over the

+place.

+

+Poor dear, she is naturally anxious about Lucy, and she tells me that

+her husband, Lucy's father, had the same habit, that he would get up

+in the night and dress himself and go out, if he were not stopped.

+

+Lucy is to be married in the autumn, and she is already planning out

+her dresses and how her house is to be arranged.  I sympathise with

+her, for I do the same, only Jonathan and I will start in life in a

+very simple way, and shall have to try to make both ends meet.

+

+Mr. Holmwood, he is the Hon. Arthur Holmwood, only son of Lord

+Godalming, is coming up here very shortly, as soon as he can leave

+town, for his father is not very well, and I think dear Lucy is

+counting the moments till he comes.

+

+She wants to take him up in the seat on the churchyard cliff and show

+him the beauty of Whitby.  I daresay it is the waiting which disturbs

+her.  She will be all right when he arrives.

+

+

+27 July.--No news from Jonathan.  I am getting quite uneasy about him,

+though why I should I do not know, but I do wish that he would write,

+if it were only a single line.

+

+Lucy walks more than ever, and each night I am awakened by her moving

+about the room.  Fortunately, the weather is so hot that she cannot

+get cold.  But still, the anxiety and the perpetually being awakened

+is beginning to tell on me, and I am getting nervous and wakeful

+myself.  Thank God, Lucy's health keeps up.  Mr. Holmwood has been

+suddenly called to Ring to see his father, who has been taken

+seriously ill.  Lucy frets at the postponement of seeing him, but it

+does not touch her looks.  She is a trifle stouter, and her cheeks are

+a lovely rose-pink.  She has lost the anemic look which she had.  I

+pray it will all last.

+

+

+3 August.--Another week gone by, and no news from Jonathan, not even

+to Mr. Hawkins, from whom I have heard.  Oh, I do hope he is not ill.

+He surely would have written.  I look at that last letter of his, but

+somehow it does not satisfy me.  It does not read like him, and yet it

+is his writing.  There is no mistake of that.

+

+Lucy has not walked much in her sleep the last week, but there is an

+odd concentration about her which I do not understand, even in her

+sleep she seems to be watching me.  She tries the door, and finding it

+locked, goes about the room searching for the key.

+

+

+6 August.--Another three days, and no news.  This suspense is getting

+dreadful.  If I only knew where to write to or where to go to, I

+should feel easier.  But no one has heard a word of Jonathan since

+that last letter.  I must only pray to God for patience.

+

+Lucy is more excitable than ever, but is otherwise well.  Last night

+was very threatening, and the fishermen say that we are in for a

+storm.  I must try to watch it and learn the weather signs.

+

+Today is a gray day, and the sun as I write is hidden in thick clouds,

+high over Kettleness.  Everything is gray except the green grass,

+which seems like emerald amongst it, gray earthy rock, gray clouds,

+tinged with the sunburst at the far edge, hang over the gray sea, into

+which the sandpoints stretch like gray figures.  The sea is tumbling

+in over the shallows and the sandy flats with a roar, muffled in the

+sea-mists drifting inland.  The horizon is lost in a gray mist.  All

+vastness, the clouds are piled up like giant rocks, and there is a

+'brool' over the sea that sounds like some passage of doom.  Dark

+figures are on the beach here and there, sometimes half shrouded in

+the mist, and seem 'men like trees walking'.  The fishing boats are

+racing for home, and rise and dip in the ground swell as they sweep

+into the harbour, bending to the scuppers.  Here comes old Mr. Swales.

+He is making straight for me, and I can see, by the way he lifts his

+hat, that he wants to talk.

+

+I have been quite touched by the change in the poor old man.  When he

+sat down beside me, he said in a very gentle way, "I want to say

+something to you, miss."

+

+I could see he was not at ease, so I took his poor old wrinkled hand in

+mine and asked him to speak fully.

+

+So he said, leaving his hand in mine, "I'm afraid, my deary, that I

+must have shocked you by all the wicked things I've been sayin' about

+the dead, and such like, for weeks past, but I didn't mean them, and I

+want ye to remember that when I'm gone.  We aud folks that be daffled,

+and with one foot abaft the krok-hooal, don't altogether like to think

+of it, and we don't want to feel scart of it, and that's why I've took

+to makin' light of it, so that I'd cheer up my own heart a bit.  But,

+Lord love ye, miss, I ain't afraid of dyin', not a bit, only I don't

+want to die if I can help it.  My time must be nigh at hand now, for I

+be aud, and a hundred years is too much for any man to expect.  And

+I'm so nigh it that the Aud Man is already whettin' his scythe.  Ye

+see, I can't get out o' the habit of caffin' about it all at once.

+The chafts will wag as they be used to.  Some day soon the Angel of

+Death will sound his trumpet for me.  But don't ye dooal an' greet, my

+deary!"--for he saw that I was crying--"if he should come this very

+night I'd not refuse to answer his call.  For life be, after all, only

+a waitin' for somethin' else than what we're doin', and death be all

+that we can rightly depend on.  But I'm content, for it's comin' to

+me, my deary, and comin' quick.  It may be comin' while we be lookin'

+and wonderin'.  Maybe it's in that wind out over the sea that's

+bringin' with it loss and wreck, and sore distress, and sad hearts.

+Look!  Look!" he cried suddenly.  "There's something in that wind and

+in the hoast beyont that sounds, and looks, and tastes, and smells

+like death.  It's in the air.  I feel it comin'.  Lord, make me answer

+cheerful, when my call comes!"  He held up his arms devoutly, and

+raised his hat.  His mouth moved as though he were praying.  After a

+few minutes' silence, he got up, shook hands with me, and blessed me,

+and said goodbye, and hobbled off.  It all touched me, and upset me

+very much.

+

+I was glad when the coastguard came along, with his spyglass under his

+arm.  He stopped to talk with me, as he always does, but all the time

+kept looking at a strange ship.

+

+"I can't make her out," he said.  "She's a Russian, by the look of

+her.  But she's knocking about in the queerest way.  She doesn't know

+her mind a bit.  She seems to see the storm coming, but can't decide

+whether to run up north in the open, or to put in here.  Look there

+again!  She is steered mighty strangely, for she doesn't mind the hand

+on the wheel, changes about with every puff of wind.  We'll hear more

+of her before this time tomorrow."

+

+

+

+

+CHAPTER 7

+

+

+CUTTING FROM "THE DAILYGRAPH", 8 AUGUST

+

+

+(PASTED IN MINA MURRAY'S JOURNAL)

+

+

+From a correspondent.

+

+Whitby.

+

+One of the greatest and suddenest storms on record has just been

+experienced here, with results both strange and unique.  The weather

+had been somewhat sultry, but not to any degree uncommon in the

+month of August.  Saturday evening was as fine as was ever known,

+and the great body of holiday-makers laid out yesterday for visits

+to Mulgrave Woods, Robin Hood's Bay, Rig Mill, Runswick, Staithes,

+and the various trips in the neighborhood of Whitby.  The steamers

+Emma and Scarborough made trips up and down the coast, and there was

+an unusual amount of 'tripping' both to and from Whitby.  The day

+was unusually fine till the afternoon, when some of the gossips who

+frequent the East Cliff churchyard, and from the commanding eminence

+watch the wide sweep of sea visible to the north and east, called

+attention to a sudden show of 'mares tails' high in the sky to the

+northwest.  The wind was then blowing from the south-west in the

+mild degree which in barometrical language is ranked 'No. 2, light

+breeze.'

+

+The coastguard on duty at once made report, and one old fisherman,

+who for more than half a century has kept watch on weather signs

+from the East Cliff, foretold in an emphatic manner the coming of a

+sudden storm.  The approach of sunset was so very beautiful, so

+grand in its masses of splendidly coloured clouds, that there was

+quite an assemblage on the walk along the cliff in the old

+churchyard to enjoy the beauty.  Before the sun dipped below the

+black mass of Kettleness, standing boldly athwart the western sky,

+its downward way was marked by myriad clouds of every sunset colour,

+flame, purple, pink, green, violet, and all the tints of gold, with

+here and there masses not large, but of seemingly absolute

+blackness, in all sorts of shapes, as well outlined as colossal

+silhouettes.  The experience was not lost on the painters, and

+doubtless some of the sketches of the 'Prelude to the Great Storm'

+will grace the R. A and R. I. walls in May next.

+

+More than one captain made up his mind then and there that his

+'cobble' or his 'mule', as they term the different classes of boats,

+would remain in the harbour till the storm had passed.  The wind

+fell away entirely during the evening, and at midnight there was a

+dead calm, a sultry heat, and that prevailing intensity which, on

+the approach of thunder, affects persons of a sensitive nature.

+

+There were but few lights in sight at sea, for even the coasting

+steamers, which usually hug the shore so closely, kept well to

+seaward, and but few fishing boats were in sight.  The only sail

+noticeable was a foreign schooner with all sails set, which was

+seemingly going westwards. The foolhardiness or ignorance of her

+officers was a prolific theme for comment whilst she remained in

+sight, and efforts were made to signal her to reduce sail in the

+face of her danger.  Before the night shut down she was seen with

+sails idly flapping as she gently rolled on the undulating swell of

+the sea.

+

+"As idle as a painted ship upon a painted ocean."

+

+Shortly before ten o'clock the stillness of the air grew quite

+oppressive, and the silence was so marked that the bleating of a

+sheep inland or the barking of a dog in the town was distinctly

+heard, and the band on the pier, with its lively French air, was

+like a dischord in the great harmony of nature's silence.  A little

+after midnight came a strange sound from over the sea, and high

+overhead the air began to carry a strange, faint, hollow booming.

+

+Then without warning the tempest broke.  With a rapidity which, at

+the time, seemed incredible, and even afterwards is impossible to

+realize, the whole aspect of nature at once became convulsed.  The

+waves rose in growing fury, each over-topping its fellow, till in a

+very few minutes the lately glassy sea was like a roaring and

+devouring monster.  White-crested waves beat madly on the level

+sands and rushed up the shelving cliffs.  Others broke over the

+piers, and with their spume swept the lanthorns of the lighthouses

+which rise from the end of either pier of Whitby Harbour.

+

+The wind roared like thunder, and blew with such force that it was

+with difficulty that even strong men kept their feet, or clung with

+grim clasp to the iron stanchions.  It was found necessary to clear

+the entire pier from the mass of onlookers, or else the fatalities

+of the night would have increased manifold.  To add to the

+difficulties and dangers of the time, masses of sea-fog came

+drifting inland.  White, wet clouds, which swept by in ghostly

+fashion, so dank and damp and cold that it needed but little effort

+of imagination to think that the spirits of those lost at sea were

+touching their living brethren with the clammy hands of death, and

+many a one shuddered as the wreaths of sea-mist swept by.

+

+At times the mist cleared, and the sea for some distance could be

+seen in the glare of the lightning, which came thick and fast,

+followed by such peals of thunder that the whole sky overhead seemed

+trembling under the shock of the footsteps of the storm.

+

+Some of the scenes thus revealed were of immeasurable grandeur and

+of absorbing interest.  The sea, running mountains high, threw

+skywards with each wave mighty masses of white foam, which the

+tempest seemed to snatch at and whirl away into space.  Here and

+there a fishing boat, with a rag of sail, running madly for shelter

+before the blast, now and again the white wings of a storm-tossed

+seabird.  On the summit of the East Cliff the new searchlight was

+ready for experiment, but had not yet been tried.  The officers in

+charge of it got it into working order, and in the pauses of

+onrushing mist swept with it the surface of the sea.  Once or twice

+its service was most effective, as when a fishing boat, with gunwale

+under water, rushed into the harbour, able, by the guidance of the

+sheltering light, to avoid the danger of dashing against the piers.

+As each boat achieved the safety of the port there was a shout of

+joy from the mass of people on the shore, a shout which for a moment

+seemed to cleave the gale and was then swept away in its rush.

+

+Before long the searchlight discovered some distance away a schooner

+with all sails set, apparently the same vessel which had been

+noticed earlier in the evening.  The wind had by this time backed to

+the east, and there was a shudder amongst the watchers on the cliff

+as they realized the terrible danger in which she now was.

+

+Between her and the port lay the great flat reef on which so many

+good ships have from time to time suffered, and, with the wind

+blowing from its present quarter, it would be quite impossible that

+she should fetch the entrance of the harbour.

+

+It was now nearly the hour of high tide, but the waves were so great

+that in their troughs the shallows of the shore were almost visible,

+and the schooner, with all sails set, was rushing with such speed

+that, in the words of one old salt, "she must fetch up somewhere, if

+it was only in hell".  Then came another rush of sea-fog, greater

+than any hitherto, a mass of dank mist, which seemed to close on all

+things like a gray pall, and left available to men only the organ of

+hearing, for the roar of the tempest, and the crash of the thunder,

+and the booming of the mighty billows came through the damp oblivion

+even louder than before.  The rays of the searchlight were kept fixed

+on the harbour mouth across the East Pier, where the shock was

+expected, and men waited breathless.

+

+The wind suddenly shifted to the northeast, and the remnant of the

+sea fog melted in the blast.  And then, mirabile dictu, between the

+piers, leaping from wave to wave as it rushed at headlong speed,

+swept the strange schooner before the blast, with all sail set, and

+gained the safety of the harbour.  The searchlight followed her, and

+a shudder ran through all who saw her, for lashed to the helm was a

+corpse, with drooping head, which swung horribly to and fro at each

+motion of the ship.  No other form could be seen on the deck at all.

+

+A great awe came on all as they realised that the ship, as if by a

+miracle, had found the harbour, unsteered save by the hand of a dead

+man!  However, all took place more quickly than it takes to write

+these words.  The schooner paused not, but rushing across the

+harbour, pitched herself on that accumulation of sand and gravel

+washed by many tides and many storms into the southeast corner of

+the pier jutting under the East Cliff, known locally as Tate Hill

+Pier.

+

+There was of course a considerable concussion as the vessel drove up

+on the sand heap.  Every spar, rope, and stay was strained, and some

+of the 'top-hammer' came crashing down.  But, strangest of all, the

+very instant the shore was touched, an immense dog sprang up on deck

+from below, as if shot up by the concussion, and running forward,

+jumped from the bow on the sand.

+

+Making straight for the steep cliff, where the churchyard hangs over

+the laneway to the East Pier so steeply that some of the flat

+tombstones, thruffsteans or through-stones, as they call them in

+Whitby vernacular, actually project over where the sustaining cliff

+has fallen away, it disappeared in the darkness, which seemed

+intensified just beyond the focus of the searchlight.

+

+It so happened that there was no one at the moment on Tate Hill

+Pier, as all those whose houses are in close proximity were either

+in bed or were out on the heights above.  Thus the coastguard on

+duty on the eastern side of the harbour, who at once ran down to the

+little pier, was the first to climb aboard.  The men working the

+searchlight, after scouring the entrance of the harbour without

+seeing anything, then turned the light on the derelict and kept it

+there.  The coastguard ran aft, and when he came beside the wheel,

+bent over to examine it, and recoiled at once as though under some

+sudden emotion.  This seemed to pique general curiosity, and quite a

+number of people began to run.

+

+It is a good way round from the West Cliff by the Draw-bridge to

+Tate Hill Pier, but your correspondent is a fairly good runner, and

+came well ahead of the crowd.  When I arrived, however, I found

+already assembled on the pier a crowd, whom the coastguard and

+police refused to allow to come on board.  By the courtesy of the

+chief boatman, I was, as your correspondent, permitted to climb on

+deck, and was one of a small group who saw the dead seaman whilst

+actually lashed to the wheel.

+

+It was no wonder that the coastguard was surprised, or even awed,

+for not often can such a sight have been seen.  The man was simply

+fastened by his hands, tied one over the other, to a spoke of the

+wheel.  Between the inner hand and the wood was a crucifix, the set

+of beads on which it was fastened being around both wrists and

+wheel, and all kept fast by the binding cords.  The poor fellow may

+have been seated at one time, but the flapping and buffeting of the

+sails had worked through the rudder of the wheel and had dragged him

+to and fro, so that the cords with which he was tied had cut the

+flesh to the bone.

+

+Accurate note was made of the state of things, and a doctor, Surgeon

+J. M. Caffyn, of 33, East Elliot Place, who came immediately after

+me, declared, after making examination, that the man must have been

+dead for quite two days.

+

+In his pocket was a bottle, carefully corked, empty save for

+a little roll of paper, which proved to be the addendum to

+the log.

+

+The coastguard said the man must have tied up his own hands,

+fastening the knots with his teeth.  The fact that a coastguard was

+the first on board may save some complications later on, in the

+Admiralty Court, for coastguards cannot claim the salvage which is

+the right of the first civilian entering on a derelict.  Already,

+however, the legal tongues are wagging, and one young law student is

+loudly asserting that the rights of the owner are already completely

+sacrificed, his property being held in contravention of the statues

+of mortmain, since the tiller, as emblemship, if not proof, of

+delegated possession, is held in a dead hand.

+

+It is needless to say that the dead steersman has been reverently

+removed from the place where he held his honourable watch and ward

+till death, a steadfastness as noble as that of the young

+Casabianca, and placed in the mortuary to await inquest.

+

+Already the sudden storm is passing, and its fierceness is

+abating.  Crowds are scattering backward, and the sky is

+beginning to redden over the Yorkshire wolds.

+

+I shall send, in time for your next issue, further details

+of the derelict ship which found her way so miraculously

+into harbour in the storm.

+

+

+9 August.--The sequel to the strange arrival of the derelict in the

+storm last night is almost more startling than the thing itself.  It

+turns out that the schooner is Russian from Varna, and is called the

+Demeter.  She is almost entirely in ballast of silver sand, with

+only a small amount of cargo, a number of great wooden boxes filled

+with mould.

+

+This cargo was consigned to a Whitby solicitor, Mr. S.F. Billington,

+of 7, The Crescent, who this morning went aboard and took formal

+possession of the goods consigned to him.

+

+The Russian consul, too, acting for the charter-party, took formal

+possession of the ship, and paid all harbour dues, etc.

+

+Nothing is talked about here today except the strange coincidence.

+The officials of the Board of Trade have been most exacting in

+seeing that every compliance has been made with existing

+regulations.  As the matter is to be a 'nine days wonder', they are

+evidently determined that there shall be no cause of other

+complaint.

+

+A good deal of interest was abroad concerning the dog which landed

+when the ship struck, and more than a few of the members of the

+S.P.C.A., which is very strong in Whitby, have tried to befriend the

+animal.  To the general disappointment, however, it was not to be

+found.  It seems to have disappeared entirely from the town.  It may

+be that it was frightened and made its way on to the moors, where it

+is still hiding in terror.

+

+There are some who look with dread on such a possibility, lest later

+on it should in itself become a danger, for it is evidently a fierce

+brute.  Early this morning a large dog, a half-bred mastiff

+belonging to a coal merchant close to Tate Hill Pier, was found dead

+in the roadway opposite its master's yard.  It had been fighting,

+and manifestly had had a savage opponent, for its throat was torn

+away, and its belly was slit open as if with a savage claw.

+

+Later.--By the kindness of the Board of Trade inspector, I have been

+permitted to look over the log book of the Demeter, which was in

+order up to within three days, but contained nothing of special

+interest except as to facts of missing men.  The greatest interest,

+however, is with regard to the paper found in the bottle, which was

+today produced at the inquest.  And a more strange narrative than

+the two between them unfold it has not been my lot to come across.

+

+As there is no motive for concealment, I am permitted to use them,

+and accordingly send you a transcript, simply omitting technical

+details of seamanship and supercargo.  It almost seems as though the

+captain had been seized with some kind of mania before he had got

+well into blue water, and that this had developed persistently

+throughout the voyage.  Of course my statement must be taken cum

+grano, since I am writing from the dictation of a clerk of the

+Russian consul, who kindly translated for me, time being short.

+

+

+

+  LOG OF THE "DEMETER" Varna to Whitby

+

+

+  Written 18 July, things so strange happening, that I shall

+  keep accurate note henceforth till we land.

+

+

+  On 6 July we finished taking in cargo, silver sand and boxes

+  of earth.  At noon set sail.  East wind, fresh.  Crew, five

+  hands . . . two mates, cook, and myself, (captain).

+

+

+  On 11 July at dawn entered Bosphorus.  Boarded by Turkish

+  Customs officers.  Backsheesh.  All correct.  Under way at

+  4 p.m.

+

+

+  On 12 July through Dardanelles.  More Customs officers and

+  flagboat of guarding squadron.  Backsheesh again.  Work of

+  officers thorough, but quick.  Want us off soon.  At dark

+  passed into Archipelago.

+

+

+  On 13 July passed Cape Matapan.  Crew dissatisfied about

+  something.  Seemed scared, but would not speak out.

+

+

+  On 14 July was somewhat anxious about crew.  Men all steady

+  fellows, who sailed with me before.  Mate could not make out what

+  was wrong.  They only told him there was SOMETHING, and crossed

+  themselves.  Mate lost temper with one of them that day and struck

+  him.  Expected fierce quarrel, but all was quiet.

+

+

+  On 16 July mate reported in the morning that one of the

+  crew, Petrofsky, was missing.  Could not account for it.

+  Took larboard watch eight bells last night, was relieved by

+  Amramoff, but did not go to bunk.  Men more downcast than

+  ever.  All said they expected something of the kind, but

+  would not say more than there was SOMETHING aboard.  Mate

+  getting very impatient with them.  Feared some trouble

+  ahead.

+

+

+  On 17 July, yesterday, one of the men, Olgaren, came to my cabin,

+  and in an awestruck way confided to me that he thought there was a

+  strange man aboard the ship.  He said that in his watch he had

+  been sheltering behind the deckhouse, as there was a rain storm,

+  when he saw a tall, thin man, who was not like any of the crew,

+  come up the companionway, and go along the deck forward and

+  disappear.  He followed cautiously, but when he got to bows found

+  no one, and the hatchways were all closed.  He was in a panic of

+  superstitious fear, and I am afraid the panic may spread.  To

+  allay it, I shall today search the entire ship carefully from stem

+  to stern.

+

+

+  Later in the day I got together the whole crew, and told them, as

+  they evidently thought there was some one in the ship, we would

+  search from stem to stern.  First mate angry, said it was folly,

+  and to yield to such foolish ideas would demoralise the men, said

+  he would engage to keep them out of trouble with the handspike.  I

+  let him take the helm, while the rest began a thorough search, all

+  keeping abreast, with lanterns.  We left no corner unsearched.  As

+  there were only the big wooden boxes, there were no odd corners

+  where a man could hide.  Men much relieved when search over, and

+  went back to work cheerfully.  First mate scowled, but said

+  nothing.

+

+

+  22 July.--Rough weather last three days, and all hands busy

+  with sails, no time to be frightened.  Men seem to have

+  forgotten their dread.  Mate cheerful again, and all on

+  good terms.  Praised men for work in bad weather.  Passed

+  Gibraltar and out through Straits.  All well.

+

+

+  24 July.--There seems some doom over this ship.  Already a hand

+  short, and entering the Bay of Biscay with wild weather ahead, and

+  yet last night another man lost, disappeared.  Like the first, he

+  came off his watch and was not seen again.  Men all in a panic of

+  fear, sent a round robin, asking to have double watch, as they

+  fear to be alone.  Mate angry.  Fear there will be some trouble,

+  as either he or the men will do some violence.

+

+

+  28 July.--Four days in hell, knocking about in a sort of

+  maelstrom, and the wind a tempest.  No sleep for any one.

+  Men all worn out.  Hardly know how to set a watch, since no

+  one fit to go on.  Second mate volunteered to steer and

+  watch, and let men snatch a few hours sleep.  Wind abating,

+  seas still terrific, but feel them less, as ship is

+  steadier.

+

+

+  29 July.--Another tragedy.  Had single watch tonight, as crew too

+  tired to double.  When morning watch came on deck could find no

+  one except steersman.  Raised outcry, and all came on deck.

+  Thorough search, but no one found.  Are now without second mate,

+  and crew in a panic.  Mate and I agreed to go armed henceforth and

+  wait for any sign of cause.

+

+

+  30 July.--Last night.  Rejoiced we are nearing England. Weather

+  fine, all sails set.  Retired worn out, slept soundly, awakened by

+  mate telling me that both man of watch and steersman missing.

+  Only self and mate and two hands left to work ship.

+

+  1 August.--Two days of fog, and not a sail sighted.  Had hoped

+  when in the English Channel to be able to signal for help or get

+  in somewhere.  Not having power to work sails, have to run before

+  wind.  Dare not lower, as could not raise them again.  We seem to

+  be drifting to some terrible doom.  Mate now more demoralised than

+  either of men.  His stronger nature seems to have worked inwardly

+  against himself.  Men are beyond fear, working stolidly and

+  patiently, with minds made up to worst.  They are Russian, he

+  Roumanian.

+

+  2 August, midnight.--Woke up from few minutes sleep by hearing a

+  cry, seemingly outside my port.  Could see nothing in fog.  Rushed

+  on deck, and ran against mate. Tells me he heard cry and ran, but

+  no sign of man on watch.  One more gone.  Lord, help us!  Mate

+  says we must be past Straits of Dover, as in a moment of fog

+  lifting he saw North Foreland, just as he heard the man cry out.

+  If so we are now off in the North Sea, and only God can guide us

+  in the fog, which seems to move with us, and God seems to have

+  deserted us.

+

+

+  3 August.--At midnight I went to relieve the man at the

+  wheel and when I got to it found no one there.  The wind

+  was steady, and as we ran before it there was no yawing.  I

+  dared not leave it, so shouted for the mate.  After a few

+  seconds, he rushed up on deck in his flannels.  He looked

+  wild-eyed and haggard, and I greatly fear his reason has

+  given way.  He came close to me and whispered hoarsely,

+  with his mouth to my ear, as though fearing the very air

+  might hear.  "It is here.  I know it now.  On the watch

+  last night I saw It, like a man, tall and thin, and ghastly

+  pale.  It was in the bows, and looking out.  I crept behind

+  It, and gave it my knife, but the knife went through It,

+  empty as the air."  And as he spoke he took the knife and

+  drove it savagely into space.  Then he went on, "But It is

+  here, and I'll find It.  It is in the hold, perhaps in one

+  of those boxes.  I'll unscrew them one by one and see.  You

+  work the helm."  And with a warning look and his finger on

+  his lip, he went below.  There was springing up a choppy

+  wind, and I could not leave the helm.  I saw him come out

+  on deck again with a tool chest and lantern, and go down

+  the forward hatchway.  He is mad, stark, raving mad, and

+  it's no use my trying to stop him.  He can't hurt those big

+  boxes, they are invoiced as clay, and to pull them about is

+  as harmless a thing as he can do.  So here I stay and mind

+  the helm, and write these notes.  I can only trust in God

+  and wait till the fog clears.  Then, if I can't steer to

+  any harbour with the wind that is, I shall cut down sails,

+  and lie by, and signal for help . . .

+

+  It is nearly all over now.  Just as I was beginning to hope

+  that the mate would come out calmer, for I heard him

+  knocking away at something in the hold, and work is good

+  for him, there came up the hatchway a sudden, startled

+  scream, which made my blood run cold, and up on the deck he

+  came as if shot from a gun, a raging madman, with his eyes

+  rolling and his face convulsed with fear.  "Save me!  Save

+  me!" he cried, and then looked round on the blanket of fog.

+  His horror turned to despair, and in a steady voice he

+  said, "You had better come too, captain, before it is too

+  late.  He is there!  I know the secret now.  The sea will

+  save me from Him, and it is all that is left!"  Before I

+  could say a word, or move forward to seize him, he sprang

+  on the bulwark and deliberately threw himself into the sea.

+  I suppose I know the secret too, now.  It was this madman

+  who had got rid of the men one by one, and now he has

+  followed them himself.  God help me!  How am I to account

+  for all these horrors when I get to port?  When I get to

+  port!  Will that ever be?

+

+

+  4 August.--Still fog, which the sunrise cannot pierce, I

+  know there is sunrise because I am a sailor, why else I

+  know not.  I dared not go below, I dared not leave the

+  helm, so here all night I stayed, and in the dimness of the

+  night I saw it, Him!  God, forgive me, but the mate was

+  right to jump overboard.  It was better to die like a man.

+  To die like a sailor in blue water, no man can object.  But

+  I am captain, and I must not leave my ship.  But I shall

+  baffle this fiend or monster, for I shall tie my hands to

+  the wheel when my strength begins to fail, and along with

+  them I shall tie that which He, It, dare not touch.  And

+  then, come good wind or foul, I shall save my soul, and my

+  honour as a captain.  I am growing weaker, and the night is

+  coming on.  If He can look me in the face again, I may not

+  have time to act. . .  If we are wrecked, mayhap this bottle

+  may be found, and those who find it may understand.  If

+  not . . . well, then all men shall know that I have been

+  true to my trust.  God and the Blessed Virgin and the

+  Saints help a poor ignorant soul trying to do his duty . . .

+

+

+Of course the verdict was an open one.  There is no evidence

+to adduce, and whether or not the man himself committed the

+murders there is now none to say.  The folk here hold almost

+universally that the captain is simply a hero, and he is to be

+given a public funeral.  Already it is arranged that his body

+is to be taken with a train of boats up the Esk for a piece

+and then brought back to Tate Hill Pier and up the abbey steps,

+for he is to be buried in the churchyard on the cliff.  The

+owners of more than a hundred boats have already given in their

+names as wishing to follow him to the grave.

+

+No trace has ever been found of the great dog, at which there is

+much mourning, for, with public opinion in its present state, he

+would, I believe, be adopted by the town.  Tomorrow will see the

+funeral, and so will end this one more 'mystery of the sea'.

+

+

+

+MINA MURRAY'S JOURNAL

+

+8 August.--Lucy was very restless all night, and I too, could not

+sleep.  The storm was fearful, and as it boomed loudly among the

+chimney pots, it made me shudder.  When a sharp puff came it seemed to

+be like a distant gun.  Strangely enough, Lucy did not wake, but she

+got up twice and dressed herself.  Fortunately, each time I awoke in

+time and managed to undress her without waking her, and got her back to

+bed.  It is a very strange thing, this sleep-walking, for as soon as

+her will is thwarted in any physical way, her intention, if there be

+any, disappears, and she yields herself almost exactly to the routine

+of her life.

+

+Early in the morning we both got up and went down to the harbour to see

+if anything had happened in the night.  There were very few people

+about, and though the sun was bright, and the air clear and fresh, the

+big, grim-looking waves, that seemed dark themselves because the foam

+that topped them was like snow, forced themselves in through the mouth

+of the harbour, like a bullying man going through a crowd.  Somehow I

+felt glad that Jonathan was not on the sea last night, but on land.

+But, oh, is he on land or sea?  Where is he, and how?  I am getting

+fearfully anxious about him.  If I only knew what to do, and could do

+anything!

+

+

+10 August.--The funeral of the poor sea captain today was most

+touching.  Every boat in the harbour seemed to be there, and the coffin

+was carried by captains all the way from Tate Hill Pier up to the

+churchyard.  Lucy came with me, and we went early to our old seat,

+whilst the cortege of boats went up the river to the Viaduct and came

+down again.  We had a lovely view, and saw the procession nearly all

+the way.  The poor fellow was laid to rest near our seat so that we

+stood on it, when the time came and saw everything.

+

+Poor Lucy seemed much upset.  She was restless and uneasy all the time,

+and I cannot but think that her dreaming at night is telling on her.

+She is quite odd in one thing.  She will not admit to me that there is

+any cause for restlessness, or if there be, she does not understand it

+herself.

+

+There is an additional cause in that poor Mr. Swales was found dead

+this morning on our seat, his neck being broken.  He had evidently, as

+the doctor said, fallen back in the seat in some sort of fright, for

+there was a look of fear and horror on his face that the men said made

+them shudder.  Poor dear old man!

+

+Lucy is so sweet and sensitive that she feels influences more acutely

+than other people do.  Just now she was quite upset by a little thing

+which I did not much heed, though I am myself very fond of animals.

+

+One of the men who came up here often to look for the boats was

+followed by his dog.  The dog is always with him.  They are both quiet

+persons, and I never saw the man angry, nor heard the dog bark.  During

+the service the dog would not come to its master, who was on the seat

+with us, but kept a few yards off, barking and howling.  Its master

+spoke to it gently, and then harshly, and then angrily.  But it would

+neither come nor cease to make a noise.  It was in a fury, with its

+eyes savage, and all its hair bristling out like a cat's tail when puss

+is on the war path.

+

+Finally the man too got angry, and jumped down and kicked the dog, and

+then took it by the scruff of the neck and half dragged and half threw

+it on the tombstone on which the seat is fixed.  The moment it touched

+the stone the poor thing began to tremble.  It did not try to get away,

+but crouched down, quivering and cowering, and was in such a pitiable

+state of terror that I tried, though without effect, to comfort it.

+

+Lucy was full of pity, too, but she did not attempt to touch the dog,

+but looked at it in an agonised sort of way.  I greatly fear that she

+is of too super sensitive a nature to go through the world without

+trouble.  She will be dreaming of this tonight, I am sure.  The whole

+agglomeration of things, the ship steered into port by a dead man, his

+attitude, tied to the wheel with a crucifix and beads, the touching

+funeral, the dog, now furious and now in terror, will all afford

+material for her dreams.

+

+I think it will be best for her to go to bed tired out physically, so I

+shall take her for a long walk by the cliffs to Robin Hood's Bay and

+back.  She ought not to have much inclination for sleep-walking then.

+

+

+

+

+CHAPTER 8

+

+

+MINA MURRAY'S JOURNAL

+

+Same day, 11 o'clock P.M.--Oh, but I am tired!  If it were not that I

+had made my diary a duty I should not open it tonight.  We had a lovely

+walk.  Lucy, after a while, was in gay spirits, owing, I think, to some

+dear cows who came nosing towards us in a field close to the

+lighthouse, and frightened the wits out of us.  I believe we forgot

+everything, except of course, personal fear, and it seemed to wipe the

+slate clean and give us a fresh start.  We had a capital 'severe tea'

+at Robin Hood's Bay in a sweet little old-fashioned inn, with a bow

+window right over the seaweed-covered rocks of the strand.  I believe

+we should have shocked the 'New Woman' with our appetites.  Men are

+more tolerant, bless them!  Then we walked home with some, or rather

+many, stoppages to rest, and with our hearts full of a constant dread

+of wild bulls.

+

+Lucy was really tired, and we intended to creep off to bed as soon as

+we could.  The young curate came in, however, and Mrs. Westenra asked

+him to stay for supper.  Lucy and I had both a fight for it with the

+dusty miller.  I know it was a hard fight on my part, and I am quite

+heroic.  I think that some day the bishops must get together and see

+about breeding up a new class of curates, who don't take supper, no

+matter how hard they may be pressed to, and who will know when girls

+are tired.

+

+Lucy is asleep and breathing softly.  She has more colour in her cheeks

+than usual, and looks, oh so sweet.  If Mr. Holmwood fell in love with

+her seeing her only in the drawing room, I wonder what he would say if

+he saw her now.  Some of the 'New Women' writers will some day start an

+idea that men and women should be allowed to see each other asleep

+before proposing or accepting.  But I suppose the 'New Woman' won't

+condescend in future to accept.  She will do the proposing herself.  And

+a nice job she will make of it too!  There's some consolation in that.

+I am so happy tonight, because dear Lucy seems better.  I really

+believe she has turned the corner, and that we are over her troubles

+with dreaming.  I should be quite happy if I only knew if Jonathan . . .

+God bless and keep him.

+

+

+11 August.--Diary again.  No sleep now, so I may as well write.  I am

+too agitated to sleep.  We have had such an adventure, such an

+agonizing experience.  I fell asleep as soon as I had closed my diary.

+. . .  Suddenly I became broad awake, and sat up, with a horrible sense

+of fear upon me, and of some feeling of emptiness around me.  The room

+was dark, so I could not see Lucy's bed.  I stole across and felt for

+her.  The bed was empty.  I lit a match and found that she was not in

+the room.  The door was shut, but not locked, as I had left it.  I feared

+to wake her mother, who has been more than usually ill lately, so threw

+on some clothes and got ready to look for her.  As I was leaving the

+room it struck me that the clothes she wore might give me some clue to

+her dreaming intention.  Dressing-gown would mean house, dress outside.

+Dressing-gown and dress were both in their places.  "Thank God," I said

+to myself, "she cannot be far, as she is only in her nightdress."

+

+I ran downstairs and looked in the sitting room.  Not there!  Then I

+looked in all the other rooms of the house, with an ever-growing fear

+chilling my heart.  Finally, I came to the hall door and found it open.

+It was not wide open, but the catch of the lock had not caught.  The

+people of the house are careful to lock the door every night, so I

+feared that Lucy must have gone out as she was.  There was no time to

+think of what might happen.  A vague over-mastering fear obscured all

+details.

+

+I took a big, heavy shawl and ran out.  The clock was striking one as I

+was in the Crescent, and there was not a soul in sight.  I ran along

+the North Terrace, but could see no sign of the white figure which I

+expected.  At the edge of the West Cliff above the pier I looked across

+the harbour to the East Cliff, in the hope or fear, I don't know which,

+of seeing Lucy in our favourite seat.

+

+There was a bright full moon, with heavy black, driving clouds, which

+threw the whole scene into a fleeting diorama of light and shade as

+they sailed across.  For a moment or two I could see nothing, as the

+shadow of a cloud obscured St. Mary's Church and all around it.  Then

+as the cloud passed I could see the ruins of the abbey coming into

+view, and as the edge of a narrow band of light as sharp as a sword-cut

+moved along, the church and churchyard became gradually visible.

+Whatever my expectation was, it was not disappointed, for there, on our

+favourite seat, the silver light of the moon struck a half-reclining

+figure, snowy white.  The coming of the cloud was too quick for me to

+see much, for shadow shut down on light almost immediately, but it

+seemed to me as though something dark stood behind the seat where the

+white figure shone, and bent over it.  What it was, whether man or

+beast, I could not tell.

+

+I did not wait to catch another glance, but flew down the steep steps

+to the pier and along by the fish-market to the bridge, which was the

+only way to reach the East Cliff.  The town seemed as dead, for not a

+soul did I see.  I rejoiced that it was so, for I wanted no witness of

+poor Lucy's condition.  The time and distance seemed endless, and my

+knees trembled and my breath came laboured as I toiled up the endless

+steps to the abbey.  I must have gone fast, and yet it seemed to me as

+if my feet were weighted with lead, and as though every joint in my

+body were rusty.

+

+When I got almost to the top I could see the seat and the white figure,

+for I was now close enough to distinguish it even through the spells of

+shadow.  There was undoubtedly something, long and black, bending over

+the half-reclining white figure.  I called in fright, "Lucy!  Lucy!"

+and something raised a head, and from where I was I could see a white

+face and red, gleaming eyes.

+

+Lucy did not answer, and I ran on to the entrance of the churchyard.

+As I entered, the church was between me and the seat, and for a minute

+or so I lost sight of her.  When I came in view again the cloud had

+passed, and the moonlight struck so brilliantly that I could see Lucy

+half reclining with her head lying over the back of the seat.  She was

+quite alone, and there was not a sign of any living thing about.

+

+When I bent over her I could see that she was still asleep.  Her lips

+were parted, and she was breathing, not softly as usual with her, but

+in long, heavy gasps, as though striving to get her lungs full at every

+breath.  As I came close, she put up her hand in her sleep and pulled

+the collar of her nightdress close around her, as though she felt the

+cold.  I flung the warm shawl over her, and drew the edges tight around

+her neck, for I dreaded lest she should get some deadly chill from the

+night air, unclad as she was.  I feared to wake her all at once, so, in

+order to have my hands free to help her, I fastened the shawl at her

+throat with a big safety pin.  But I must have been clumsy in my

+anxiety and pinched or pricked her with it, for by-and-by, when her

+breathing became quieter, she put her hand to her throat again and

+moaned.  When I had her carefully wrapped up I put my shoes on her

+feet, and then began very gently to wake her.

+

+At first she did not respond, but gradually she became more and more

+uneasy in her sleep, moaning and sighing occasionally.  At last, as

+time was passing fast, and for many other reasons, I wished to get her

+home at once, I shook her forcibly, till finally she opened her eyes

+and awoke.  She did not seem surprised to see me, as, of course, she

+did not realize all at once where she was.

+

+Lucy always wakes prettily, and even at such a time, when her body must

+have been chilled with cold, and her mind somewhat appalled at waking

+unclad in a churchyard at night, she did not lose her grace.  She

+trembled a little, and clung to me.  When I told her to come at once

+with me home, she rose without a word, with the obedience of a child.

+As we passed along, the gravel hurt my feet, and Lucy noticed me wince.

+She stopped and wanted to insist upon my taking my shoes, but I would

+not.  However, when we got to the pathway outside the chruchyard, where

+there was a puddle of water, remaining from the storm, I daubed my feet

+with mud, using each foot in turn on the other, so that as we went

+home, no one, in case we should meet any one, should notice my bare

+feet.

+

+Fortune favoured us, and we got home without meeting a soul.  Once we

+saw a man, who seemed not quite sober, passing along a street in front

+of us.  But we hid in a door till he had disappeared up an opening such

+as there are here, steep little closes, or 'wynds', as they call them

+in Scotland.  My heart beat so loud all the time sometimes I thought I

+should faint.  I was filled with anxiety about Lucy, not only for her

+health, lest she should suffer from the exposure, but for her

+reputation in case the story should get wind.  When we got in, and had

+washed our feet, and had said a prayer of thankfulness together, I

+tucked her into bed.  Before falling asleep she asked, even implored,

+me not to say a word to any one, even her mother, about her

+sleep-walking adventure.

+

+I hesitated at first, to promise, but on thinking of the state of her

+mother's health, and how the knowledge of such a thing would fret her,

+and think too, of how such a story might become distorted, nay,

+infallibly would, in case it should leak out, I thought it wiser to do

+so.  I hope I did right.  I have locked the door, and the key is tied

+to my wrist, so perhaps I shall not be again disturbed.  Lucy is

+sleeping soundly.  The reflex of the dawn is high and far over the

+sea . . .

+

+

+Same day, noon.--All goes well.  Lucy slept till I woke her and seemed

+not to have even changed her side.  The adventure of the night does not

+seem to have harmed her, on the contrary, it has benefited her, for she

+looks better this morning than she has done for weeks.  I was sorry to

+notice that my clumsiness with the safety-pin hurt her.  Indeed, it

+might have been serious, for the skin of her throat was pierced.  I

+must have pinched up a piece of loose skin and have transfixed it, for

+there are two little red points like pin-pricks, and on the band of her

+nightdress was a drop of blood.  When I apologised and was concerned

+about it, she laughed and petted me, and said she did not even feel it.

+Fortunately it cannot leave a scar, as it is so tiny.

+

+

+Same day, night.--We passed a happy day.  The air was clear, and the

+sun bright, and there was a cool breeze.  We took our lunch to Mulgrave

+Woods, Mrs. Westenra driving by the road and Lucy and I walking by the

+cliff-path and joining her at the gate.  I felt a little sad myself,

+for I could not but feel how absolutely happy it would have been had

+Jonathan been with me.  But there!  I must only be patient.  In the

+evening we strolled in the Casino Terrace, and heard some good music by

+Spohr and Mackenzie, and went to bed early.  Lucy seems more restful

+than she has been for some time, and fell asleep at once.  I shall lock

+the door and secure the key the same as before, though I do not expect

+any trouble tonight.

+

+

+12 August.--My expectations were wrong, for twice during the night I

+was wakened by Lucy trying to get out.  She seemed, even in her sleep,

+to be a little impatient at finding the door shut, and went back to bed

+under a sort of protest.  I woke with the dawn, and heard the birds

+chirping outside of the window.  Lucy woke, too, and I was glad to see,

+was even better than on the previous morning.  All her old gaiety of

+manner seemed to have come back, and she came and snuggled in beside me

+and told me all about Arthur.  I told her how anxious I was about

+Jonathan, and then she tried to comfort me.  Well, she succeeded

+somewhat, for, though sympathy can't alter facts, it can make them more

+bearable.

+

+

+13 August.--Another quiet day, and to bed with the key on my wrist as

+before.  Again I awoke in the night, and found Lucy sitting up in bed,

+still asleep, pointing to the window.  I got up quietly, and pulling

+aside the blind, looked out.  It was brilliant moonlight, and the soft

+effect of the light over the sea and sky, merged together in one great

+silent mystery, was beautiful beyond words.  Between me and the

+moonlight flitted a great bat, coming and going in great whirling

+circles.  Once or twice it came quite close, but was, I suppose,

+frightened at seeing me, and flitted away across the harbour towards

+the abbey.  When I came back from the window Lucy had lain down again,

+and was sleeping peacefully.  She did not stir again all night.

+

+

+14 August.--On the East Cliff, reading and writing all day.  Lucy seems

+to have become as much in love with the spot as I am, and it is hard to

+get her away from it when it is time to come home for lunch or tea or

+dinner.  This afternoon she made a funny remark.  We were coming home

+for dinner, and had come to the top of the steps up from the West Pier

+and stopped to look at the view, as we generally do.  The setting sun,

+low down in the sky, was just dropping behind Kettleness.  The red

+light was thrown over on the East Cliff and the old abbey, and seemed

+to bathe everything in a beautiful rosy glow.  We were silent for a

+while, and suddenly Lucy murmured as if to herself . . .

+

+"His red eyes again!  They are just the same."  It was such an odd

+expression, coming apropos of nothing, that it quite startled me.  I

+slewed round a little, so as to see Lucy well without seeming to stare

+at her, and saw that she was in a half dreamy state, with an odd look

+on her face that I could not quite make out, so I said nothing, but

+followed her eyes.  She appeared to be looking over at our own seat,

+whereon was a dark figure seated alone.  I was quite a little startled

+myself, for it seemed for an instant as if the stranger had great eyes

+like burning flames, but a second look dispelled the illusion.  The red

+sunlight was shining on the windows of St. Mary's Church behind our

+seat, and as the sun dipped there was just sufficient change in the

+refraction and reflection to make it appear as if the light moved.  I

+called Lucy's attention to the peculiar effect, and she became herself

+with a start, but she looked sad all the same.  It may have been that

+she was thinking of that terrible night up there.  We never refer to

+it, so I said nothing, and we went home to dinner.  Lucy had a headache

+and went early to bed.  I saw her asleep, and went out for a little

+stroll myself.

+

+I walked along the cliffs to the westward, and was full of sweet

+sadness, for I was thinking of Jonathan.  When coming home, it was then

+bright moonlight, so bright that, though the front of our part of the

+Crescent was in shadow, everything could be well seen, I threw a glance

+up at our window, and saw Lucy's head leaning out.  I opened my

+handkerchief and waved it.  She did not notice or make any movement

+whatever.  Just then, the moonlight crept round an angle of the

+building, and the light fell on the window.  There distinctly was Lucy

+with her head lying up against the side of the window sill and her eyes

+shut.  She was fast asleep, and by her, seated on the window sill, was

+something that looked like a good-sized bird.  I was afraid she might

+get a chill, so I ran upstairs, but as I came into the room she was

+moving back to her bed, fast asleep, and breathing heavily.  She was

+holding her hand to her throat, as though to protect if from the cold.

+

+I did not wake her, but tucked her up warmly.  I have taken care that

+the door is locked and the window securely fastened.

+

+She looks so sweet as she sleeps, but she is paler than is her wont,

+and there is a drawn, haggard look under her eyes which I do not like.

+I fear she is fretting about something.  I wish I could find out what it

+is.

+

+

+15 August.--Rose later than usual.  Lucy was languid and tired, and

+slept on after we had been called.  We had a happy surprise at

+breakfast.  Arthur's father is better, and wants the marriage to come

+off soon.  Lucy is full of quiet joy, and her mother is glad and sorry

+at once.  Later on in the day she told me the cause.  She is grieved to

+lose Lucy as her very own, but she is rejoiced that she is soon to have

+some one to protect her.  Poor dear, sweet lady!  She confided to me

+that she has got her death warrant.  She has not told Lucy, and made me

+promise secrecy.  Her doctor told her that within a few months, at

+most, she must die, for her heart is weakening.  At any time, even now,

+a sudden shock would be almost sure to kill her.  Ah, we were wise to

+keep from her the affair of the dreadful night of Lucy's sleep-walking.

+

+

+17 August.--No diary for two whole days.  I have not had the heart to

+write.  Some sort of shadowy pall seems to be coming over our

+happiness.  No news from Jonathan, and Lucy seems to be growing weaker,

+whilst her mother's hours are numbering to a close.  I do not

+understand Lucy's fading away as she is doing.  She eats well and

+sleeps well, and enjoys the fresh air, but all the time the roses in

+her cheeks are fading, and she gets weaker and more languid day by day.

+At night I hear her gasping as if for air.

+

+I keep the key of our door always fastened to my wrist at night, but

+she gets up and walks about the room, and sits at the open window.

+Last night I found her leaning out when I woke up, and when I tried to

+wake her I could not.

+

+She was in a faint.  When I managed to restore her, she was weak as

+water, and cried silently between long, painful struggles for breath.

+When I asked her how she came to be at the window she shook her head

+and turned away.

+

+I trust her feeling ill may not be from that unlucky prick of the

+safety-pin.  I looked at her throat just now as she lay asleep, and the

+tiny wounds seem not to have healed.  They are still open, and, if

+anything, larger than before, and the edges of them are faintly white.

+They are like little white dots with red centres.  Unless they heal

+within a day or two, I shall insist on the doctor seeing about them.

+

+

+

+LETTER, SAMUEL F. BILLINGTON & SON, SOLICITORS WHITBY,

+TO MESSRS. CARTER, PATERSON & CO., LONDON.

+

+17 August

+

+"Dear Sirs,--Herewith please receive invoice of goods sent by Great

+Northern Railway.  Same are to be delivered at Carfax, near

+Purfleet, immediately on receipt at goods station King's Cross.  The

+house is at present empty, but enclosed please find keys, all of

+which are labelled.

+

+"You will please deposit the boxes, fifty in number, which form the

+consignment, in the partially ruined building forming part of the

+house and marked 'A' on rough diagrams enclosed.  Your agent will

+easily recognize the locality, as it is the ancient chapel of the

+mansion.  The goods leave by the train at 9:30 tonight, and will be

+due at King's Cross at 4:30 tomorrow afternoon.  As our client

+wishes the delivery made as soon as possible, we shall be obliged by

+your having teams ready at King's Cross at the time named and

+forthwith conveying the goods to destination.  In order to obviate

+any delays possible through any routine requirements as to payment

+in your departments, we enclose cheque herewith for ten pounds,

+receipt of which please acknowledge.  Should the charge be less than

+this amount, you can return balance, if greater, we shall at once

+send cheque for difference on hearing from you.  You are to leave

+the keys on coming away in the main hall of the house, where the

+proprietor may get them on his entering the house by means of his

+duplicate key.

+

+"Pray do not take us as exceeding the bounds of business courtesy

+in pressing you in all ways to use the utmost expedition.

+

+"We are, dear Sirs,

+Faithfully yours,

+SAMUEL F. BILLINGTON & SON"

+

+

+

+LETTER, MESSRS.  CARTER, PATERSON & CO., LONDON,

+TO MESSRS. BILLINGTON & SON, WHITBY.

+

+21 August.

+

+"Dear Sirs,--We beg to acknowledge 10 pounds received and to return

+cheque of 1 pound, 17s, 9d, amount of overplus, as shown in

+receipted account herewith.  Goods are delivered in exact accordance

+with instructions, and keys left in parcel in main hall, as

+directed.

+

+"We are, dear Sirs,

+Yours respectfully,

+Pro CARTER, PATERSON & CO."

+

+

+

+MINA MURRAY'S JOURNAL.

+

+18 August.--I am happy today, and write sitting on the seat in the

+churchyard.  Lucy is ever so much better.  Last night she slept well

+all night, and did not disturb me once.

+

+The roses seem coming back already to her cheeks, though she is still

+sadly pale and wan-looking.  If she were in any way anemic I could

+understand it, but she is not.  She is in gay spirits and full of life

+and cheerfulness.  All the morbid reticence seems to have passed from

+her, and she has just reminded me, as if I needed any reminding, of

+that night, and that it was here, on this very seat, I found her

+asleep.

+

+As she told me she tapped playfully with the heel of her boot on the

+stone slab and said,

+

+"My poor little feet didn't make much noise then!  I daresay poor old

+Mr. Swales would have told me that it was because I didn't want to wake

+up Geordie."

+

+As she was in such a communicative humour, I asked her if she had

+dreamed at all that night.

+

+Before she answered, that sweet, puckered look came into her forehead,

+which Arthur, I call him Arthur from her habit, says he loves, and

+indeed, I don't wonder that he does.  Then she went on in a

+half-dreaming kind of way, as if trying to recall it to herself.

+

+"I didn't quite dream, but it all seemed to be real.  I only wanted to

+be here in this spot.  I don't know why, for I was afraid of something,

+I don't know what.  I remember, though I suppose I was asleep, passing

+through the streets and over the bridge.  A fish leaped as I went by,

+and I leaned over to look at it, and I heard a lot of dogs howling.  The

+whole town seemed as if it must be full of dogs all howling at once, as

+I went up the steps.  Then I had a vague memory of something long and

+dark with red eyes, just as we saw in the sunset, and something very

+sweet and very bitter all around me at once.  And then I seemed sinking

+into deep green water, and there was a singing in my ears, as I have

+heard there is to drowning men, and then everything seemed passing away

+from me.  My soul seemed to go out from my body and float about the

+air.  I seem to remember that once the West Lighthouse was right under

+me, and then there was a sort of agonizing feeling, as if I were in an

+earthquake, and I came back and found you shaking my body.  I saw you

+do it before I felt you."

+

+Then she began to laugh.  It seemed a little uncanny to me, and I

+listened to her breathlessly.  I did not quite like it, and thought it

+better not to keep her mind on the subject, so we drifted on to another

+subject, and Lucy was like her old self again.  When we got home the

+fresh breeze had braced her up, and her pale cheeks were really more

+rosy.  Her mother rejoiced when she saw her, and we all spent a very

+happy evening together.

+

+

+19 August.--Joy, joy, joy!  Although not all joy.  At last, news of

+Jonathan.  The dear fellow has been ill, that is why he did not write.

+I am not afraid to think it or to say it, now that I know.  Mr. Hawkins

+sent me on the letter, and wrote himself, oh so kindly.  I am to leave

+in the morning and go over to Jonathan, and to help to nurse him if

+necessary, and to bring him home.  Mr. Hawkins says it would not be a

+bad thing if we were to be married out there.  I have cried over the

+good Sister's letter till I can feel it wet against my bosom, where it

+lies.  It is of Jonathan, and must be near my heart, for he is in my

+heart.  My journey is all mapped out, and my luggage ready.  I am only

+taking one change of dress.  Lucy will bring my trunk to London and

+keep it till I send for it, for it may be that . . .  I must write no

+more.  I must keep it to say to Jonathan, my husband.  The letter that

+he has seen and touched must comfort me till we meet.

+

+

+

+LETTER, SISTER AGATHA, HOSPITAL OF ST. JOSEPH AND

+STE. MARY BUDA-PESTH, TO MISS WILLHELMINA MURRAY

+

+12 August,

+

+"Dear Madam.

+

+"I write by desire of Mr. Jonathan Harker, who is himself not strong

+enough to write, though progressing well, thanks to God and St.

+Joseph and Ste. Mary.  He has been under our care for nearly six

+weeks, suffering from a violent brain fever.  He wishes me to convey

+his love, and to say that by this post I write for him to Mr. Peter

+Hawkins, Exeter, to say, with his dutiful respects, that he is sorry

+for his delay, and that all of his work is completed.  He will

+require some few weeks' rest in our sanatorium in the hills, but

+will then return.  He wishes me to say that he has not sufficient

+money with him, and that he would like to pay for his staying here,

+so that others who need shall not be wanting for help.

+

+"Believe me,

+

+"Yours, with sympathy

+and all blessings.

+Sister Agatha

+

+"P.S.--My patient being asleep, I open this to let you know

+something more.  He has told me all about you, and that you are

+shortly to be his wife.  All blessings to you both!  He has had some

+fearful shock, so says our doctor, and in his delirium his ravings

+have been dreadful, of wolves and poison and blood, of ghosts and

+demons, and I fear to say of what.  Be careful of him always that

+there may be nothing to excite him of this kind for a long time to

+come.  The traces of such an illness as his do not lightly die away.

+We should have written long ago, but we knew nothing of his friends,

+and there was nothing on him, nothing that anyone could understand.

+He came in the train from Klausenburg, and the guard was told by the

+station master there that he rushed into the station shouting for a

+ticket for home.  Seeing from his violent demeanour that he was

+English, they gave him a ticket for the furthest station on the way

+thither that the train reached.

+

+"Be assured that he is well cared for.  He has won all hearts by his

+sweetness and gentleness.  He is truly getting on well, and I have

+no doubt will in a few weeks be all himself.  But be careful of him

+for safety's sake.  There are, I pray God and St. Joseph and Ste.

+Mary, many, many, happy years for you both."

+

+

+

+DR. SEWARD'S DIARY

+

+19 August.--Strange and sudden change in Renfield last night.  About

+eight o'clock he began to get excited and sniff about as a dog does

+when setting.  The attendant was struck by his manner, and knowing my

+interest in him, encouraged him to talk.  He is usually respectful to

+the attendant and at times servile, but tonight, the man tells me, he

+was quite haughty.  Would not condescend to talk with him at all.

+

+All he would say was, "I don't want to talk to you.  You don't count

+now.  The master is at hand."

+

+The attendant thinks it is some sudden form of religious mania which

+has seized him.  If so, we must look out for squalls, for a strong man

+with homicidal and religious mania at once might be dangerous.  The

+combination is a dreadful one.

+

+At nine o'clock I visited him myself.  His attitude to me was the same

+as that to the attendant.  In his sublime self-feeling the difference

+between myself and the attendant seemed to him as nothing.  It looks

+like religious mania, and he will soon think that he himself is God.

+

+These infinitesimal distinctions between man and man are too paltry for

+an Omnipotent Being.  How these madmen give themselves away!  The real

+God taketh heed lest a sparrow fall.  But the God created from human

+vanity sees no difference between an eagle and a sparrow.  Oh, if men

+only knew!

+

+For half an hour or more Renfield kept getting excited in greater and

+greater degree.  I did not pretend to be watching him, but I kept

+strict observation all the same.  All at once that shifty look came

+into his eyes which we always see when a madman has seized an idea, and

+with it the shifty movement of the head and back which asylum

+attendants come to know so well.  He became quite quiet, and went and

+sat on the edge of his bed resignedly, and looked into space with

+lack-luster eyes.

+

+I thought I would find out if his apathy were real or only assumed, and

+tried to lead him to talk of his pets, a theme which had never failed

+to excite his attention.

+

+At first he made no reply, but at length said testily, "Bother them

+all!  I don't care a pin about them."

+

+"What?" I said.  "You don't mean to tell me you don't care about

+spiders?"  (Spiders at present are his hobby and the notebook is filling

+up with columns of small figures.)

+

+To this he answered enigmatically, "The Bride maidens rejoice the eyes

+that wait the coming of the bride.  But when the bride draweth nigh,

+then the maidens shine not to the eyes that are filled."

+

+He would not explain himself, but remained obstinately seated on his

+bed all the time I remained with him.

+

+I am weary tonight and low in spirits.  I cannot but think of Lucy, and

+how different things might have been.  If I don't sleep at once,

+chloral, the modern Morpheus!  I must be careful not to let it grow

+into a habit.  No, I shall take none tonight!  I have thought of Lucy,

+and I shall not dishonour her by mixing the two.  If need be, tonight

+shall be sleepless.

+

+

+Later.--Glad I made the resolution, gladder that I kept to it.  I had

+lain tossing about, and had heard the clock strike only twice, when the

+night watchman came to me, sent up from the ward, to say that Renfield

+had escaped.  I threw on my clothes and ran down at once.  My patient

+is too dangerous a person to be roaming about.  Those ideas of his

+might work out dangerously with strangers.

+

+The attendant was waiting for me.  He said he had seen him not ten

+minutes before, seemingly asleep in his bed, when he had looked through

+the observation trap in the door.  His attention was called by the

+sound of the window being wrenched out.  He ran back and saw his feet

+disappear through the window, and had at once sent up for me.  He was

+only in his night gear, and cannot be far off.

+

+The attendant thought it would be more useful to watch where he should

+go than to follow him, as he might lose sight of him whilst getting out

+of the building by the door.  He is a bulky man, and couldn't get

+through the window.

+

+I am thin, so, with his aid, I got out, but feet foremost, and as we

+were only a few feet above ground landed unhurt.

+

+The attendant told me the patient had gone to the left, and had taken a

+straight line, so I ran as quickly as I could.  As I got through the

+belt of trees I saw a white figure scale the high wall which separates

+our grounds from those of the deserted house.

+

+I ran back at once, told the watchman to get three or four men

+immediately and follow me into the grounds of Carfax, in case our

+friend might be dangerous.  I got a ladder myself, and crossing the

+wall, dropped down on the other side.  I could see Renfield's figure

+just disappearing behind the angle of the house, so I ran after him.  On

+the far side of the house I found him pressed close against the old

+iron-bound oak door of the chapel.

+

+He was talking, apparently to some one, but I was afraid to go near

+enough to hear what he was saying, lest I might frighten him, and he

+should run off.

+

+Chasing an errant swarm of bees is nothing to following a naked

+lunatic, when the fit of escaping is upon him!  After a few minutes,

+however, I could see that he did not take note of anything around him,

+and so ventured to draw nearer to him, the more so as my men had now

+crossed the wall and were closing him in.  I heard him say . . .

+

+"I am here to do your bidding, Master.  I am your slave, and you will

+reward me, for I shall be faithful.  I have worshipped you long and afar

+off.  Now that you are near, I await your commands, and you will not

+pass me by, will you, dear Master, in your distribution of good

+things?"

+

+He is a selfish old beggar anyhow.  He thinks of the loaves and fishes

+even when he believes his is in a real Presence.  His manias make a

+startling combination.  When we closed in on him he fought like a

+tiger.  He is immensely strong, for he was more like a wild beast than

+a man.

+

+I never saw a lunatic in such a paroxysm of rage before, and I hope I

+shall not again.  It is a mercy that we have found out his strength and

+his danger in good time.  With strength and determination like his, he

+might have done wild work before he was caged.

+

+He is safe now, at any rate.  Jack Sheppard himself couldn't get free

+from the strait waistcoat that keeps him restrained, and he's chained

+to the wall in the padded room.

+

+His cries are at times awful, but the silences that follow are more

+deadly still, for he means murder in every turn and movement.

+

+Just now he spoke coherent words for the first time.  "I shall be

+patient, Master.  It is coming, coming, coming!"

+

+So I took the hint, and came too.  I was too excited to sleep, but this

+diary has quieted me, and I feel I shall get some sleep tonight.

+

+

+

+

+CHAPTER 9

+

+

+LETTER, MINA HARKER TO LUCY WESTENRA

+

+

+Buda-Pesth, 24 August.

+

+"My dearest Lucy,

+

+"I know you will be anxious to hear all that has happened

+since we parted at the railway station at Whitby.

+

+"Well, my dear, I got to Hull all right, and caught the boat to

+Hamburg, and then the train on here.  I feel that I can hardly

+recall anything of the journey, except that I knew I was coming to

+Jonathan, and that as I should have to do some nursing, I had better

+get all the sleep I could.  I found my dear one, oh, so thin and

+pale and weak-looking. All the resolution has gone out of his dear

+eyes, and that quiet dignity which I told you was in his face has

+vanished.  He is only a wreck of himself, and he does not remember

+anything that has happened to him for a long time past.  At least,

+he wants me to believe so, and I shall never ask.

+

+"He has had some terrible shock, and I fear it might tax his poor

+brain if he were to try to recall it.  Sister Agatha, who is a good

+creature and a born nurse, tells me that he wanted her to tell me

+what they were, but she would only cross herself, and say she would

+never tell.  That the ravings of the sick were the secrets of God,

+and that if a nurse through her vocation should hear them, she

+should respect her trust.

+

+"She is a sweet, good soul, and the next day, when she saw I was

+troubled, she opened up the subject my poor dear raved about, added,

+'I can tell you this much, my dear.  That it was not about anything

+which he has done wrong himself, and you, as his wife to be, have no

+cause to be concerned.  He has not forgotten you or what he owes to

+you.  His fear was of great and terrible things, which no mortal can

+treat of.'

+

+"I do believe the dear soul thought I might be jealous lest my poor

+dear should have fallen in love with any other girl.  The idea of my

+being jealous about Jonathan!  And yet, my dear, let me whisper, I

+felt a thrill of joy through me when I knew that no other woman was

+a cause for trouble.  I am now sitting by his bedside, where I can

+see his face while he sleeps.  He is waking!

+

+"When he woke he asked me for his coat, as he wanted to get

+something from the pocket.  I asked Sister Agatha, and she brought

+all his things.  I saw amongst them was his notebook, and was

+going to ask him to let me look at it, for I knew that I might find

+some clue to his trouble, but I suppose he must have seen my wish in

+my eyes, for he sent me over to the window, saying he wanted to be

+quite alone for a moment.

+

+"Then he called me back, and he said to me very solemnly,

+'Wilhelmina', I knew then that he was in deadly earnest, for he has

+never called me by that name since he asked me to marry him, 'You

+know, dear, my ideas of the trust between husband and wife.  There

+should be no secret, no concealment.  I have had a great shock, and

+when I try to think of what it is I feel my head spin round, and I

+do not know if it was real of the dreaming of a madman.  You know I

+had brain fever, and that is to be mad.  The secret is here, and I

+do not want to know it.  I want to take up my life here, with our

+marriage.'  For, my dear, we had decided to be married as soon as

+the formalities are complete.  'Are you willing, Wilhelmina, to

+share my ignorance?  Here is the book.  Take it and keep it, read it

+if you will, but never let me know unless, indeed, some solemn duty

+should come upon me to go back to the bitter hours, asleep or awake,

+sane or mad, recorded here.'  He fell back exhausted, and I put the

+book under his pillow, and kissed him.  I have asked Sister Agatha

+to beg the Superior to let our wedding be this afternoon, and am

+waiting her reply . . ."

+

+

+"She has come and told me that the Chaplain of the English mission

+church has been sent for.  We are to be married in an hour, or as

+soon after as Jonathan awakes."

+

+"Lucy, the time has come and gone.  I feel very solemn, but very,

+very happy.  Jonathan woke a little after the hour, and all was

+ready, and he sat up in bed, propped up with pillows.  He answered

+his 'I will' firmly and strong.  I could hardly speak.  My heart was

+so full that even those words seemed to choke me.

+

+"The dear sisters were so kind.  Please, God, I shall never, never

+forget them, nor the grave and sweet responsibilities I have taken

+upon me.  I must tell you of my wedding present.  When the chaplain

+and the sisters had left me alone with my husband--oh, Lucy, it is

+the first time I have written the words 'my husband'--left me alone

+with my husband, I took the book from under his pillow, and wrapped

+it up in white paper, and tied it with a little bit of pale blue

+ribbon which was round my neck, and sealed it over the knot with

+sealing wax, and for my seal I used my wedding ring.  Then I kissed

+it and showed it to my husband, and told him that I would keep it

+so, and then it would be an outward and visible sign for us all our

+lives that we trusted each other, that I would never open it unless

+it were for his own dear sake or for the sake of some stern duty.

+Then he took my hand in his, and oh, Lucy, it was the first time he

+took his wife's hand, and said that it was the dearest thing in all

+the wide world, and that he would go through all the past again to

+win it, if need be.  The poor dear meant to have said a part of the

+past, but he cannot think of time yet, and I shall not wonder if at

+first he mixes up not only the month, but the year.

+

+"Well, my dear, what could I say?  I could only tell him that I was

+the happiest woman in all the wide world, and that I had nothing to

+give him except myself, my life, and my trust, and that with these

+went my love and duty for all the days of my life.  And, my dear,

+when he kissed me, and drew me to him with his poor weak hands, it

+was like a solemn pledge between us.

+

+"Lucy dear, do you know why I tell you all this?  It is not only

+because it is all sweet to me, but because you have been, and are,

+very dear to me.  It was my privilege to be your friend and guide

+when you came from the schoolroom to prepare for the world of life.

+I want you to see now, and with the eyes of a very happy wife,

+whither duty has led me, so that in your own married life you too

+may be all happy, as I am.  My dear, please Almighty God, your life

+may be all it promises, a long day of sunshine, with no harsh wind,

+no forgetting duty, no distrust.  I must not wish you no pain, for

+that can never be, but I do hope you will be always as happy as I am

+now.  Goodbye, my dear.  I shall post this at once, and perhaps,

+write you very soon again.  I must stop, for Jonathan is waking.  I

+must attend my husband!

+

+"Your ever-loving

+Mina Harker."

+

+

+

+LETTER, LUCY WESTENRA TO MINA HARKER.

+

+Whitby, 30 August.

+

+"My dearest Mina,

+

+"Oceans of love and millions of kisses, and may you soon be in your

+own home with your husband.  I wish you were coming home soon enough

+to stay with us here.  The strong air would soon restore Jonathan.

+It has quite restored me.  I have an appetite like a cormorant, am

+full of life, and sleep well.  You will be glad to know that I have

+quite given up walking in my sleep.  I think I have not stirred out

+of my bed for a week, that is when I once got into it at night.

+Arthur says I am getting fat.  By the way, I forgot to tell you that

+Arthur is here.  We have such walks and drives, and rides, and

+rowing, and tennis, and fishing together, and I love him more than

+ever.  He tells me that he loves me more, but I doubt that, for at

+first he told me that he couldn't love me more than he did then.

+But this is nonsense.  There he is, calling to me.  So no more just

+at present from your loving,

+

+"Lucy.

+

+"P.S.--Mother sends her love.  She seems better, poor dear.

+

+"P.P.S.--We are to be married on 28 September."

+

+

+

+DR. SEWARDS DIARY

+

+20 August.--The case of Renfield grows even more interesting.  He has

+now so far quieted that there are spells of cessation from his

+passion.  For the first week after his attack he was perpetually

+violent.  Then one night, just as the moon rose, he grew quiet, and

+kept murmuring to himself.  "Now I can wait.  Now I can wait."

+

+The attendant came to tell me, so I ran down at once to have a look at

+him.  He was still in the strait waistcoat and in the padded room, but

+the suffused look had gone from his face, and his eyes had something

+of their old pleading.  I might almost say, cringing, softness.  I was

+satisfied with his present condition, and directed him to be relieved.

+The attendants hesitated, but finally carried out my wishes without

+protest.

+

+It was a strange thing that the patient had humour enough to see their

+distrust, for, coming close to me, he said in a whisper, all the while

+looking furtively at them, "They think I could hurt you!  Fancy me

+hurting you!  The fools!"

+

+It was soothing, somehow, to the feelings to find myself disassociated

+even in the mind of this poor madman from the others, but all the same

+I do not follow his thought.  Am I to take it that I have anything in

+common with him, so that we are, as it were, to stand together.  Or

+has he to gain from me some good so stupendous that my well being is

+needful to Him?  I must find out later on.  Tonight he will not speak.

+Even the offer of a kitten or even a full-grown cat will not tempt

+him.

+

+He will only say, "I don't take any stock in cats.  I have more to

+think of now, and I can wait.  I can wait."

+

+After a while I left him.  The attendant tells me that he was quiet

+until just before dawn, and that then he began to get uneasy, and at

+length violent, until at last he fell into a paroxysm which exhausted

+him so that he swooned into a sort of coma.

+

+

+. . . Three nights has the same thing happened, violent all day then

+quiet from moonrise to sunrise.  I wish I could get some clue to the

+cause.  It would almost seem as if there was some influence which came

+and went.  Happy thought!  We shall tonight play sane wits against mad

+ones.  He escaped before without our help.  Tonight he shall escape

+with it.  We shall give him a chance, and have the men ready to follow

+in case they are required.

+

+

+23 August.--"The expected always happens."  How well Disraeli knew

+life.  Our bird when he found the cage open would not fly, so all our

+subtle arrangements were for nought.  At any rate, we have proved one

+thing, that the spells of quietness last a reasonable time.  We shall

+in future be able to ease his bonds for a few hours each day.  I have

+given orders to the night attendant merely to shut him in the padded

+room, when once he is quiet, until the hour before sunrise.  The poor

+soul's body will enjoy the relief even if his mind cannot appreciate

+it.  Hark!  The unexpected again!  I am called.  The patient has once

+more escaped.

+

+

+Later.--Another night adventure.  Renfield artfully waited until the

+attendant was entering the room to inspect.  Then he dashed out past

+him and flew down the passage.  I sent word for the attendants to

+follow.  Again he went into the grounds of the deserted house, and we

+found him in the same place, pressed against the old chapel door.

+When he saw me he became furious, and had not the attendants seized

+him in time, he would have tried to kill me.  As we were holding him a

+strange thing happened.  He suddenly redoubled his efforts, and then

+as suddenly grew calm.  I looked round instinctively, but could see

+nothing.  Then I caught the patient's eye and followed it, but could

+trace nothing as it looked into the moonlight sky, except a big bat,

+which was flapping its silent and ghostly way to the west.  Bats

+usually wheel about, but this one seemed to go straight on, as if it

+knew where it was bound for or had some intention of its own.

+

+The patient grew calmer every instant, and presently said, "You

+needn't tie me.  I shall go quietly!"  Without trouble, we came back

+to the house.  I feel there is something ominous in his calm, and

+shall not forget this night.

+

+

+

+LUCY WESTENRA'S DIARY

+

+Hillingham, 24 August.--I must imitate Mina, and keep writing things

+down.  Then we can have long talks when we do meet.  I wonder when it

+will be.  I wish she were with me again, for I feel so unhappy.  Last

+night I seemed to be dreaming again just as I was at Whitby.  Perhaps

+it is the change of air, or getting home again.  It is all dark and

+horrid to me, for I can remember nothing.  But I am full of vague

+fear, and I feel so weak and worn out.  When Arthur came to lunch he

+looked quite grieved when he saw me, and I hadn't the spirit to try to

+be cheerful.  I wonder if I could sleep in mother's room tonight.  I

+shall make an excuse to try.

+

+

+25 August.--Another bad night.  Mother did not seem to take to my

+proposal.  She seems not too well herself, and doubtless she fears to

+worry me.  I tried to keep awake, and succeeded for a while, but when

+the clock struck twelve it waked me from a doze, so I must have been

+falling asleep.  There was a sort of scratching or flapping at the

+window, but I did not mind it, and as I remember no more, I suppose I

+must have fallen asleep.  More bad dreams.  I wish I could remember

+them.  This morning I am horribly weak.  My face is ghastly pale, and

+my throat pains me.  It must be something wrong with my lungs, for I

+don't seem to be getting air enough.  I shall try to cheer up when

+Arthur comes, or else I know he will be miserable to see me so.

+

+

+

+LETTER, ARTHUR TO DR. SEWARD

+

+"Albemarle Hotel, 31 August

+

+"My dear Jack,

+

+"I want you to do me a favour.  Lucy is ill, that is she has no

+special disease, but she looks awful, and is getting worse every

+day.  I have asked her if there is any cause, I not dare to ask her

+mother, for to disturb the poor lady's mind about her daughter in

+her present state of health would be fatal.  Mrs. Westenra has

+confided to me that her doom is spoken, disease of the heart, though

+poor Lucy does not know it yet.  I am sure that there is something

+preying on my dear girl's mind.  I am almost distracted when I think

+of her.  To look at her gives me a pang.  I told her I should ask

+you to see her, and though she demurred at first, I know why, old

+fellow, she finally consented.  It will be a painful task for you, I

+know, old friend, but it is for her sake, and I must not hesitate to

+ask, or you to act.  You are to come to lunch at Hillingham

+tomorrow, two o'clock, so as not to arouse any suspicion in Mrs.

+Westenra, and after lunch Lucy will take an opportunity of being

+alone with you.  I am filled with anxiety, and want to consult with

+you alone as soon as I can after you have seen her.  Do not fail!

+

+"Arthur."

+

+

+

+TELEGRAM, ARTHUR HOLMWOOD TO SEWARD

+

+1 September

+

+"Am summoned to see my father, who is worse.  Am writing.  Write

+me fully by tonight's post to Ring.  Wire me if necessary."

+

+

+

+LETTER FROM DR. SEWARD TO ARTHUR HOLMWOOD

+

+2 September

+

+"My dear old fellow,

+

+"With regard to Miss Westenra's health I hasten to let you know at

+once that in my opinion there is not any functional disturbance or

+any malady that I know of.  At the same time, I am not by any means

+satisfied with her appearance. She is woefully different from what

+she was when I saw her last.  Of course you must bear in mind that I

+did not have full opportunity of examination such as I should wish.

+Our very friendship makes a little difficulty which not even medical

+science or custom can bridge over.  I had better tell you exactly

+what happened, leaving you to draw, in a measure, your own

+conclusions.  I shall then say what I have done and propose doing.

+

+"I found Miss Westenra in seemingly gay spirits.  Her mother was

+present, and in a few seconds I made up my mind that she was trying

+all she knew to mislead her mother and prevent her from being

+anxious.  I have no doubt she guesses, if she does not know, what

+need of caution there is.

+

+"We lunched alone, and as we all exerted ourselves to be cheerful,

+we got, as some kind of reward for our labours, some real

+cheerfulness amongst us.  Then Mrs. Westenra went to lie down, and

+Lucy was left with me.  We went into her boudoir, and till we got

+there her gaiety remained, for the servants were coming and going.

+

+"As soon as the door was closed, however, the mask fell from her

+face, and she sank down into a chair with a great sigh, and hid her

+eyes with her hand.  When I saw that her high spirits had failed, I

+at once took advantage of her reaction to make a diagnosis.

+

+"She said to me very sweetly, 'I cannot tell you how I loathe

+talking about myself.'  I reminded her that a doctor's confidence

+was sacred, but that you were grievously anxious about her.  She

+caught on to my meaning at once, and settled that matter in a word.

+'Tell Arthur everything you choose.  I do not care for myself, but

+for him!'  So I am quite free.

+

+"I could easily see that she was somewhat bloodless, but I could not

+see the usual anemic signs, and by the chance, I was able to test

+the actual quality of her blood, for in opening a window which was

+stiff a cord gave way, and she cut her hand slightly with broken

+glass.  It was a slight matter in itself, but it gave me an evident

+chance, and I secured a few drops of the blood and have analysed

+them.

+

+"The qualitative analysis give a quite normal condition, and shows,

+I should infer, in itself a vigorous state of health.  In other

+physical matters I was quite satisfied that there is no need for

+anxiety, but as there must be a cause somewhere, I have come to the

+conclusion that it must be something mental.

+

+"She complains of difficulty breathing satisfactorily at times, and

+of heavy, lethargic sleep, with dreams that frighten her, but

+regarding which she can remember nothing.  She says that as a child,

+she used to walk in her sleep, and that when in Whitby the habit

+came back, and that once she walked out in the night and went to

+East Cliff, where Miss Murray found her.  But she assures me that of

+late the habit has not returned.

+

+"I am in doubt, and so have done the best thing I know of. I have

+written to my old friend and master, Professor Van Helsing, of

+Amsterdam, who knows as much about obscure diseases as any one in

+the world.  I have asked him to come over, and as you told me that

+all things were to be at your charge, I have mentioned to him who

+you are and your relations to Miss Westenra.  This, my dear fellow,

+is in obedience to your wishes, for I am only too proud and happy to

+do anything I can for her.

+

+"Van Helsing would, I know, do anything for me for a personal

+reason, so no matter on what ground he comes, we must accept his

+wishes.  He is a seemingly arbitrary man, this is because he knows

+what he is talking about better than any one else.  He is a

+philosopher and a metaphysician, and one of the most advanced

+scientists of his day, and he has, I believe, an absolutely open

+mind.  This, with an iron nerve, a temper of the ice-brook, and

+indomitable resolution, self-command, and toleration exalted from

+virtues to blessings, and the kindliest and truest heart that beats,

+these form his equipment for the noble work that he is doing for

+mankind, work both in theory and practice, for his views are as wide

+as his all-embracing sympathy.  I tell you these facts that you may

+know why I have such confidence in him.  I have asked him to come at

+once.  I shall see Miss Westenra tomorrow again.  She is to meet me

+at the Stores, so that I may not alarm her mother by too early a

+repetition of my call.

+

+"Yours always."

+

+John Seward

+

+

+

+

+LETTER, ABRAHAM VAN HELSING, MD, DPh, D. Lit, ETC, ETC, TO DR. SEWARD

+

+2 September.

+

+"My good Friend,

+

+"When I received your letter I am already coming to you.  By good

+fortune I can leave just at once, without wrong to any of those who

+have trusted me.  Were fortune other, then it were bad for those who

+have trusted, for I come to my friend when he call me to aid those

+he holds dear.  Tell your friend that when that time you suck from

+my wound so swiftly the poison of the gangrene from that knife that

+our other friend, too nervous, let slip, you did more for him when

+he wants my aids and you call for them than all his great fortune

+could do.  But it is pleasure added to do for him, your friend, it

+is to you that I come.  Have near at hand, and please it so arrange

+that we may see the young lady not too late on tomorrow, for it is

+likely that I may have to return here that night.  But if need be I

+shall come again in three days, and stay longer if it must.  Till

+then goodbye, my friend John.

+

+"Van Helsing."

+

+

+

+LETTER, DR. SEWARD TO HON. ARTHUR HOLMWOOD

+

+3 September

+

+"My dear Art,

+

+"Van Helsing has come and gone.  He came on with me to Hillingham,

+and found that, by Lucy's discretion, her mother was lunching out,

+so that we were alone with her.

+

+"Van Helsing made a very careful examination of the patient.  He is

+to report to me, and I shall advise you, for of course I was not

+present all the time.  He is, I fear, much concerned, but says he

+must think.  When I told him of our friendship and how you trust to

+me in the matter, he said, 'You must tell him all you think.  Tell

+him what I think, if you can guess it, if you will.  Nay, I am

+not jesting.  This is no jest, but life and death, perhaps more.'  I

+asked what he meant by that, for he was very serious.  This was when

+we had come back to town, and he was having a cup of tea before

+starting on his return to Amsterdam.  He would not give me any

+further clue.  You must not be angry with me, Art, because his very

+reticence means that all his brains are working for her good.  He

+will speak plainly enough when the time comes, be sure.  So I told

+him I would simply write an account of our visit, just as if I were

+doing a descriptive special article for THE DAILY TELEGRAPH.  He

+seemed not to notice, but remarked that the smuts of London were not

+quite so bad as they used to be when he was a student here.  I am to

+get his report tomorrow if he can possibly make it.  In any case I

+am to have a letter.

+

+"Well, as to the visit, Lucy was more cheerful than on the day I

+first saw her, and certainly looked better.  She had lost something

+of the ghastly look that so upset you, and her breathing was normal.

+She was very sweet to the Professor (as she always is), and tried to

+make him feel at ease, though I could see the poor girl was making a

+hard struggle for it.

+

+"I believe Van Helsing saw it, too, for I saw the quick look

+under his bushy brows that I knew of old.  Then he began to

+chat of all things except ourselves and diseases and with

+such an infinite geniality that I could see poor Lucy's

+pretense of animation merge into reality.  Then, without

+any seeming change, he brought the conversation gently round

+to his visit, and suavely said,

+

+"'My dear young miss, I have the so great pleasure because you are

+so much beloved.  That is much, my dear, even were there that which

+I do not see.  They told me you were down in the spirit, and that

+you were of a ghastly pale.  To them I say "Pouf!"'  And he snapped

+his fingers at me and went on.  'But you and I shall show them how

+wrong they are.  How can he,' and he pointed at me with the same

+look and gesture as that with which he pointed me out in his class,

+on, or rather after, a particular occasion which he never fails to

+remind me of, 'know anything of a young ladies?  He has his madmen

+to play with, and to bring them back to happiness, and to those that

+love them.  It is much to do, and, oh, but there are rewards in that

+we can bestow such happiness.  But the young ladies!  He has no wife

+nor daughter, and the young do not tell themselves to the young, but

+to the old, like me, who have known so many sorrows and the causes

+of them.  So, my dear, we will send him away to smoke the cigarette

+in the garden, whiles you and I have little talk all to ourselves.'

+I took the hint, and strolled about, and presently the professor

+came to the window and called me in.  He looked grave, but said, 'I

+have made careful examination, but there is no functional cause.

+With you I agree that there has been much blood lost, it has been

+but is not.  But the conditions of her are in no way anemic.  I have

+asked her to send me her maid, that I may ask just one or two

+questions, that so I may not chance to miss nothing.  I know well

+what she will say.  And yet there is cause.  There is always cause

+for everything.  I must go back home and think.  You must send me

+the telegram every day, and if there be cause I shall come again.

+The disease, for not to be well is a disease, interest me, and the

+sweet, young dear, she interest me too.  She charm me, and for her,

+if not for you or disease, I come.'

+

+"As I tell you, he would not say a word more, even when we were

+alone.  And so now, Art, you know all I know.  I shall keep stern

+watch.  I trust your poor father is rallying.  It must be a terrible

+thing to you, my dear old fellow, to be placed in such a position

+between two people who are both so dear to you.  I know your idea of

+duty to your father, and you are right to stick to it.  But if need

+be, I shall send you word to come at once to Lucy, so do not be

+over-anxious unless you hear from me."

+

+

+

+DR. SEWARD'S DIARY

+

+4 September.--Zoophagous patient still keeps up our interest in him.

+He had only one outburst and that was yesterday at an unusual time.

+Just before the stroke of noon he began to grow restless.  The

+attendant knew the symptoms, and at once summoned aid.  Fortunately

+the men came at a run, and were just in time, for at the stroke of

+noon he became so violent that it took all their strength to hold him.

+In about five minutes, however, he began to get more quiet, and

+finally sank into a sort of melancholy, in which state he has remained

+up to now.  The attendant tells me that his screams whilst in the

+paroxysm were really appalling.  I found my hands full when I got in,

+attending to some of the other patients who were frightened by him.

+Indeed, I can quite understand the effect, for the sounds disturbed

+even me, though I was some distance away.  It is now after the dinner

+hour of the asylum, and as yet my patient sits in a corner brooding,

+with a dull, sullen, woe-begone look in his face, which seems rather

+to indicate than to show something directly.  I cannot quite

+understand it.

+

+

+Later.--Another change in my patient.  At five o'clock I looked in on

+him, and found him seemingly as happy and contented as he used to be.

+He was catching flies and eating them, and was keeping note of his

+capture by making nailmarks on the edge of the door between the ridges

+of padding.  When he saw me, he came over and apologized for his bad

+conduct, and asked me in a very humble, cringing way to be led back to

+his own room, and to have his notebook again.  I thought it well to

+humour him, so he is back in his room with the window open.  He has

+the sugar of his tea spread out on the window sill, and is reaping

+quite a harvest of flies.  He is not now eating them, but putting them

+into a box, as of old, and is already examining the corners of his

+room to find a spider.  I tried to get him to talk about the past few

+days, for any clue to his thoughts would be of immense help to me, but

+he would not rise.  For a moment or two he looked very sad, and said

+in a sort of far away voice, as though saying it rather to himself

+than to me.

+

+"All over!  All over!  He has deserted me.  No hope for me now unless

+I do it myself!"  Then suddenly turning to me in a resolute way, he

+said, "Doctor, won't you be very good to me and let me have a little

+more sugar?  I think it would be very good for me."

+

+"And the flies?" I said.

+

+"Yes!  The flies like it, too, and I like the flies, therefore I like

+it."  And there are people who know so little as to think that madmen do

+not argue.  I procured him a double supply, and left him as happy a

+man as, I suppose, any in the world.  I wish I could fathom his mind.

+

+

+Midnight.--Another change in him.  I had been to see Miss Westenra,

+whom I found much better, and had just returned, and was standing at

+our own gate looking at the sunset, when once more I heard him

+yelling.  As his room is on this side of the house, I could hear it

+better than in the morning.  It was a shock to me to turn from the

+wonderful smoky beauty of a sunset over London, with its lurid lights

+and inky shadows and all the marvellous tints that come on foul clouds

+even as on foul water, and to realize all the grim sternness of my own

+cold stone building, with its wealth of breathing misery, and my own

+desolate heart to endure it all.  I reached him just as the sun was

+going down, and from his window saw the red disc sink.  As it sank he

+became less and less frenzied, and just as it dipped he slid from the

+hands that held him, an inert mass, on the floor.  It is wonderful,

+however, what intellectual recuperative power lunatics have, for

+within a few minutes he stood up quite calmly and looked around him.  I

+signalled to the attendants not to hold him, for I was anxious to see

+what he would do.  He went straight over to the window and brushed out

+the crumbs of sugar.  Then he took his fly box, and emptied it

+outside, and threw away the box.  Then he shut the window, and

+crossing over, sat down on his bed.  All this surprised me, so I asked

+him, "Are you going to keep flies any more?"

+

+"No," said he.  "I am sick of all that rubbish!"  He certainly is a

+wonderfully interesting study.  I wish I could get some glimpse of his

+mind or of the cause of his sudden passion.  Stop.  There may be a

+clue after all, if we can find why today his paroxysms came on at high

+noon and at sunset.  Can it be that there is a malign influence of the

+sun at periods which affects certain natures, as at times the moon

+does others?  We shall see.

+

+

+

+TELEGRAM.  SEWARD, LONDON, TO VAN HELSING, AMSTERDAM

+

+"4 September.--Patient still better today."

+

+

+

+TELEGRAM, SEWARD, LONDON, TO VAN HELSING, AMSTERDAM

+

+"5 September.--Patient greatly improved.  Good appetite, sleeps

+naturally, good spirits, colour coming back."

+

+

+

+TELEGRAM, SEWARD, LONDON, TO VAN HELSING, AMSTERDAM

+

+"6 September.--Terrible change for the worse.  Come at once.

+Do not lose an hour.  I hold over telegram to Holmwood till

+have seen you."

+

+

+

+

+CHAPTER 10

+

+

+LETTER, DR. SEWARD TO HON. ARTHUR HOLMWOOD

+

+

+6 September

+

+"My dear Art,

+

+"My news today is not so good.  Lucy this morning had gone back a

+bit.  There is, however, one good thing which has arisen from it.

+Mrs. Westenra was naturally anxious concerning Lucy, and has

+consulted me professionally about her.  I took advantage of the

+opportunity, and told her that my old master, Van Helsing, the great

+specialist, was coming to stay with me, and that I would put her in

+his charge conjointly with myself.  So now we can come and go

+without alarming her unduly, for a shock to her would mean sudden

+death, and this, in Lucy's weak condition, might be disastrous to

+her.  We are hedged in with difficulties, all of us, my poor fellow,

+but, please God, we shall come through them all right.  If any need

+I shall write, so that, if you do not hear from me, take it for

+granted that I am simply waiting for news, In haste,

+

+"Yours ever,"

+

+John Seward

+

+

+

+DR. SEWARD'S DIARY

+

+7 September.--The first thing Van Helsing said to me when we met at

+Liverpool Street was, "Have you said anything to our young friend, to

+lover of her?"

+

+"No," I said.  "I waited till I had seen you, as I said in my

+telegram.  I wrote him a letter simply telling him that you were

+coming, as Miss Westenra was not so well, and that I should let him

+know if need be."

+

+"Right, my friend," he said.  "Quite right!  Better he not know as

+yet.  Perhaps he will never know.  I pray so, but if it be needed,

+then he shall know all.  And, my good friend John, let me caution you.

+You deal with the madmen.  All men are mad in some way or the other,

+and inasmuch as you deal discreetly with your madmen, so deal with

+God's madmen too, the rest of the world.  You tell not your madmen

+what you do nor why you do it.  You tell them not what you think.  So

+you shall keep knowledge in its place, where it may rest, where it may

+gather its kind around it and breed.  You and I shall keep as yet what

+we know here, and here."  He touched me on the heart and on the

+forehead, and then touched himself the same way.  "I have for myself

+thoughts at the present.  Later I shall unfold to you."

+

+"Why not now?" I asked.  "It may do some good.  We may arrive at some

+decision."  He looked at me and said, "My friend John, when the corn is

+grown, even before it has ripened, while the milk of its mother earth

+is in him, and the sunshine has not yet begun to paint him with his

+gold, the husbandman he pull the ear and rub him between his rough

+hands, and blow away the green chaff, and say to you, 'Look!  He's

+good corn, he will make a good crop when the time comes.'"

+

+I did not see the application and told him so.  For reply he reached

+over and took my ear in his hand and pulled it playfully, as he used

+long ago to do at lectures, and said, "The good husbandman tell you so

+then because he knows, but not till then.  But you do not find the

+good husbandman dig up his planted corn to see if he grow.  That is

+for the children who play at husbandry, and not for those who take it

+as of the work of their life.  See you now, friend John?  I have sown

+my corn, and Nature has her work to do in making it sprout, if he

+sprout at all, there's some promise, and I wait till the ear begins to

+swell."  He broke off, for he evidently saw that I understood.  Then he

+went on gravely, "You were always a careful student, and your case

+book was ever more full than the rest.  And I trust that good habit

+have not fail.  Remember, my friend, that knowledge is stronger than

+memory, and we should not trust the weaker.  Even if you have not kept

+the good practice, let me tell you that this case of our dear miss is

+one that may be, mind, I say may be, of such interest to us and others

+that all the rest may not make him kick the beam, as your people say.

+Take then good note of it.  Nothing is too small.  I counsel you, put

+down in record even your doubts and surmises.  Hereafter it may be of

+interest to you to see how true you guess.  We learn from failure, not

+from success!"

+

+When I described Lucy's symptoms, the same as before, but infinitely

+more marked, he looked very grave, but said nothing.  He took with him

+a bag in which were many instruments and drugs, "the ghastly

+paraphernalia of our beneficial trade," as he once called, in one of

+his lectures, the equipment of a professor of the healing craft.

+

+When we were shown in, Mrs. Westenra met us.  She was alarmed, but not

+nearly so much as I expected to find her.  Nature in one of her

+beneficient moods has ordained that even death has some antidote to

+its own terrors.  Here, in a case where any shock may prove fatal,

+matters are so ordered that, from some cause or other, the things not

+personal, even the terrible change in her daughter to whom she is so

+attached, do not seem to reach her.  It is something like the way dame

+Nature gathers round a foreign body an envelope of some insensitive

+tissue which can protect from evil that which it would otherwise harm

+by contact.  If this be an ordered selfishness, then we should pause

+before we condemn any one for the vice of egoism, for there may be

+deeper root for its causes than we have knowledge of.

+

+I used my knowledge of this phase of spiritual pathology, and set down

+a rule that she should not be present with Lucy, or think of her

+illness more than was absolutely required.  She assented readily, so

+readily that I saw again the hand of Nature fighting for life.  Van

+Helsing and I were shown up to Lucy's room.  If I was shocked when I

+saw her yesterday, I was horrified when I saw her today.

+

+She was ghastly, chalkily pale.  The red seemed to have gone even from

+her lips and gums, and the bones of her face stood out prominently.

+Her breathing was painful to see or hear.  Van Helsing's face grew set

+as marble, and his eyebrows converged till they almost touched over his

+nose.  Lucy lay motionless, and did not seem to have strength to

+speak, so for a while we were all silent.  Then Van Helsing beckoned

+to me, and we went gently out of the room.  The instant we had closed

+the door he stepped quickly along the passage to the next door, which

+was open.  Then he pulled me quickly in with him and closed the door.

+"My god!" he said.  "This is dreadful.  There is not time to be lost.

+She will die for sheer want of blood to keep the heart's action as it

+should be.  There must be a transfusion of blood at once.  Is it you

+or me?"

+

+"I am younger and stronger, Professor.  It must be me."

+

+"Then get ready at once.  I will bring up my bag.  I am prepared."

+

+I went downstairs with him, and as we were going there was a knock at

+the hall door.  When we reached the hall, the maid had just opened the

+door, and Arthur was stepping quickly in.  He rushed up to me, saying

+in an eager whisper,

+

+"Jack, I was so anxious.  I read between the lines of your letter, and

+have been in an agony.  The dad was better, so I ran down here to see

+for myself.  Is not that gentleman Dr. Van Helsing?  I am so thankful

+to you, sir, for coming."

+

+When first the Professor's eye had lit upon him, he had been angry at

+his interruption at such a time, but now, as he took in his stalwart

+proportions and recognized the strong young manhood which seemed to

+emanate from him, his eyes gleamed.  Without a pause he said to him as

+he held out his hand,

+

+"Sir, you have come in time.  You are the lover of our dear miss.  She

+is bad, very, very bad.  Nay, my child, do not go like that."  For he

+suddenly grew pale and sat down in a chair almost fainting.  "You are

+to help her.  You can do more than any that live, and your courage is

+your best help."

+

+"What can I do?" asked Arthur hoarsely.  "Tell me, and I shall do it.

+My life is hers, and I would give the last drop of blood in my body for

+her."

+

+The Professor has a strongly humorous side, and I could from old

+knowledge detect a trace of its origin in his answer.

+

+"My young sir, I do not ask so much as that, not the last!"

+

+"What shall I do?"  There was fire in his eyes, and his open nostrils

+quivered with intent.  Van Helsing slapped him on the shoulder.

+

+"Come!" he said.  "You are a man, and it is a man we want.  You are

+better than me, better than my friend John."  Arthur looked bewildered,

+and the Professor went on by explaining in a kindly way.

+

+"Young miss is bad, very bad.  She wants blood, and blood she must

+have or die.  My friend John and I have consulted, and we are about to

+perform what we call transfusion of blood, to transfer from full veins

+of one to the empty veins which pine for him.  John was to give his

+blood, as he is the more young and strong than me."--Here Arthur took

+my hand and wrung it hard in silence.--"But now you are here, you are

+more good than us, old or young, who toil much in the world of

+thought.  Our nerves are not so calm and our blood so bright than

+yours!"

+

+Arthur turned to him and said, "If you only knew how gladly I would

+die for her you would understand . . ."  He stopped with a sort of

+choke in his voice.

+

+"Good boy!" said Van Helsing.  "In the not-so-far-off you will be

+happy that you have done all for her you love.  Come now and be

+silent.  You shall kiss her once before it is done, but then you must

+go, and you must leave at my sign.  Say no word to Madame.  You know

+how it is with her.  There must be no shock, any knowledge of this

+would be one.  Come!"

+

+We all went up to Lucy's room.  Arthur by direction remained outside.

+Lucy turned her head and looked at us, but said nothing.  She was not

+asleep, but she was simply too weak to make the effort.  Her eyes

+spoke to us, that was all.

+

+Van Helsing took some things from his bag and laid them on a little

+table out of sight.  Then he mixed a narcotic, and coming over to the

+bed, said cheerily, "Now, little miss, here is your medicine.  Drink

+it off, like a good child.  See, I lift you so that to swallow is

+easy.  Yes."  She had made the effort with success.

+

+It astonished me how long the drug took to act.  This, in fact, marked

+the extent of her weakness.  The time seemed endless until sleep began

+to flicker in her eyelids.  At last, however, the narcotic began to

+manifest its potency, and she fell into a deep sleep.  When the

+Professor was satisfied, he called Arthur into the room, and bade him

+strip off his coat.  Then he added, "You may take that one little kiss

+whiles I bring over the table.  Friend John, help to me!"  So neither

+of us looked whilst he bent over her.

+

+Van Helsing, turning to me, said, "He is so young and strong, and of

+blood so pure that we need not defibrinate it."

+

+Then with swiftness, but with absolute method, Van Helsing performed

+the operation.  As the transfusion went on, something like life seemed

+to come back to poor Lucy's cheeks, and through Arthur's growing

+pallor the joy of his face seemed absolutely to shine.  After a bit I

+began to grow anxious, for the loss of blood was telling on Arthur,

+strong man as he was.  It gave me an idea of what a terrible strain

+Lucy's system must have undergone that what weakened Arthur only

+partially restored her.

+

+But the Professor's face was set, and he stood watch in hand, and with

+his eyes fixed now on the patient and now on Arthur.  I could hear my

+own heart beat.  Presently, he said in a soft voice, "Do not stir an

+instant.  It is enough.  You attend him.  I will look to her."

+

+When all was over, I could see how much Arthur was weakened.  I

+dressed the wound and took his arm to bring him away, when Van Helsing

+spoke without turning round, the man seems to have eyes in the back of

+his head, "The brave lover, I think, deserve another kiss, which he

+shall have presently."  And as he had now finished his operation, he

+adjusted the pillow to the patient's head.  As he did so the narrow

+black velvet band which she seems always to wear round her throat,

+buckled with an old diamond buckle which her lover had given her, was

+dragged a little up, and showed a red mark on her throat.

+

+Arthur did not notice it, but I could hear the deep hiss of indrawn

+breath which is one of Van Helsing's ways of betraying emotion.  He

+said nothing at the moment, but turned to me, saying, "Now take down

+our brave young lover, give him of the port wine, and let him lie down

+a while.  He must then go home and rest, sleep much and eat much, that

+he may be recruited of what he has so given to his love.  He must not

+stay here.  Hold a moment!  I may take it, sir, that you are anxious

+of result.  Then bring it with you, that in all ways the operation is

+successful.  You have saved her life this time, and you can go home

+and rest easy in mind that all that can be is.  I shall tell her all

+when she is well.  She shall love you none the less for what you have

+done.  Goodbye."

+

+When Arthur had gone I went back to the room.  Lucy was sleeping

+gently, but her breathing was stronger.  I could see the counterpane

+move as her breast heaved.  By the bedside sat Van Helsing, looking at

+her intently.  The velvet band again covered the red mark.  I asked

+the Professor in a whisper, "What do you make of that mark on her

+throat?"

+

+"What do you make of it?"

+

+"I have not examined it yet," I answered, and then and there proceeded

+to loose the band.  Just over the external jugular vein there were two

+punctures, not large, but not wholesome looking.  There was no sign of

+disease, but the edges were white and worn looking, as if by some

+trituration.  It at once occurred to me that that this wound, or

+whatever it was, might be the means of that manifest loss of blood.

+But I abandoned the idea as soon as it formed, for such a thing could

+not be.  The whole bed would have been drenched to a scarlet with the

+blood which the girl must have lost to leave such a pallor as she had

+before the transfusion.

+

+"Well?" said Van Helsing.

+

+"Well," said I.  "I can make nothing of it."

+

+The Professor stood up.  "I must go back to Amsterdam tonight," he

+said "There are books and things there which I want.  You must remain

+here all night, and you must not let your sight pass from her."

+

+"Shall I have a nurse?" I asked.

+

+"We are the best nurses, you and I.  You keep watch all night.  See

+that she is well fed, and that nothing disturbs her.  You must not

+sleep all the night.  Later on we can sleep, you and I.  I shall be

+back as soon as possible.  And then we may begin."

+

+"May begin?" I said.  "What on earth do you mean?"

+

+"We shall see!" he answered, as he hurried out.  He came back a moment

+later and put his head inside the door and said with a warning finger

+held up, "Remember, she is your charge.  If you leave her, and harm

+befall, you shall not sleep easy hereafter!"

+

+

+

+DR. SEWARD'S DIARY--CONTINUED

+

+8 September.--I sat up all night with Lucy.  The opiate worked itself

+off towards dusk, and she waked naturally.  She looked a different

+being from what she had been before the operation.  Her spirits even

+were good, and she was full of a happy vivacity, but I could see

+evidences of the absolute prostration which she had undergone.  When I

+told Mrs. Westenra that Dr. Van Helsing had directed that I should sit

+up with her, she almost pooh-poohed the idea, pointing out her

+daughter's renewed strength and excellent spirits.  I was firm,

+however, and made preparations for my long vigil.  When her maid had

+prepared her for the night I came in, having in the meantime had

+supper, and took a seat by the bedside.

+

+She did not in any way make objection, but looked at me gratefully

+whenever I caught her eye.  After a long spell she seemed sinking off

+to sleep, but with an effort seemed to pull herself together and shook

+it off.  It was apparent that she did not want to sleep, so I tackled

+the subject at once.

+

+"You do not want to sleep?"

+

+"No.  I am afraid."

+

+"Afraid to go to sleep!  Why so?  It is the boon we all crave for."

+

+"Ah, not if you were like me, if sleep was to you a presage of

+horror!"

+

+"A presage of horror!  What on earth do you mean?"

+

+"I don't know.  Oh, I don't know.  And that is what is so terrible.

+All this weakness comes to me in sleep, until I dread the very

+thought."

+

+"But, my dear girl, you may sleep tonight.  I am here watching you,

+and I can promise that nothing will happen."

+

+"Ah, I can trust you!" she said.

+

+I seized the opportunity, and said, "I promise that if I see any

+evidence of bad dreams I will wake you at once."

+

+"You will?  Oh, will you really?  How good you are to me.  Then I will

+sleep!"  And almost at the word she gave a deep sigh of relief, and

+sank back, asleep.

+

+All night long I watched by her.  She never stirred, but slept on and

+on in a deep, tranquil, life-giving, health-giving sleep.  Her lips

+were slightly parted, and her breast rose and fell with the regularity

+of a pendulum.  There was a smile on her face, and it was evident that

+no bad dreams had come to disturb her peace of mind.

+

+In the early morning her maid came, and I left her in her care and took

+myself back home, for I was anxious about many things.  I sent a short

+wire to Van Helsing and to Arthur, telling them of the excellent

+result of the operation.  My own work, with its manifold arrears, took

+me all day to clear off.  It was dark when I was able to inquire about

+my zoophagous patient.  The report was good.  He had been quite quiet

+for the past day and night.  A telegram came from Van Helsing at

+Amsterdam whilst I was at dinner, suggesting that I should be at

+Hillingham tonight, as it might be well to be at hand, and stating

+that he was leaving by the night mail and would join me early in the

+morning.

+

+

+9 September.--I was pretty tired and worn out when I got to

+Hillingham.  For two nights I had hardly had a wink of sleep, and my

+brain was beginning to feel that numbness which marks cerebral

+exhaustion.  Lucy was up and in cheerful spirits.  When she shook

+hands with me she looked sharply in my face and said,

+

+"No sitting up tonight for you.  You are worn out.  I am quite well

+again.  Indeed, I am, and if there is to be any sitting up, it is I

+who will sit up with you."

+

+I would not argue the point, but went and had my supper.  Lucy came

+with me, and, enlivened by her charming presence, I made an excellent

+meal, and had a couple of glasses of the more than excellent port.

+Then Lucy took me upstairs, and showed me a room next her own, where a

+cozy fire was burning.

+

+"Now," she said.  "You must stay here.  I shall leave this door open

+and my door too.  You can lie on the sofa for I know that nothing

+would induce any of you doctors to go to bed whilst there is a patient

+above the horizon.  If I want anything I shall call out, and you can

+come to me at once."

+

+I could not but acquiesce, for I was dog tired, and could not have sat

+up had I tried.  So, on her renewing her promise to call me if she

+should want anything, I lay on the sofa, and forgot all about

+everything.

+

+

+

+LUCY WESTENRA'S DIARY

+

+9 September.--I feel so happy tonight.  I have been so miserably weak,

+that to be able to think and move about is like feeling sunshine after

+a long spell of east wind out of a steel sky.  Somehow Arthur feels

+very, very close to me.  I seem to feel his presence warm about me.  I

+suppose it is that sickness and weakness are selfish things and turn

+our inner eyes and sympathy on ourselves, whilst health and strength

+give love rein, and in thought and feeling he can wander where he

+wills.  I know where my thoughts are.  If only Arthur knew!  My dear,

+my dear, your ears must tingle as you sleep, as mine do waking.  Oh,

+the blissful rest of last night!  How I slept, with that dear, good

+Dr. Seward watching me.  And tonight I shall not fear to sleep, since

+he is close at hand and within call.  Thank everybody for being so

+good to me.  Thank God!  Goodnight Arthur.

+

+

+

+DR. SEWARD'S DIARY

+

+10 September.--I was conscious of the Professor's hand on my head, and

+started awake all in a second.  That is one of the things that we

+learn in an asylum, at any rate.

+

+"And how is our patient?"

+

+"Well, when I left her, or rather when she left me," I answered.

+

+"Come, let us see," he said.  And together we went into the room.

+

+The blind was down, and I went over to raise it gently, whilst Van

+Helsing stepped, with his soft, cat-like tread, over to the bed.

+

+As I raised the blind, and the morning sunlight flooded the room, I

+heard the Professor's low hiss of inspiration, and knowing its rarity,

+a deadly fear shot through my heart.  As I passed over he moved back,

+and his exclamation of horror, "Gott in Himmel!" needed no enforcement

+from his agonized face.  He raised his hand and pointed to the bed,

+and his iron face was drawn and ashen white.  I felt my knees begin to

+tremble.

+

+There on the bed, seemingly in a swoon, lay poor Lucy, more horribly

+white and wan-looking than ever.  Even the lips were white, and the

+gums seemed to have shrunken back from the teeth, as we sometimes see

+in a corpse after a prolonged illness.

+

+Van Helsing raised his foot to stamp in anger, but the instinct of his

+life and all the long years of habit stood to him, and he put it down

+again softly.

+

+"Quick!" he said.  "Bring the brandy."

+

+I flew to the dining room, and returned with the decanter.  He wetted

+the poor white lips with it, and together we rubbed palm and wrist and

+heart.  He felt her heart, and after a few moments of agonizing

+suspense said,

+

+"It is not too late.  It beats, though but feebly.  All our work is

+undone.  We must begin again.  There is no young Arthur here now.  I

+have to call on you yourself this time, friend John."  As he spoke, he

+was dipping into his bag, and producing the instruments of

+transfusion.  I had taken off my coat and rolled up my shirt sleeve.

+There was no possibility of an opiate just at present, and no need of

+one; and so, without a moment's delay, we began the operation.

+

+After a time, it did not seem a short time either, for the draining

+away of one's blood, no matter how willingly it be given, is a

+terrible feeling, Van Helsing held up a warning finger.  "Do not

+stir," he said.  "But I fear that with growing strength she may wake,

+and that would make danger, oh, so much danger.  But I shall

+precaution take.  I shall give hypodermic injection of morphia."  He

+proceeded then, swiftly and deftly, to carry out his intent.

+

+The effect on Lucy was not bad, for the faint seemed to merge subtly

+into the narcotic sleep.  It was with a feeling of personal pride that

+I could see a faint tinge of colour steal back into the pallid cheeks

+and lips.  No man knows, till he experiences it, what it is to feel

+his own lifeblood drawn away into the veins of the woman he loves.

+

+The Professor watched me critically.  "That will do," he said.

+"Already?" I remonstrated.  "You took a great deal more from Art."  To

+which he smiled a sad sort of smile as he replied,

+

+"He is her lover, her fiance.  You have work, much work to do for her

+and for others, and the present will suffice."

+

+When we stopped the operation, he attended to Lucy, whilst I applied

+digital pressure to my own incision.  I laid down, while I waited his

+leisure to attend to me, for I felt faint and a little sick.  By and

+by he bound up my wound, and sent me downstairs to get a glass of wine

+for myself.  As I was leaving the room, he came after me, and half

+whispered.

+

+"Mind, nothing must be said of this.  If our young lover should turn

+up unexpected, as before, no word to him.  It would at once frighten

+him and enjealous him, too.  There must be none.  So!"

+

+When I came back he looked at me carefully, and then said, "You are

+not much the worse.  Go into the room, and lie on your sofa, and rest

+awhile, then have much breakfast and come here to me."

+

+I followed out his orders, for I knew how right and wise they were.  I

+had done my part, and now my next duty was to keep up my strength.  I

+felt very weak, and in the weakness lost something of the amazement at

+what had occurred.  I fell asleep on the sofa, however, wondering over

+and over again how Lucy had made such a retrograde movement, and how

+she could have been drained of so much blood with no sign any where to

+show for it.  I think I must have continued my wonder in my dreams,

+for, sleeping and waking my thoughts always came back to the little

+punctures in her throat and the ragged, exhausted appearance of their

+edges, tiny though they were.

+

+Lucy slept well into the day, and when she woke she was fairly well

+and strong, though not nearly so much so as the day before.  When Van

+Helsing had seen her, he went out for a walk, leaving me in charge,

+with strict injunctions that I was not to leave her for a moment.  I

+could hear his voice in the hall, asking the way to the nearest

+telegraph office.

+

+Lucy chatted with me freely, and seemed quite unconscious that

+anything had happened.  I tried to keep her amused and interested.

+When her mother came up to see her, she did not seem to notice any

+change whatever, but said to me gratefully,

+

+"We owe you so much, Dr. Seward, for all you have done, but you really

+must now take care not to overwork yourself.  You are looking pale

+yourself.  You want a wife to nurse and look after you a bit, that you

+do!"  As she spoke, Lucy turned crimson, though it was only

+momentarily, for her poor wasted veins could not stand for long an

+unwonted drain to the head.  The reaction came in excessive pallor as

+she turned imploring eyes on me.  I smiled and nodded, and laid my

+finger on my lips.  With a sigh, she sank back amid her pillows.

+

+Van Helsing returned in a couple of hours, and presently said to me:

+"Now you go home, and eat much and drink enough.  Make yourself

+strong.  I stay here tonight, and I shall sit up with little miss

+myself.  You and I must watch the case, and we must have none other to

+know.  I have grave reasons.  No, do not ask me.  Think what you will.

+Do not fear to think even the most not-improbable.  Goodnight."

+

+In the hall two of the maids came to me, and asked if they or either

+of them might not sit up with Miss Lucy.  They implored me to let

+them, and when I said it was Dr. Van Helsing's wish that either he or

+I should sit up, they asked me quite piteously to intercede with

+the 'foreign gentleman'.  I was much touched by their kindness.  Perhaps

+it is because I am weak at present, and perhaps because it was on

+Lucy's account, that their devotion was manifested.  For over and over

+again have I seen similar instances of woman's kindness.  I got back

+here in time for a late dinner, went my rounds, all well, and set this

+down whilst waiting for sleep.  It is coming.

+

+

+11 September.--This afternoon I went over to Hillingham.  Found Van

+Helsing in excellent spirits, and Lucy much better.  Shortly after I

+had arrived, a big parcel from abroad came for the Professor.  He

+opened it with much impressment, assumed, of course, and showed a

+great bundle of white flowers.

+

+"These are for you, Miss Lucy," he said.

+

+"For me?  Oh, Dr. Van Helsing!"

+

+"Yes, my dear, but not for you to play with.  These are medicines."

+Here Lucy made a wry face.  "Nay, but they are not to take in a

+decoction or in nauseous form, so you need not snub that so charming

+nose, or I shall point out to my friend Arthur what woes he may have

+to endure in seeing so much beauty that he so loves so much distort.

+Aha, my pretty miss, that bring the so nice nose all straight again.

+This is medicinal, but you do not know how.  I put him in your window,

+I make pretty wreath, and hang him round your neck, so you sleep well.

+Oh, yes!  They, like the lotus flower, make your trouble forgotten.

+It smell so like the waters of Lethe, and of that fountain of youth

+that the Conquistadores sought for in the Floridas, and find him all

+too late."

+

+Whilst he was speaking, Lucy had been examining the flowers and

+smelling them.  Now she threw them down saying, with half laughter,

+and half disgust,

+

+"Oh, Professor, I believe you are only putting up a joke on me.  Why,

+these flowers are only common garlic."

+

+To my surprise, Van Helsing rose up and said with all his sternness,

+his iron jaw set and his bushy eyebrows meeting,

+

+"No trifling with me!  I never jest!  There is grim purpose in what I

+do, and I warn you that you do not thwart me.  Take care, for the sake

+of others if not for your own."  Then seeing poor Lucy scared, as she

+might well be, he went on more gently, "Oh, little miss, my dear, do

+not fear me.  I only do for your good, but there is much virtue to you

+in those so common flowers.  See, I place them myself in your room.  I

+make myself the wreath that you are to wear.  But hush!  No telling to

+others that make so inquisitive questions.  We must obey, and silence

+is a part of obedience, and obedience is to bring you strong and well

+into loving arms that wait for you.  Now sit still a while.  Come with

+me, friend John, and you shall help me deck the room with my garlic,

+which is all the way from Haarlem, where my friend Vanderpool raise

+herb in his glass houses all the year.  I had to telegraph yesterday,

+or they would not have been here."

+

+We went into the room, taking the flowers with us.  The Professor's

+actions were certainly odd and not to be found in any pharmacopeia

+that I ever heard of.  First he fastened up the windows and latched

+them securely.  Next, taking a handful of the flowers, he rubbed them

+all over the sashes, as though to ensure that every whiff of air that

+might get in would be laden with the garlic smell.  Then with the wisp

+he rubbed all over the jamb of the door, above, below, and at each

+side, and round the fireplace in the same way.  It all seemed

+grotesque to me, and presently I said, "Well, Professor, I know you

+always have a reason for what you do, but this certainly puzzles me.

+It is well we have no sceptic here, or he would say that you were

+working some spell to keep out an evil spirit."

+

+"Perhaps I am!" he answered quietly as he began to make the wreath

+which Lucy was to wear round her neck.

+

+We then waited whilst Lucy made her toilet for the night, and when she

+was in bed he came and himself fixed the wreath of garlic round her

+neck.  The last words he said to her were,

+

+"Take care you do not disturb it, and even if the room feel close, do

+not tonight open the window or the door."

+

+"I promise," said Lucy.  "And thank you both a thousand times for all

+your kindness to me!  Oh, what have I done to be blessed with such

+friends?"

+

+As we left the house in my fly, which was waiting, Van Helsing said,

+"Tonight I can sleep in peace, and sleep I want, two nights of travel,

+much reading in the day between, and much anxiety on the day to

+follow, and a night to sit up, without to wink.  Tomorrow in the

+morning early you call for me, and we come together to see our pretty

+miss, so much more strong for my 'spell' which I have work.  Ho, ho!"

+

+He seemed so confident that I, remembering my own confidence two

+nights before and with the baneful result, felt awe and vague terror.

+It must have been my weakness that made me hesitate to tell it to my

+friend, but I felt it all the more, like unshed tears.

+

+

+

+

+CHAPTER 11

+

+

+LUCY WESTENRA'S DIARY

+

+12 September.--How good they all are to me.  I quite love that dear

+Dr. Van Helsing.  I wonder why he was so anxious about these flowers.

+He positively frightened me, he was so fierce.  And yet he must have

+been right, for I feel comfort from them already.  Somehow, I do not

+dread being alone tonight, and I can go to sleep without fear.  I

+shall not mind any flapping outside the window.  Oh, the terrible

+struggle that I have had against sleep so often of late, the pain of

+sleeplessness, or the pain of the fear of sleep, and with such unknown

+horrors as it has for me!  How blessed are some people, whose lives

+have no fears, no dreads, to whom sleep is a blessing that comes

+nightly, and brings nothing but sweet dreams.  Well, here I am

+tonight, hoping for sleep, and lying like Ophelia in the play, with

+'virgin crants and maiden strewments.'  I never liked garlic before,

+but tonight it is delightful!  There is peace in its smell.  I feel

+sleep coming already.  Goodnight, everybody.

+

+

+

+DR. SEWARD'S DIARY

+

+13 September.--Called at the Berkeley and found Van Helsing, as usual,

+up to time.  The carriage ordered from the hotel was waiting.  The

+Professor took his bag, which he always brings with him now.

+

+Let all be put down exactly.  Van Helsing and I arrived at Hillingham

+at eight o'clock.  It was a lovely morning.  The bright sunshine and

+all the fresh feeling of early autumn seemed like the completion of

+nature's annual work.  The leaves were turning to all kinds of

+beautiful colours, but had not yet begun to drop from the trees.  When

+we entered we met Mrs. Westenra coming out of the morning room.  She

+is always an early riser.  She greeted us warmly and said,

+

+"You will be glad to know that Lucy is better.  The dear child is

+still asleep.  I looked into her room and saw her, but did not go in,

+lest I should disturb her."  The Professor smiled, and looked quite

+jubilant.  He rubbed his hands together, and said, "Aha!  I thought I

+had diagnosed the case.  My treatment is working."

+

+To which she replied, "You must not take all the credit to yourself,

+doctor.  Lucy's state this morning is due in part to me."

+

+"How do you mean, ma'am?" asked the Professor.

+

+"Well, I was anxious about the dear child in the night, and went into

+her room.  She was sleeping soundly, so soundly that even my coming

+did not wake her.  But the room was awfully stuffy.  There were a lot

+of those horrible, strong-smelling flowers about everywhere, and she

+had actually a bunch of them round her neck.  I feared that the heavy

+odour would be too much for the dear child in her weak state, so I took

+them all away and opened a bit of the window to let in a little fresh

+air.  You will be pleased with her, I am sure."

+

+She moved off into her boudoir, where she usually breakfasted early.

+As she had spoken, I watched the Professor's face, and saw it turn

+ashen gray.  He had been able to retain his self-command whilst the

+poor lady was present, for he knew her state and how mischievous a

+shock would be.  He actually smiled on her as he held open the door

+for her to pass into her room.  But the instant she had disappeared he

+pulled me, suddenly and forcibly, into the dining room and closed the

+door.

+

+Then, for the first time in my life, I saw Van Helsing break down.  He

+raised his hands over his head in a sort of mute despair, and then

+beat his palms together in a helpless way.  Finally he sat down on a

+chair, and putting his hands before his face, began to sob, with loud,

+dry sobs that seemed to come from the very racking of his heart.

+

+Then he raised his arms again, as though appealing to the whole

+universe.  "God!  God!  God!" he said.  "What have we done, what has

+this poor thing done, that we are so sore beset?  Is there fate

+amongst us still, send down from the pagan world of old, that such

+things must be, and in such way?  This poor mother, all unknowing, and

+all for the best as she think, does such thing as lose her daughter

+body and soul, and we must not tell her, we must not even warn her, or

+she die, then both die.  Oh, how we are beset!  How are all the powers

+of the devils against us!"

+

+Suddenly he jumped to his feet.  "Come," he said, "come, we must see and

+act.  Devils or no devils, or all the devils at once, it matters not.

+We must fight him all the same."  He went to the hall door for his

+bag, and together we went up to Lucy's room.

+

+Once again I drew up the blind, whilst Van Helsing went towards the

+bed.  This time he did not start as he looked on the poor face with

+the same awful, waxen pallor as before.  He wore a look of stern

+sadness and infinite pity.

+

+"As I expected," he murmured, with that hissing inspiration of his

+which meant so much.  Without a word he went and locked the door, and

+then began to set out on the little table the instruments for yet

+another operation of transfusion of blood.  I had long ago recognized

+the necessity, and begun to take off my coat, but he stopped me with a

+warning hand.  "No!" he said.  "Today you must operate.  I shall

+provide.  You are weakened already."  As he spoke he took off his coat

+and rolled up his shirtsleeve.

+

+Again the operation.  Again the narcotic.  Again some return of colour

+to the ashy cheeks, and the regular breathing of healthy sleep.  This

+time I watched whilst Van Helsing recruited himself and rested.

+

+Presently he took an opportunity of telling Mrs. Westenra that she

+must not remove anything from Lucy's room without consulting him.

+That the flowers were of medicinal value, and that the breathing of

+their odour was a part of the system of cure.  Then he took over the

+care of the case himself, saying that he would watch this night and

+the next, and would send me word when to come.

+

+After another hour Lucy waked from her sleep, fresh and bright and

+seemingly not much the worse for her terrible ordeal.

+

+What does it all mean?  I am beginning to wonder if my long habit of

+life amongst the insane is beginning to tell upon my own brain.

+

+

+

+LUCY WESTENRA'S DIARY

+

+17 September.--Four days and nights of peace.  I am getting so strong

+again that I hardly know myself.  It is as if I had passed through

+some long nightmare, and had just awakened to see the beautiful

+sunshine and feel the fresh air of the morning around me.  I have a

+dim half remembrance of long, anxious times of waiting and fearing,

+darkness in which there was not even the pain of hope to make present

+distress more poignant.  And then long spells of oblivion, and the

+rising back to life as a diver coming up through a great press of

+water.  Since, however, Dr. Van Helsing has been with me, all this bad

+dreaming seems to have passed away.  The noises that used to frighten

+me out of my wits, the flapping against the windows, the distant

+voices which seemed so close to me, the harsh sounds that came from I

+know not where and commanded me to do I know not what, have all

+ceased.  I go to bed now without any fear of sleep.  I do not even try

+to keep awake.  I have grown quite fond of the garlic, and a boxful

+arrives for me every day from Haarlem.  Tonight Dr. Van Helsing is

+going away, as he has to be for a day in Amsterdam.  But I need not be

+watched.  I am well enough to be left alone.

+

+Thank God for Mother's sake, and dear Arthur's, and for all our

+friends who have been so kind!  I shall not even feel the change, for

+last night Dr. Van Helsing slept in his chair a lot of the time.  I

+found him asleep twice when I awoke.  But I did not fear to go to

+sleep again, although the boughs or bats or something flapped almost

+angrily against the window panes.

+

+

+

+

+THE PALL MALL GAZETTE 18 September.

+

+THE ESCAPED WOLF PERILOUS ADVENTURE OF OUR INTERVIEWER

+

+INTERVIEW WITH THE KEEPER IN THE ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS

+

+After many inquiries and almost as many refusals, and perpetually

+using the words 'PALL MALL GAZETTE' as a sort of talisman, I managed

+to find the keeper of the section of the Zoological Gardens in which

+the wolf department is included.  Thomas Bilder lives in one of the

+cottages in the enclosure behind the elephant house, and was just

+sitting down to his tea when I found him.  Thomas and his wife are

+hospitable folk, elderly, and without children, and if the specimen

+I enjoyed of their hospitality be of the average kind, their lives

+must be pretty comfortable.  The keeper would not enter on what he

+called business until the supper was over, and we were all

+satisfied.  Then when the table was cleared, and he had lit his

+pipe, he said,

+

+"Now, Sir, you can go on and arsk me what you want.  You'll excoose

+me refoosin' to talk of perfeshunal subjucts afore meals.  I gives

+the wolves and the jackals and the hyenas in all our section their

+tea afore I begins to arsk them questions."

+

+"How do you mean, ask them questions?" I queried, wishful to get him

+into a talkative humor.

+

+"'Ittin' of them over the 'ead with a pole is one way.  Scratchin' of

+their ears in another, when gents as is flush wants a bit of a show-orf

+to their gals.  I don't so much mind the fust, the 'ittin of the

+pole part afore I chucks in their dinner, but I waits till they've

+'ad their sherry and kawffee, so to speak, afore I tries on with the

+ear scratchin'.  Mind you," he added philosophically, "there's a

+deal of the same nature in us as in them theer animiles. Here's you

+a-comin' and arskin' of me questions about my business, and I that

+grump-like that only for your bloomin' 'arf-quid I'd 'a' seen you

+blowed fust 'fore I'd answer.  Not even when you arsked me sarcastic

+like if I'd like you to arsk the Superintendent if you might arsk me

+questions.  Without offence did I tell yer to go to 'ell?"

+

+"You did."

+

+"An' when you said you'd report me for usin' obscene language that

+was 'ittin' me over the 'ead.  But the 'arf-quid made that all

+right.  I weren't a-goin' to fight, so I waited for the food, and

+did with my 'owl as the wolves and lions and tigers does.  But, lor'

+love yer 'art, now that the old 'ooman has stuck a chunk of her

+tea-cake in me, an' rinsed me out with her bloomin' old teapot, and I've

+lit hup, you may scratch my ears for all you're worth, and won't

+even get a growl out of me.  Drive along with your questions.  I

+know what yer a-comin' at, that 'ere escaped wolf."

+

+"Exactly.  I want you to give me your view of it.  Just tell me how

+it happened, and when I know the facts I'll get you to say what you

+consider was the cause of it, and how you think the whole affair

+will end."

+

+"All right, guv'nor.  This 'ere is about the 'ole story.

+That 'ere wolf what we called Bersicker was one of three gray

+ones that came from Norway to Jamrach's, which we bought

+off him four years ago.  He was a nice well-behaved wolf,

+that never gave no trouble to talk of.  I'm more surprised

+at 'im for wantin' to get out nor any other animile in the

+place.  But, there, you can't trust wolves no more nor women."

+

+"Don't you mind him, Sir!" broke in Mrs. Tom, with a cheery

+laugh.  "'E's got mindin' the animiles so long that blest

+if he ain't like a old wolf 'isself!  But there ain't no

+'arm in 'im."

+

+"Well, Sir, it was about two hours after feedin' yesterday when I

+first hear my disturbance.  I was makin' up a litter in the monkey

+house for a young puma which is ill.  But when I heard the yelpin'

+and 'owlin' I kem away straight.  There was Bersicker a-tearin' like

+a mad thing at the bars as if he wanted to get out.  There wasn't

+much people about that day, and close at hand was only one man, a

+tall, thin chap, with a 'ook nose and a pointed beard, with a few

+white hairs runnin' through it.  He had a 'ard, cold look and red

+eyes, and I took a sort of mislike to him, for it seemed as if it

+was 'im as they was hirritated at.  He 'ad white kid gloves on 'is

+'ands, and he pointed out the animiles to me and says, 'Keeper,

+these wolves seem upset at something.'

+

+"'Maybe it's you,' says I, for I did not like the airs as he

+give 'isself.  He didn't get angry, as I 'oped he would, but

+he smiled a kind of insolent smile, with a mouth full of white,

+sharp teeth.  'Oh no, they wouldn't like me,' 'e says.

+

+"'Ow yes, they would,' says I, a-imitatin' of him.  'They

+always like a bone or two to clean their teeth on about tea

+time, which you 'as a bagful.'

+

+"Well, it was a odd thing, but when the animiles see us

+a-talkin' they lay down, and when I went over to Bersicker

+he let me stroke his ears same as ever.  That there man kem

+over, and blessed but if he didn't put in his hand and stroke

+the old wolf's ears too!

+

+"'Tyke care,' says I. 'Bersicker is quick.'

+

+"'Never mind,' he says.  I'm used to 'em!'

+

+"'Are you in the business yourself?' I says, tyking off my

+'at, for a man what trades in wolves, anceterer, is a good

+friend to keepers.

+

+"'Nom,' says he, 'not exactly in the business, but I 'ave made pets

+of several.'  And with that he lifts his 'at as perlite as a lord,

+and walks away.  Old Bersicker kep' a-lookin' arter 'im till 'e was

+out of sight, and then went and lay down in a corner and wouldn't

+come hout the 'ole hevening.  Well, larst night, so soon as the moon

+was hup, the wolves here all began a-'owling.  There warn't nothing

+for them to 'owl at.  There warn't no one near, except some one that

+was evidently a-callin' a dog somewheres out back of the gardings in

+the Park road.  Once or twice I went out to see that all was right,

+and it was, and then the 'owling stopped.  Just before twelve

+o'clock I just took a look round afore turnin' in, an', bust me, but

+when I kem opposite to old Bersicker's cage I see the rails broken

+and twisted about and the cage empty.  And that's all I know for

+certing."

+

+"Did any one else see anything?"

+

+"One of our gard'ners was a-comin' 'ome about that time from a

+'armony, when he sees a big gray dog comin' out through the garding

+'edges.  At least, so he says, but I don't give much for it myself,

+for if he did 'e never said a word about it to his missis when 'e

+got 'ome, and it was only after the escape of the wolf was made

+known, and we had been up all night a-huntin' of the Park for

+Bersicker, that he remembered seein' anything.  My own belief was

+that the 'armony 'ad got into his 'ead."

+

+"Now, Mr. Bilder, can you account in any way for the escape

+of the wolf?"

+

+"Well, Sir," he said, with a suspicious sort of modesty, "I think I

+can, but I don't know as 'ow you'd be satisfied with the theory."

+

+"Certainly I shall.  If a man like you, who knows the animals from

+experience, can't hazard a good guess at any rate, who is even to

+try?"

+

+"Well then, Sir, I accounts for it this way.  It seems to me that

+'ere wolf escaped--simply because he wanted to get out."

+

+From the hearty way that both Thomas and his wife laughed at the

+joke I could see that it had done service before, and that the whole

+explanation was simply an elaborate sell.  I couldn't cope in

+badinage with the worthy Thomas, but I thought I knew a surer way to

+his heart, so I said, "Now, Mr. Bilder, we'll consider that first

+half-sovereign worked off, and this brother of his is waiting to be

+claimed when you've told me what you think will happen."

+

+"Right y'are, Sir," he said briskly.  "Ye'll excoose me, I

+know, for a-chaffin' of ye, but the old woman here winked at

+me, which was as much as telling me to go on."

+

+"Well, I never!" said the old lady.

+

+"My opinion is this: that 'ere wolf is a'idin' of, somewheres.  The

+gard'ner wot didn't remember said he was a-gallopin' northward

+faster than a horse could go, but I don't believe him, for, yer see,

+Sir, wolves don't gallop no more nor dogs does, they not bein' built

+that way.  Wolves is fine things in a storybook, and I dessay when

+they gets in packs and does be chivyin' somethin' that's more

+afeared than they is they can make a devil of a noise and chop it

+up, whatever it is.  But, Lor' bless you, in real life a wolf is

+only a low creature, not half so clever or bold as a good dog, and

+not half a quarter so much fight in 'im.  This one ain't been used

+to fightin' or even to providin' for hisself, and more like he's

+somewhere round the Park a'hidin' an' a'shiverin' of, and if he

+thinks at all, wonderin' where he is to get his breakfast from.  Or

+maybe he's got down some area and is in a coal cellar.  My eye,

+won't some cook get a rum start when she sees his green eyes

+a-shinin' at her out of the dark!  If he can't get food he's bound to

+look for it, and mayhap he may chance to light on a butcher's shop

+in time.  If he doesn't, and some nursemaid goes out walkin' or orf

+with a soldier, leavin' of the hinfant in the perambulator--well,

+then I shouldn't be surprised if the census is one babby the less.

+That's all."

+

+I was handing him the half-sovereign, when something came bobbing up

+against the window, and Mr. Bilder's face doubled its natural length

+with surprise.

+

+"God bless me!" he said.  "If there ain't old Bersicker come back by

+'isself!"

+

+He went to the door and opened it, a most unnecessary proceeding it

+seemed to me.  I have always thought that a wild animal never looks

+so well as when some obstacle of pronounced durability is between

+us.  A personal experience has intensified rather than diminished

+that idea.

+

+After all, however, there is nothing like custom, for neither Bilder

+nor his wife thought any more of the wolf than I should of a dog.

+The animal itself was a peaceful and well-behaved as that father of

+all picture-wolves, Red Riding Hood's quondam friend, whilst moving

+her confidence in masquerade.

+

+The whole scene was a unutterable mixture of comedy and

+pathos.  The wicked wolf that for a half a day had

+paralyzed London and set all the children in town shivering

+in their shoes, was there in a sort of penitent mood, and

+was received and petted like a sort of vulpine prodigal

+son.  Old Bilder examined him all over with most tender

+solicitude, and when he had finished with his penitent

+said,

+

+"There, I knew the poor old chap would get into some kind of

+trouble.  Didn't I say it all along?  Here's his head all

+cut and full of broken glass.  'E's been a-gettin' over

+some bloomin' wall or other.  It's a shyme that people are

+allowed to top their walls with broken bottles.  This 'ere's

+what comes of it.  Come along, Bersicker."

+

+He took the wolf and locked him up in a cage, with a piece

+of meat that satisfied, in quantity at any rate, the elementary

+conditions of the fatted calf, and went off to report.

+

+I came off too, to report the only exclusive information

+that is given today regarding the strange escapade at the

+Zoo.

+

+

+

+DR. SEWARD'S DIARY

+

+17 September.--I was engaged after dinner in my study posting up my

+books, which, through press of other work and the many visits to Lucy,

+had fallen sadly into arrear.  Suddenly the door was burst open, and

+in rushed my patient, with his face distorted with passion.  I was

+thunderstruck, for such a thing as a patient getting of his own accord

+into the Superintendent's study is almost unknown.

+

+Without an instant's notice he made straight at me.  He had a dinner

+knife in his hand, and as I saw he was dangerous, I tried to keep the

+table between us.  He was too quick and too strong for me, however,

+for before I could get my balance he had struck at me and cut my left

+wrist rather severely.

+

+Before he could strike again, however, I got in my right hand and he

+was sprawling on his back on the floor.  My wrist bled freely, and

+quite a little pool trickled on to the carpet.  I saw that my friend

+was not intent on further effort, and occupied myself binding up my

+wrist, keeping a wary eye on the prostrate figure all the time.  When

+the attendants rushed in, and we turned our attention to him, his

+employment positively sickened me.  He was lying on his belly on the

+floor licking up, like a dog, the blood which had fallen from my

+wounded wrist.  He was easily secured, and to my surprise, went with

+the attendants quite placidly, simply repeating over and over again,

+"The blood is the life!  The blood is the life!"

+

+I cannot afford to lose blood just at present.  I have lost too much

+of late for my physical good, and then the prolonged strain of Lucy's

+illness and its horrible phases is telling on me.  I am over excited

+and weary, and I need rest, rest, rest.  Happily Van Helsing has not

+summoned me, so I need not forego my sleep.  Tonight I could not well

+do without it.

+

+

+

+TELEGRAM, VAN HELSING, ANTWERP, TO SEWARD, CARFAX

+

+(Sent to Carfax, Sussex, as no county given, delivered late

+by twenty-two hours.)

+

+17 September.--Do not fail to be at Hilllingham tonight.

+If not watching all the time, frequently visit and see that

+flowers are as placed, very important, do not fail.  Shall

+be with you as soon as possible after arrival.

+

+

+

+DR. SEWARD'S DIARY

+

+18 September.--Just off train to London.  The arrival of Van

+Helsing's telegram filled me with dismay.  A whole night lost,

+and I know by bitter experience what may happen in a night.

+Of course it is possible that all may be well, but what may

+have happened?  Surely there is some horrible doom hanging over us

+that every possible accident should thwart us in all we try to do.

+I shall take this cylinder with me, and then I can complete

+my entry on Lucy's phonograph.

+

+

+

+

+MEMORANDUM LEFT BY LUCY WESTENRA

+

+17 September, Night.--I write this and leave it to be seen,

+so that no one may by any chance get into trouble through

+me.  This is an exact record of what took place tonight.  I

+feel I am dying of weakness, and have barely strength to

+write, but it must be done if I die in the doing.

+

+I went to bed as usual, taking care that the flowers were

+placed as Dr. Van Helsing directed, and soon fell asleep.

+

+I was waked by the flapping at the window, which had begun after

+that sleep-walking on the cliff at Whitby when Mina saved me, and

+which now I know so well.  I was not afraid, but I did wish that

+Dr. Seward was in the next room, as Dr. Van Helsing said he would

+be, so that I might have called him.  I tried to sleep, but I

+could not.  Then there came to me the old fear of sleep, and I

+determined to keep awake.  Perversely sleep would try to come then

+when I did not want it.  So, as I feared to be alone, I opened my

+door and called out, "Is there anybody there?"  There was no

+answer.  I was afraid to wake mother, and so closed my door

+again.  Then outside in the shrubbery I heard a sort of howl like

+a dog's, but more fierce and deeper.  I went to the window and

+looked out, but could see nothing, except a big bat, which had

+evidently been buffeting its wings against the window.  So I went

+back to bed again, but determined not to go to sleep.  Presently

+the door opened, and mother looked in.  Seeing by my moving that

+I was not asleep, she came in and sat by me.  She said to me even

+more sweetly and softly than her wont,

+

+"I was uneasy about you, darling, and came in to see that

+you were all right."

+

+I feared she might catch cold sitting there, and asked her

+to come in and sleep with me, so she came into bed, and lay

+down beside me.  She did not take off her dressing gown,

+for she said she would only stay a while and then go back

+to her own bed.  As she lay there in my arms, and I in hers

+the flapping and buffeting came to the window again.  She

+was startled and a little frightened, and cried out, "What

+is that?"

+

+I tried to pacify her, and at last succeeded, and she lay

+quiet.  But I could hear her poor dear heart still beating

+terribly.  After a while there was the howl again out in

+the shrubbery, and shortly after there was a crash at the

+window, and a lot of broken glass was hurled on the floor.

+The window blind blew back with the wind that rushed in,

+and in the aperture of the broken panes there was the head

+of a great, gaunt gray wolf.

+

+Mother cried out in a fright, and struggled up into a

+sitting posture, and clutched wildly at anything that would

+help her.  Amongst other things, she clutched the wreath of

+flowers that Dr. Van Helsing insisted on my wearing round

+my neck, and tore it away from me.  For a second or two she

+sat up, pointing at the wolf, and there was a strange and

+horrible gurgling in her throat.  Then she fell over, as if

+struck with lightning, and her head hit my forehead and

+made me dizzy for a moment or two.

+

+The room and all round seemed to spin round.  I kept my eyes

+fixed on the window, but the wolf drew his head back, and a whole

+myriad of little specks seems to come blowing in through the

+broken window, and wheeling and circling round like the pillar of

+dust that travellers describe when there is a simoon in the

+desert.  I tried to stir, but there was some spell upon me, and

+dear Mother's poor body, which seemed to grow cold already, for

+her dear heart had ceased to beat, weighed me down, and I

+remembered no more for a while.

+

+The time did not seem long, but very, very awful, till I

+recovered consciousness again.  Somewhere near, a passing

+bell was tolling.  The dogs all round the neighbourhood were

+howling, and in our shrubbery, seemingly just outside, a

+nightingale was singing.  I was dazed and stupid with pain

+and terror and weakness, but the sound of the nightingale

+seemed like the voice of my dead mother come back to comfort me.

+The sounds seemed to have awakened the maids, too, for I could

+hear their bare feet pattering outside my door.  I called to

+them, and they came in, and when they saw what had happened, and

+what it was that lay over me on the bed, they screamed out.  The

+wind rushed in through the broken window, and the door slammed

+to.  They lifted off the body of my dear mother, and laid her,

+covered up with a sheet, on the bed after I had got up.  They

+were all so frightened and nervous that I directed them to go to

+the dining room and each have a glass of wine.  The door flew

+open for an instant and closed again.  The maids shrieked, and

+then went in a body to the dining room, and I laid what flowers I

+had on my dear mother's breast.  When they were there I

+remembered what Dr. Van Helsing had told me, but I didn't like to

+remove them, and besides, I would have some of the servants to

+sit up with me now.  I was surprised that the maids did not come

+back.  I called them, but got no answer, so I went to the dining

+room to look for them.

+

+My heart sank when I saw what had happened.  They all four

+lay helpless on the floor, breathing heavily.  The decanter

+of sherry was on the table half full, but there was a queer,

+acrid smell about.  I was suspicious, and examined the decanter.

+It smelt of laudanum, and looking on the sideboard, I found that

+the bottle which Mother's doctor uses for her--oh! did use--was

+empty.  What am I to do? What am I to do?  I am back in the room

+with Mother.  I cannot leave her, and I am alone, save for the

+sleeping servants, whom some one has drugged.  Alone with the

+dead! I dare not go out, for I can hear the low howl of the wolf

+through the broken window.

+

+The air seems full of specks, floating and circling in the

+draught from the window, and the lights burn blue and dim.

+What am I to do?  God shield me from harm this night!  I

+shall hide this paper in my breast, where they shall find

+it when they come to lay me out.  My dear mother gone!  It

+is time that I go too.  Goodbye, dear Arthur, if I should

+not survive this night.  God keep you, dear, and God help

+me!

+

+

+

+

+CHAPTER 12

+

+

+DR. SEWARD'S DIARY

+

+18 September.--I drove at once to Hillingham and arrived early.

+Keeping my cab at the gate, I went up the avenue alone.  I knocked

+gently and rang as quietly as possible, for I feared to disturb Lucy

+or her mother, and hoped to only bring a servant to the door.  After a

+while, finding no response, I knocked and rang again, still no

+answer.  I cursed the laziness of the servants that they should lie

+abed at such an hour, for it was now ten o'clock, and so rang and

+knocked again, but more impatiently, but still without response.

+Hitherto I had blamed only the servants, but now a terrible fear began

+to assail me.  Was this desolation but another link in the chain of

+doom which seemed drawing tight round us?  Was it indeed a house of

+death to which I had come, too late?  I know that minutes, even

+seconds of delay, might mean hours of danger to Lucy, if she had had

+again one of those frightful relapses, and I went round the house to

+try if I could find by chance an entry anywhere.

+

+I could find no means of ingress.  Every window and door was fastened

+and locked, and I returned baffled to the porch.  As I did so, I heard

+the rapid pit-pat of a swiftly driven horse's feet.  They stopped at

+the gate, and a few seconds later I met Van Helsing running up the

+avenue.  When he saw me, he gasped out, "Then it was you, and just

+arrived.  How is she?  Are we too late?  Did you not get my telegram?"

+

+I answered as quickly and coherently as I could that I had only got

+his telegram early in the morning, and had not a minute in coming

+here, and that I could not make any one in the house hear me.  He

+paused and raised his hat as he said solemnly, "Then I fear we are too

+late.  God's will be done!"

+

+With his usual recuperative energy, he went on, "Come.  If there be no

+way open to get in, we must make one.  Time is all in all to us now."

+

+We went round to the back of the house, where there was a kitchen

+window.  The Professor took a small surgical saw from his case, and

+handing it to me, pointed to the iron bars which guarded the window.

+I attacked them at once and had very soon cut through three of them.

+Then with a long, thin knife we pushed back the fastening of the

+sashes and opened the window.  I helped the Professor in, and followed

+him.  There was no one in the kitchen or in the servants' rooms, which

+were close at hand.  We tried all the rooms as we went along, and in

+the dining room, dimly lit by rays of light through the shutters,

+found four servant women lying on the floor.  There was no need to

+think them dead, for their stertorous breathing and the acrid smell of

+laudanum in the room left no doubt as to their condition.

+

+Van Helsing and I looked at each other, and as we moved away he said,

+"We can attend to them later."  Then we ascended to Lucy's room.  For an

+instant or two we paused at the door to listen, but there was no sound

+that we could hear.  With white faces and trembling hands, we opened

+the door gently, and entered the room.

+

+How shall I describe what we saw?  On the bed lay two women, Lucy and

+her mother.  The latter lay farthest in, and she was covered with a

+white sheet, the edge of which had been blown back by the drought

+through the broken window, showing the drawn, white, face, with a look

+of terror fixed upon it.  By her side lay Lucy, with face white and

+still more drawn.  The flowers which had been round her neck we found

+upon her mother's bosom, and her throat was bare, showing the two

+little wounds which we had noticed before, but looking horribly white

+and mangled.  Without a word the Professor bent over the bed, his head

+almost touching poor Lucy's breast.  Then he gave a quick turn of his

+head, as of one who listens, and leaping to his feet, he cried out to

+me, "It is not yet too late!  Quick!  Quick!  Bring the brandy!"

+

+I flew downstairs and returned with it, taking care to smell and taste

+it, lest it, too, were drugged like the decanter of sherry which I

+found on the table.  The maids were still breathing, but more

+restlessly, and I fancied that the narcotic was wearing off.  I did

+not stay to make sure, but returned to Van Helsing.  He rubbed the

+brandy, as on another occasion, on her lips and gums and on her wrists

+and the palms of her hands.  He said to me, "I can do this, all that

+can be at the present.  You go wake those maids.  Flick them in the

+face with a wet towel, and flick them hard.  Make them get heat and

+fire and a warm bath.  This poor soul is nearly as cold as that beside

+her.  She will need be heated before we can do anything more."

+

+I went at once, and found little difficulty in waking three of the

+women.  The fourth was only a young girl, and the drug had evidently

+affected her more strongly so I lifted her on the sofa and let her

+sleep.

+

+The others were dazed at first, but as remembrance came back to them

+they cried and sobbed in a hysterical manner.  I was stern with them,

+however, and would not let them talk.  I told them that one life was

+bad enough to lose, and if they delayed they would sacrifice Miss

+Lucy.  So, sobbing and crying they went about their way, half clad as

+they were, and prepared fire and water.  Fortunately, the kitchen and

+boiler fires were still alive, and there was no lack of hot water.  We

+got a bath and carried Lucy out as she was and placed her in it.

+Whilst we were busy chafing her limbs there was a knock at the hall

+door.  One of the maids ran off, hurried on some more clothes, and

+opened it.  Then she returned and whispered to us that there was a

+gentleman who had come with a message from Mr. Holmwood.  I bade her

+simply tell him that he must wait, for we could see no one now.  She

+went away with the message, and, engrossed with our work, I clean

+forgot all about him.

+

+I never saw in all my experience the Professor work in such deadly

+earnest.  I knew, as he knew, that it was a stand-up fight with death,

+and in a pause told him so.  He answered me in a way that I did not

+understand, but with the sternest look that his face could wear.

+

+"If that were all, I would stop here where we are now, and let her

+fade away into peace, for I see no light in life over her horizon."  He

+went on with his work with, if possible, renewed and more frenzied

+vigour.

+

+Presently we both began to be conscious that the heat was beginning to

+be of some effect.  Lucy's heart beat a trifle more audibly to the

+stethoscope, and her lungs had a perceptible movement.  Van Helsing's

+face almost beamed, and as we lifted her from the bath and rolled her

+in a hot sheet to dry her he said to me, "The first gain is ours!

+Check to the King!"

+

+We took Lucy into another room, which had by now been prepared, and

+laid her in bed and forced a few drops of brandy down her throat.  I

+noticed that Van Helsing tied a soft silk handkerchief round her

+throat.  She was still unconscious, and was quite as bad as, if not

+worse than, we had ever seen her.

+

+Van Helsing called in one of the women, and told her to stay with her

+and not to take her eyes off her till we returned, and then beckoned

+me out of the room.

+

+"We must consult as to what is to be done," he said as we descended

+the stairs.  In the hall he opened the dining room door, and we passed

+in, he closing the door carefully behind him.  The shutters had been

+opened, but the blinds were already down, with that obedience to the

+etiquette of death which the British woman of the lower classes always

+rigidly observes.  The room was, therefore, dimly dark.  It was,

+however, light enough for our purposes.  Van Helsing's sternness was

+somewhat relieved by a look of perplexity.  He was evidently torturing

+his mind about something, so I waited for an instant, and he spoke.

+

+"What are we to do now?  Where are we to turn for help?  We must have

+another transfusion of blood, and that soon, or that poor girl's life

+won't be worth an hour's purchase.  You are exhausted already.  I am

+exhausted too.  I fear to trust those women, even if they would have

+courage to submit.  What are we to do for some one who will open his

+veins for her?"

+

+"What's the matter with me, anyhow?"

+

+The voice came from the sofa across the room, and its tones brought

+relief and joy to my heart, for they were those of Quincey Morris.

+

+Van Helsing started angrily at the first sound, but his face softened

+and a glad look came into his eyes as I cried out, "Quincey Morris!"

+and rushed towards him with outstretched hands.

+

+"What brought you here?" I cried as our hands met.

+

+"I guess Art is the cause."

+

+He handed me a telegram.--'Have not heard from Seward for three days,

+and am terribly anxious.  Cannot leave.  Father still in same

+condition.  Send me word how Lucy is.  Do not delay.--Holmwood.'

+

+"I think I came just in the nick of time.  You know you have only to

+tell me what to do."

+

+Van Helsing strode forward, and took his hand, looking him straight in

+the eyes as he said, "A brave man's blood is the best thing on this

+earth when a woman is in trouble.  You're a man and no mistake.  Well,

+the devil may work against us for all he's worth, but God sends us men

+when we want them."

+

+Once again we went through that ghastly operation.  I have not the

+heart to go through with the details.  Lucy had got a terrible shock

+and it told on her more than before, for though plenty of blood went

+into her veins, her body did not respond to the treatment as well as

+on the other occasions.  Her struggle back into life was something

+frightful to see and hear.  However, the action of both heart and

+lungs improved, and Van Helsing made a sub-cutaneous injection of

+morphia, as before, and with good effect.  Her faint became a profound

+slumber.  The Professor watched whilst I went downstairs with Quincey

+Morris, and sent one of the maids to pay off one of the cabmen who

+were waiting.

+

+I left Quincey lying down after having a glass of wine, and told the

+cook to get ready a good breakfast.  Then a thought struck me, and I

+went back to the room where Lucy now was.  When I came softly in, I

+found Van Helsing with a sheet or two of note paper in his hand.  He

+had evidently read it, and was thinking it over as he sat with his

+hand to his brow.  There was a look of grim satisfaction in his face,

+as of one who has had a doubt solved.  He handed me the paper saying

+only, "It dropped from Lucy's breast when we carried her to the bath."

+

+When I had read it, I stood looking at the Professor, and after a

+pause asked him, "In God's name, what does it all mean?  Was she, or

+is she, mad, or what sort of horrible danger is it?"  I was so

+bewildered that I did not know what to say more.  Van Helsing put out

+his hand and took the paper, saying,

+

+"Do not trouble about it now.  Forget it for the present.  You shall

+know and understand it all in good time, but it will be later.  And

+now what is it that you came to me to say?"  This brought me back to

+fact, and I was all myself again.

+

+"I came to speak about the certificate of death.  If we do not act

+properly and wisely, there may be an inquest, and that paper would

+have to be produced.  I am in hopes that we need have no inquest, for

+if we had it would surely kill poor Lucy, if nothing else did.  I

+know, and you know, and the other doctor who attended her knows, that

+Mrs. Westenra had disease of the heart, and we can certify that she

+died of it.  Let us fill up the certificate at once, and I shall take

+it myself to the registrar and go on to the undertaker."

+

+"Good, oh my friend John!  Well thought of!  Truly Miss Lucy, if she

+be sad in the foes that beset her, is at least happy in the friends

+that love her.  One, two, three, all open their veins for her, besides

+one old man.  Ah, yes, I know, friend John.  I am not blind!  I love

+you all the more for it!  Now go."

+

+In the hall I met Quincey Morris, with a telegram for Arthur telling

+him that Mrs. Westenra was dead, that Lucy also had been ill, but was

+now going on better, and that Van Helsing and I were with her.  I told

+him where I was going, and he hurried me out, but as I was going said,

+

+"When you come back, Jack, may I have two words with you all to

+ourselves?"  I nodded in reply and went out.  I found no difficulty

+about the registration, and arranged with the local undertaker to come

+up in the evening to measure for the coffin and to make arrangements.

+

+When I got back Quincey was waiting for me.  I told him I would see

+him as soon as I knew about Lucy, and went up to her room.  She was

+still sleeping, and the Professor seemingly had not moved from his

+seat at her side.  From his putting his finger to his lips, I gathered

+that he expected her to wake before long and was afraid of

+fore-stalling nature.  So I went down to Quincey and took him into the

+breakfast room, where the blinds were not drawn down, and which was a

+little more cheerful, or rather less cheerless, than the other rooms.

+

+When we were alone, he said to me, "Jack Seward, I don't want to shove

+myself in anywhere where I've no right to be, but this is no ordinary

+case.  You know I loved that girl and wanted to marry her, but

+although that's all past and gone, I can't help feeling anxious about

+her all the same.  What is it that's wrong with her?  The Dutchman,

+and a fine old fellow he is, I can see that, said that time you two

+came into the room, that you must have another transfusion of blood,

+and that both you and he were exhausted.  Now I know well that you

+medical men speak in camera, and that a man must not expect to know

+what they consult about in private.  But this is no common matter, and

+whatever it is, I have done my part.  Is not that so?"

+

+"That's so," I said, and he went on.

+

+"I take it that both you and Van Helsing had done already what I did

+today.  Is not that so?"

+

+"That's so."

+

+"And I guess Art was in it too.  When I saw him four days ago down at

+his own place he looked queer.  I have not seen anything pulled down

+so quick since I was on the Pampas and had a mare that I was fond of

+go to grass all in a night.  One of those big bats that they call

+vampires had got at her in the night, and what with his gorge and the

+vein left open, there wasn't enough blood in her to let her stand up,

+and I had to put a bullet through her as she lay.  Jack, if you may

+tell me without betraying confidence, Arthur was the first, is not

+that so?"

+

+As he spoke the poor fellow looked terribly anxious.  He was in a

+torture of suspense regarding the woman he loved, and his utter

+ignorance of the terrible mystery which seemed to surround her

+intensified his pain.  His very heart was bleeding, and it took all

+the manhood of him, and there was a royal lot of it, too, to keep him

+from breaking down.  I paused before answering, for I felt that I must

+not betray anything which the Professor wished kept secret, but

+already he knew so much, and guessed so much, that there could be no

+reason for not answering, so I answered in the same phrase.

+

+"That's so."

+

+"And how long has this been going on?"

+

+"About ten days."

+

+"Ten days!  Then I guess, Jack Seward, that that poor pretty creature

+that we all love has had put into her veins within that time the blood

+of four strong men.  Man alive, her whole body wouldn't hold it."  Then

+coming close to me, he spoke in a fierce half-whisper.  "What took it

+out?"

+

+I shook my head.  "That," I said, "is the crux.  Van Helsing is simply

+frantic about it, and I am at my wits' end.  I can't even hazard a

+guess.  There has been a series of little circumstances which have

+thrown out all our calculations as to Lucy being properly watched.

+But these shall not occur again.  Here we stay until all be well, or

+ill."

+

+Quincey held out his hand.  "Count me in," he said.  "You and the

+Dutchman will tell me what to do, and I'll do it."

+

+When she woke late in the afternoon, Lucy's first movement was to feel

+in her breast, and to my surprise, produced the paper which Van

+Helsing had given me to read.  The careful Professor had replaced it

+where it had come from, lest on waking she should be alarmed.  Her

+eyes then lit on Van Helsing and on me too, and gladdened.  Then she

+looked round the room, and seeing where she was, shuddered.  She gave

+a loud cry, and put her poor thin hands before her pale face.

+

+We both understood what was meant, that she had realized to the full

+her mother's death.  So we tried what we could to comfort her.

+Doubtless sympathy eased her somewhat, but she was very low in thought

+and spirit, and wept silently and weakly for a long time.  We told her

+that either or both of us would now remain with her all the time, and

+that seemed to comfort her.  Towards dusk she fell into a doze.  Here

+a very odd thing occurred.  Whilst still asleep she took the paper

+from her breast and tore it in two.  Van Helsing stepped over and took

+the pieces from her.  All the same, however, she went on with the

+action of tearing, as though the material were still in her hands.

+Finally she lifted her hands and opened them as though scattering the

+fragments.  Van Helsing seemed surprised, and his brows gathered as if

+in thought, but he said nothing.

+

+

+19 September.--All last night she slept fitfully, being always afraid

+to sleep, and something weaker when she woke from it.  The Professor

+and I took in turns to watch, and we never left her for a moment

+unattended.  Quincey Morris said nothing about his intention, but I

+knew that all night long he patrolled round and round the house.

+

+When the day came, its searching light showed the ravages in poor

+Lucy's strength.  She was hardly able to turn her head, and the little

+nourishment which she could take seemed to do her no good.  At times

+she slept, and both Van Helsing and I noticed the difference in her,

+between sleeping and waking.  Whilst asleep she looked stronger,

+although more haggard, and her breathing was softer.  Her open mouth

+showed the pale gums drawn back from the teeth, which looked

+positively longer and sharper than usual.  When she woke the softness

+of her eyes evidently changed the expression, for she looked her own

+self, although a dying one.  In the afternoon she asked for Arthur,

+and we telegraphed for him.  Quincey went off to meet him at the

+station.

+

+When he arrived it was nearly six o'clock, and the sun was setting

+full and warm, and the red light streamed in through the window and

+gave more colour to the pale cheeks.  When he saw her, Arthur was

+simply choking with emotion, and none of us could speak.  In the hours

+that had passed, the fits of sleep, or the comatose condition that

+passed for it, had grown more frequent, so that the pauses when

+conversation was possible were shortened.  Arthur's presence, however,

+seemed to act as a stimulant.  She rallied a little, and spoke to him

+more brightly than she had done since we arrived.  He too pulled

+himself together, and spoke as cheerily as he could, so that the best

+was made of everything.

+

+It is now nearly one o'clock, and he and Van Helsing are sitting with

+her.  I am to relieve them in a quarter of an hour, and I am entering

+this on Lucy's phonograph.  Until six o'clock they are to try to rest.

+I fear that tomorrow will end our watching, for the shock has been too

+great.  The poor child cannot rally.  God help us all.

+

+

+

+

+LETTER MINA HARKER TO LUCY WESTENRA

+

+(Unopened by her)

+

+17 September

+

+My dearest Lucy,

+

+"It seems an age since I heard from you, or indeed since I

+wrote.  You will pardon me, I know, for all my faults when

+you have read all my budget of news.  Well, I got my husband back

+all right.  When we arrived at Exeter there was a carriage

+waiting for us, and in it, though he had an attack of gout, Mr.

+Hawkins.  He took us to his house, where there were rooms for us

+all nice and comfortable, and we dined together.  After dinner

+Mr. Hawkins said,

+

+"'My dears, I want to drink your health and prosperity, and

+may every blessing attend you both.  I know you both from

+children, and have, with love and pride, seen you grow up.

+Now I want you to make your home here with me.  I have left

+to me neither chick nor child.  All are gone, and in my

+will I have left you everything.'  I cried, Lucy dear, as

+Jonathan and the old man clasped hands.  Our evening was a

+very, very happy one.

+

+"So here we are, installed in this beautiful old house, and

+from both my bedroom and the drawing room I can see the

+great elms of the cathedral close, with their great black

+stems standing out against the old yellow stone of the cathedral,

+and I can hear the rooks overhead cawing and cawing and

+chattering and chattering and gossiping all day, after the manner

+of rooks--and humans.  I am busy, I need not tell you, arranging

+things and housekeeping.  Jonathan and Mr. Hawkins are busy all

+day, for now that Jonathan is a partner, Mr. Hawkins wants to

+tell him all about the clients.

+

+"How is your dear mother getting on?  I wish I could run up

+to town for a day or two to see you, dear, but I dare not

+go yet, with so much on my shoulders, and Jonathan wants

+looking after still.  He is beginning to put some flesh on

+his bones again, but he was terribly weakened by the long

+illness.  Even now he sometimes starts out of his sleep in

+a sudden way and awakes all trembling until I can coax him

+back to his usual placidity.  However, thank God, these

+occasions grow less frequent as the days go on, and they

+will in time pass away altogether, I trust.  And now I have

+told you my news, let me ask yours.  When are you to be

+married, and where, and who is to perform the ceremony, and

+what are you to wear, and is it to be a public or private

+wedding?  Tell me all about it, dear, tell me all about

+everything, for there is nothing which interests you which

+will not be dear to me.  Jonathan asks me to send his 'respectful

+duty', but I do not think that is good enough from the junior

+partner of the important firm Hawkins & Harker.  And so, as you

+love me, and he loves me, and I love you with all the moods and

+tenses of the verb, I send you simply his 'love' instead.

+Goodbye, my dearest Lucy, and blessings on you.

+

+"Yours,

+

+"Mina Harker"

+

+

+

+REPORT FROM PATRICK HENNESSEY, MD, MRCSLK, QCPI, ETC, ETC,

+TO JOHN SEWARD, MD

+

+20 September

+

+My dear Sir:

+

+"In accordance with your wishes, I enclose report of the

+conditions of everything left in my charge.  With regard to

+patient, Renfield, there is more to say.  He has had another

+outbreak, which might have had a dreadful ending, but which, as

+it fortunately happened, was unattended with any unhappy results.

+This afternoon a carrier's cart with two men made a call at the

+empty house whose grounds abut on ours, the house to which, you

+will remember, the patient twice ran away.  The men stopped at

+our gate to ask the porter their way, as they were strangers.

+

+"I was myself looking out of the study window, having a

+smoke after dinner, and saw one of them come up to the

+house.  As he passed the window of Renfield's room, the

+patient began to rate him from within, and called him all

+the foul names he could lay his tongue to.  The man, who

+seemed a decent fellow enough, contented himself by telling

+him to 'shut up for a foul-mouthed beggar', whereon our man

+accused him of robbing him and wanting to murder him and

+said that he would hinder him if he were to swing for it.

+I opened the window and signed to the man not to notice, so

+he contented himself after looking the place over and making up

+his mind as to what kind of place he had got to by saying, 'Lor'

+bless yer, sir, I wouldn't mind what was said to me in a bloomin'

+madhouse.  I pity ye and the guv'nor for havin' to live in the

+house with a wild beast like that.'

+

+"Then he asked his way civilly enough, and I told him where

+the gate of the empty house was.  He went away followed by

+threats and curses and revilings from our man.  I went down

+to see if I could make out any cause for his anger, since

+he is usually such a well-behaved man, and except his violent

+fits nothing of the kind had ever occurred.  I found him, to my

+astonishment, quite composed and most genial in his manner.  I

+tried to get him to talk of the incident, but he blandly asked me

+questions as to what I meant, and led me to believe that he was

+completely oblivious of the affair.  It was, I am sorry to say,

+however, only another instance of his cunning, for within half an

+hour I heard of him again.  This time he had broken out through

+the window of his room, and was running down the avenue.  I

+called to the attendants to follow me, and ran after him, for I

+feared he was intent on some mischief.  My fear was justified

+when I saw the same cart which had passed before coming down the

+road, having on it some great wooden boxes.  The men were wiping

+their foreheads, and were flushed in the face, as if with violent

+exercise.  Before I could get up to him, the patient rushed at

+them, and pulling one of them off the cart, began to knock his

+head against the ground.  If I had not seized him just at the

+moment, I believe he would have killed the man there and then.

+The other fellow jumped down and struck him over the head with

+the butt end of his heavy whip.  It was a horrible blow, but he

+did not seem to mind it, but seized him also, and struggled with

+the three of us, pulling us to and fro as if we were kittens.

+You know I am no lightweight, and the others were both burly men.

+At first he was silent in his fighting, but as we began to master

+him, and the attendants were putting a strait waistcoat on him,

+he began to shout, 'I'll frustrate them! They shan't rob me!

+They shan't murder me by inches!  I'll fight for my Lord and

+Master!' and all sorts of similar incoherent ravings.  It was

+with very considerable difficulty that they got him back to the

+house and put him in the padded room.  One of the attendants,

+Hardy, had a finger broken.  However, I set it all right, and he

+is going on well.

+

+"The two carriers were at first loud in their threats of

+actions for damages, and promised to rain all the penalties

+of the law on us.  Their threats were, however, mingled

+with some sort of indirect apology for the defeat of the

+two of them by a feeble madman.  They said that if it had

+not been for the way their strength had been spent in carrying

+and raising the heavy boxes to the cart they would have made

+short work of him.  They gave as another reason for their defeat

+the extraordinary state of drouth to which they had been reduced

+by the dusty nature of their occupation and the reprehensible

+distance from the scene of their labors of any place of public

+entertainment.  I quite understood their drift, and after a stiff

+glass of strong grog, or rather more of the same, and with each a

+sovereign in hand, they made light of the attack, and swore that

+they would encounter a worse madman any day for the pleasure of

+meeting so 'bloomin' good a bloke' as your correspondent.  I took

+their names and addresses, in case they might be needed.  They

+are as follows:  Jack Smollet, of Dudding's Rents, King George's

+Road, Great Walworth, and Thomas Snelling, Peter Farley's Row,

+Guide Court, Bethnal Green. They are both in the employment of

+Harris & Sons, Moving and Shipment Company, Orange Master's Yard,

+Soho.

+

+"I shall report to you any matter of interest occurring here, and

+shall wire you at once if there is anything of importance.

+

+"Believe me, dear Sir,

+

+"Yours faithfully,

+

+"Patrick Hennessey."

+

+

+

+LETTER, MINA HARKER TO LUCY WESTENRA (Unopened by her)

+

+18 September

+

+"My dearest Lucy,

+

+"Such a sad blow has befallen us.  Mr. Hawkins has died very

+suddenly.  Some may not think it so sad for us, but we had

+both come to so love him that it really seems as though we

+had lost a father.  I never knew either father or mother,

+so that the dear old man's death is a real blow to me. Jonathan

+is greatly distressed.  It is not only that he feels sorrow, deep

+sorrow, for the dear, good man who has befriended him all his

+life, and now at the end has treated him like his own son and

+left him a fortune which to people of our modest bringing up is

+wealth beyond the dream of avarice, but Jonathan feels it on

+another account.  He says the amount of responsibility which it

+puts upon him makes him nervous.  He begins to doubt himself.  I

+try to cheer him up, and my belief in him helps him to have a

+belief in himself.  But it is here that the grave shock that he

+experienced tells upon him the most.  Oh, it is too hard that a

+sweet, simple, noble, strong nature such as his, a nature which

+enabled him by our dear, good friend's aid to rise from clerk to

+master in a few years, should be so injured that the very essence

+of its strength is gone.  Forgive me, dear, if I worry you with my

+troubles in the midst of your own happiness, but Lucy dear, I

+must tell someone, for the strain of keeping up a brave and

+cheerful appearance to Jonathan tries me, and I have no one here

+that I can confide in.  I dread coming up to London, as we must

+do that day after tomorrow, for poor Mr. Hawkins left in his will

+that he was to be buried in the grave with his father.  As there

+are no relations at all, Jonathan will have to be chief mourner.

+I shall try to run over to see you, dearest, if only for a few

+minutes.  Forgive me for troubling you.  With all blessings,

+

+"Your loving

+

+"Mina Harker"

+

+

+

+DR. SEWARD'S DIARY

+

+20 September.--Only resolution and habit can let me make an entry

+tonight.  I am too miserable, too low spirited, too sick of the world

+and all in it, including life itself, that I would not care if I heard

+this moment the flapping of the wings of the angel of death.  And he

+has been flapping those grim wings to some purpose of late, Lucy's

+mother and Arthur's father, and now . . . Let me get on with my work.

+

+I duly relieved Van Helsing in his watch over Lucy.  We wanted Arthur

+to go to rest also, but he refused at first.  It was only when I told

+him that we should want him to help us during the day, and that we

+must not all break down for want of rest, lest Lucy should suffer,

+that he agreed to go.

+

+Van Helsing was very kind to him.  "Come, my child," he said.  "Come

+with me.  You are sick and weak, and have had much sorrow and much

+mental pain, as well as that tax on your strength that we know of.

+You must not be alone, for to be alone is to be full of fears and

+alarms.  Come to the drawing room, where there is a big fire, and

+there are two sofas.  You shall lie on one, and I on the other, and

+our sympathy will be comfort to each other, even though we do not

+speak, and even if we sleep."

+

+Arthur went off with him, casting back a longing look on Lucy's face,

+which lay in her pillow, almost whiter than the lawn.  She lay quite

+still, and I looked around the room to see that all was as it should

+be.  I could see that the Professor had carried out in this room, as

+in the other, his purpose of using the garlic.  The whole of the

+window sashes reeked with it, and round Lucy's neck, over the silk

+handkerchief which Van Helsing made her keep on, was a rough chaplet

+of the same odorous flowers.

+

+Lucy was breathing somewhat stertorously, and her face was at its

+worst, for the open mouth showed the pale gums.  Her teeth, in the

+dim, uncertain light, seemed longer and sharper than they had been in

+the morning.  In particular, by some trick of the light, the canine

+teeth looked longer and sharper than the rest.

+

+I sat down beside her, and presently she moved uneasily.  At the same

+moment there came a sort of dull flapping or buffeting at the window.

+I went over to it softly, and peeped out by the corner of the blind.

+There was a full moonlight, and I could see that the noise was made by

+a great bat, which wheeled around, doubtless attracted by the light,

+although so dim, and every now and again struck the window with its

+wings.  When I came back to my seat, I found that Lucy had moved

+slightly, and had torn away the garlic flowers from her throat.  I

+replaced them as well as I could, and sat watching her.

+

+Presently she woke, and I gave her food, as Van Helsing had

+prescribed.  She took but a little, and that languidly.  There did not

+seem to be with her now the unconscious struggle for life and strength

+that had hitherto so marked her illness.  It struck me as curious that

+the moment she became conscious she pressed the garlic flowers close

+to her.  It was certainly odd that whenever she got into that

+lethargic state, with the stertorous breathing, she put the flowers

+from her, but that when she waked she clutched them close. There was

+no possibility of making any mistake about this, for in the long hours

+that followed, she had many spells of sleeping and waking and repeated

+both actions many times.

+

+At six o'clock Van Helsing came to relieve me.  Arthur had then fallen

+into a doze, and he mercifully let him sleep on.  When he saw Lucy's

+face I could hear the hissing indraw of breath, and he said to me in a

+sharp whisper.  "Draw up the blind.  I want light!"  Then he bent down,

+and, with his face almost touching Lucy's, examined her carefully.  He

+removed the flowers and lifted the silk handkerchief from her throat.

+As he did so he started back and I could hear his ejaculation, "Mein

+Gott!" as it was smothered in his throat.  I bent over and looked,

+too, and as I noticed some queer chill came over me.  The wounds on

+the throat had absolutely disappeared.

+

+For fully five minutes Van Helsing stood looking at her, with his face

+at its sternest.  Then he turned to me and said calmly, "She is

+dying.  It will not be long now.  It will be much difference, mark me,

+whether she dies conscious or in her sleep.  Wake that poor boy, and

+let him come and see the last.  He trusts us, and we have promised

+him."

+

+I went to the dining room and waked him.  He was dazed for a moment,

+but when he saw the sunlight streaming in through the edges of the

+shutters he thought he was late, and expressed his fear.  I assured

+him that Lucy was still asleep, but told him as gently as I could that

+both Van Helsing and I feared that the end was near.  He covered his

+face with his hands, and slid down on his knees by the sofa, where he

+remained, perhaps a minute, with his head buried, praying, whilst his

+shoulders shook with grief.  I took him by the hand and raised him up.

+"Come," I said, "my dear old fellow, summon all your fortitude.  It

+will be best and easiest for her."

+

+When we came into Lucy's room I could see that Van Helsing had, with

+his usual forethought, been putting matters straight and making

+everything look as pleasing as possible.  He had even brushed Lucy's

+hair, so that it lay on the pillow in its usual sunny ripples.  When

+we came into the room she opened her eyes, and seeing him, whispered

+softly, "Arthur!  Oh, my love, I am so glad you have come!"

+

+He was stooping to kiss her, when Van Helsing motioned him back.

+"No," he whispered, "not yet!  Hold her hand, it will comfort her

+more."

+

+So Arthur took her hand and knelt beside her, and she looked her best,

+with all the soft lines matching the angelic beauty of her eyes.  Then

+gradually her eyes closed, and she sank to sleep.  For a little bit

+her breast heaved softly, and her breath came and went like a tired

+child's.

+

+And then insensibly there came the strange change which I had noticed

+in the night.  Her breathing grew stertorous, the mouth opened, and

+the pale gums, drawn back, made the teeth look longer and sharper than

+ever.  In a sort of sleep-waking, vague, unconscious way she opened

+her eyes, which were now dull and hard at once, and said in a soft,

+voluptuous voice, such as I had never heard from her lips, "Arthur!

+Oh, my love, I am so glad you have come!  Kiss me!"

+

+Arthur bent eagerly over to kiss her, but at that instant Van Helsing,

+who, like me, had been startled by her voice, swooped upon him, and

+catching him by the neck with both hands, dragged him back with a fury

+of strength which I never thought he could have possessed, and

+actually hurled him almost across the room.

+

+"Not on your life!" he said, "not for your living soul and hers!"  And

+he stood between them like a lion at bay.

+

+Arthur was so taken aback that he did not for a moment know what to do

+or say, and before any impulse of violence could seize him he realized

+the place and the occasion, and stood silent, waiting.

+

+I kept my eyes fixed on Lucy, as did Van Helsing, and we saw a spasm

+as of rage flit like a shadow over her face.  The sharp teeth clamped

+together.  Then her eyes closed, and she breathed heavily.

+

+Very shortly after she opened her eyes in all their softness, and

+putting out her poor, pale, thin hand, took Van Helsing's great brown

+one, drawing it close to her, she kissed it.  "My true friend," she

+said, in a faint voice, but with untellable pathos, "My true friend,

+and his!  Oh, guard him, and give me peace!"

+

+"I swear it!" he said solemnly, kneeling beside her and holding up his

+hand, as one who registers an oath.  Then he turned to Arthur, and

+said to him, "Come, my child, take her hand in yours, and kiss her on

+the forehead, and only once."

+

+Their eyes met instead of their lips, and so they parted.  Lucy's eyes

+closed, and Van Helsing, who had been watching closely, took Arthur's

+arm, and drew him away.

+

+And then Lucy's breathing became stertorous again, and all at once it

+ceased.

+

+"It is all over," said Van Helsing.  "She is dead!"

+

+I took Arthur by the arm, and led him away to the drawing room, where

+he sat down, and covered his face with his hands, sobbing in a way

+that nearly broke me down to see.

+

+I went back to the room, and found Van Helsing looking at poor Lucy,

+and his face was sterner than ever.  Some change had come over her

+body.  Death had given back part of her beauty, for her brow and

+cheeks had recovered some of their flowing lines.  Even the lips had

+lost their deadly pallor.  It was as if the blood, no longer needed

+for the working of the heart, had gone to make the harshness of death

+as little rude as might be.

+

+"We thought her dying whilst she slept, and sleeping when she died."

+

+

+I stood beside Van Helsing, and said, "Ah well, poor girl, there is

+peace for her at last.  It is the end!"

+

+He turned to me, and said with grave solemnity, "Not so, alas!  Not

+so.  It is only the beginning!"

+

+When I asked him what he meant, he only shook his head and answered,

+"We can do nothing as yet.  Wait and see."

+

+

+

+

+CHAPTER 13

+

+

+DR. SEWARD'S DIARY--cont.

+

+The funeral was arranged for the next succeeding day, so that Lucy and

+her mother might be buried together.  I attended to all the ghastly

+formalities, and the urbane undertaker proved that his staff was

+afflicted, or blessed, with something of his own obsequious suavity.

+Even the woman who performed the last offices for the dead remarked to

+me, in a confidential, brother-professional way, when she had come out

+from the death chamber,

+

+"She makes a very beautiful corpse, sir.  It's quite a privilege to

+attend on her.  It's not too much to say that she will do credit to

+our establishment!"

+

+I noticed that Van Helsing never kept far away.  This was possible

+from the disordered state of things in the household.  There were no

+relatives at hand, and as Arthur had to be back the next day to attend

+at his father's funeral, we were unable to notify any one who should

+have been bidden.  Under the circumstances, Van Helsing and I took it

+upon ourselves to examine papers, etc.  He insisted upon looking over

+Lucy's papers himself.  I asked him why, for I feared that he, being a

+foreigner, might not be quite aware of English legal requirements, and

+so might in ignorance make some unnecessary trouble.

+

+He answered me, "I know, I know.  You forget that I am a lawyer as

+well as a doctor.  But this is not altogether for the law.  You knew

+that, when you avoided the coroner.  I have more than him to avoid.

+There may be papers more, such as this."

+

+As he spoke he took from his pocket book the memorandum which had been

+in Lucy's breast, and which she had torn in her sleep.

+

+"When you find anything of the solicitor who is for the late Mrs.

+Westenra, seal all her papers, and write him tonight.  For me, I watch

+here in the room and in Miss Lucy's old room all night, and I myself

+search for what may be.  It is not well that her very thoughts go into

+the hands of strangers."

+

+I went on with my part of the work, and in another half hour had found

+the name and address of Mrs. Westenra's solicitor and had written to

+him.  All the poor lady's papers were in order.  Explicit directions

+regarding the place of burial were given.  I had hardly sealed the

+letter, when, to my surprise, Van Helsing walked into the room,

+saying,

+

+"Can I help you friend John?  I am free, and if I may, my service is

+to you."

+

+"Have you got what you looked for?" I asked.

+

+To which he replied, "I did not look for any specific thing.  I only

+hoped to find, and find I have, all that there was, only some letters

+and a few memoranda, and a diary new begun.  But I have them here, and

+we shall for the present say nothing of them.  I shall see that poor

+lad tomorrow evening, and, with his sanction, I shall use some."

+

+When we had finished the work in hand, he said to me, "And now, friend

+John, I think we may to bed.  We want sleep, both you and I, and rest

+to recuperate.  Tomorrow we shall have much to do, but for the tonight

+there is no need of us.  Alas!"

+

+Before turning in we went to look at poor Lucy.  The undertaker had

+certainly done his work well, for the room was turned into a small

+chapelle ardente.  There was a wilderness of beautiful white flowers,

+and death was made as little repulsive as might be.  The end of the

+winding sheet was laid over the face.  When the Professor bent over

+and turned it gently back, we both started at the beauty before us.

+The tall wax candles showing a sufficient light to note it well.  All

+Lucy's loveliness had come back to her in death, and the hours that

+had passed, instead of leaving traces of 'decay's effacing fingers',

+had but restored the beauty of life, till positively I could not

+believe my eyes that I was looking at a corpse.

+

+The Professor looked sternly grave.  He had not loved her as I had,

+and there was no need for tears in his eyes.  He said to me, "Remain

+till I return," and left the room.  He came back with a handful of

+wild garlic from the box waiting in the hall, but which had not been

+opened, and placed the flowers amongst the others on and around the

+bed.  Then he took from his neck, inside his collar, a little gold

+crucifix, and placed it over the mouth.  He restored the sheet to its

+place, and we came away.

+

+I was undressing in my own room, when, with a premonitory tap at the

+door, he entered, and at once began to speak.

+

+"Tomorrow I want you to bring me, before night, a set of post-mortem

+knives."

+

+"Must we make an autopsy?" I asked.

+

+"Yes and no.  I want to operate, but not what you think.  Let me tell

+you now, but not a word to another.  I want to cut off her head and

+take out her heart.  Ah!  You a surgeon, and so shocked!  You, whom I

+have seen with no tremble of hand or heart, do operations of life and

+death that make the rest shudder.  Oh, but I must not forget, my dear

+friend John, that you loved her, and I have not forgotten it for is I

+that shall operate, and you must not help.  I would like to do it

+tonight, but for Arthur I must not.  He will be free after his

+father's funeral tomorrow, and he will want to see her, to see it.

+Then, when she is coffined ready for the next day, you and I shall

+come when all sleep.  We shall unscrew the coffin lid, and shall do

+our operation, and then replace all, so that none know, save we

+alone."

+

+"But why do it at all?  The girl is dead.  Why mutilate her poor body

+without need?  And if there is no necessity for a post-mortem and

+nothing to gain by it, no good to her, to us, to science, to human

+knowledge, why do it?  Without such it is monstrous."

+

+For answer he put his hand on my shoulder, and said, with infinite

+tenderness, "Friend John, I pity your poor bleeding heart, and I love

+you the more because it does so bleed.  If I could, I would take on

+myself the burden that you do bear.  But there are things that you

+know not, but that you shall know, and bless me for knowing, though

+they are not pleasant things.  John, my child, you have been my friend

+now many years, and yet did you ever know me to do any without good

+cause?  I may err, I am but man, but I believe in all I do.  Was it

+not for these causes that you send for me when the great trouble

+came?  Yes!  Were you not amazed, nay horrified, when I would not let

+Arthur kiss his love, though she was dying, and snatched him away by

+all my strength?  Yes!  And yet you saw how she thanked me, with her

+so beautiful dying eyes, her voice, too, so weak, and she kiss my

+rough old hand and bless me?  Yes!  And did you not hear me swear

+promise to her, that so she closed her eyes grateful?  Yes!

+

+"Well, I have good reason now for all I want to do.  You have for many

+years trust me.  You have believe me weeks past, when there be things

+so strange that you might have well doubt.  Believe me yet a little,

+friend John.  If you trust me not, then I must tell what I think, and

+that is not perhaps well.  And if I work, as work I shall, no matter

+trust or no trust, without my friend trust in me, I work with heavy

+heart and feel oh so lonely when I want all help and courage that may

+be!"  He paused a moment and went on solemnly, "Friend John, there are

+strange and terrible days before us.  Let us not be two, but one, that

+so we work to a good end.  Will you not have faith in me?"

+

+I took his hand, and promised him.  I held my door open as he went

+away, and watched him go to his room and close the door.  As I stood

+without moving, I saw one of the maids pass silently along the

+passage, she had her back to me, so did not see me, and go into the

+room where Lucy lay.  The sight touched me.  Devotion is so rare, and

+we are so grateful to those who show it unasked to those we love.  Here

+was a poor girl putting aside the terrors which she naturally had of

+death to go watch alone by the bier of the mistress whom she loved, so

+that the poor clay might not be lonely till laid to eternal rest.

+

+I must have slept long and soundly, for it was broad daylight when Van

+Helsing waked me by coming into my room.  He came over to my bedside

+and said, "You need not trouble about the knives.  We shall not do

+it."

+

+"Why not?" I asked.  For his solemnity of the night before had

+greatly impressed me.

+

+"Because," he said sternly, "it is too late, or too early.  See!"

+Here he held up the little golden crucifix.

+

+"This was stolen in the night."

+

+"How stolen," I asked in wonder, "since you have it now?"

+

+"Because I get it back from the worthless wretch who stole it, from

+the woman who robbed the dead and the living.  Her punishment will

+surely come, but not through me.  She knew not altogether what she

+did, and thus unknowing, she only stole.  Now we must wait."  He went

+away on the word, leaving me with a new mystery to think of, a new

+puzzle to grapple with.

+

+The forenoon was a dreary time, but at noon the solicitor came, Mr.

+Marquand, of Wholeman, Sons, Marquand & Lidderdale.  He was very

+genial and very appreciative of what we had done, and took off our

+hands all cares as to details.  During lunch he told us that Mrs.

+Westenra had for some time expected sudden death from her heart, and

+had put her affairs in absolute order.  He informed us that, with the

+exception of a certain entailed property of Lucy's father which now,

+in default of direct issue, went back to a distant branch of the

+family, the whole estate, real and personal, was left absolutely to

+Arthur Holmwood.  When he had told us so much he went on,

+

+"Frankly we did our best to prevent such a testamentary disposition,

+and pointed out certain contingencies that might leave her daughter

+either penniless or not so free as she should be to act regarding a

+matrimonial alliance.  Indeed, we pressed the matter so far that we

+almost came into collision, for she asked us if we were or were not

+prepared to carry out her wishes.  Of course, we had then no

+alternative but to accept.  We were right in principle, and

+ninety-nine times out of a hundred we should have proved, by the logic

+of events, the accuracy of our judgment.

+

+"Frankly, however, I must admit that in this case any other form of

+disposition would have rendered impossible the carrying out of her

+wishes.  For by her predeceasing her daughter the latter would have

+come into possession of the property, and, even had she only survived

+her mother by five minutes, her property would, in case there were no

+will, and a will was a practical impossibility in such a case, have

+been treated at her decease as under intestacy.  In which case Lord

+Godalming, though so dear a friend, would have had no claim in the

+world.  And the inheritors, being remote, would not be likely to

+abandon their just rights, for sentimental reasons regarding an entire

+stranger.  I assure you, my dear sirs, I am rejoiced at the result,

+perfectly rejoiced."

+

+He was a good fellow, but his rejoicing at the one little part, in

+which he was officially interested, of so great a tragedy, was an

+object-lesson in the limitations of sympathetic understanding.

+

+He did not remain long, but said he would look in later in the day and

+see Lord Godalming.  His coming, however, had been a certain comfort

+to us, since it assured us that we should not have to dread hostile

+criticism as to any of our acts.  Arthur was expected at five o'clock,

+so a little before that time we visited the death chamber.  It was so

+in very truth, for now both mother and daughter lay in it.  The

+undertaker, true to his craft, had made the best display he could of

+his goods, and there was a mortuary air about the place that lowered

+our spirits at once.

+

+Van Helsing ordered the former arrangement to be adhered to,

+explaining that, as Lord Godalming was coming very soon, it would be

+less harrowing to his feelings to see all that was left of his fiancee

+quite alone.

+

+The undertaker seemed shocked at his own stupidity and exerted himself

+to restore things to the condition in which we left them the night

+before, so that when Arthur came such shocks to his feelings as we

+could avoid were saved.

+

+Poor fellow!  He looked desperately sad and broken.  Even his stalwart

+manhood seemed to have shrunk somewhat under the strain of his

+much-tried emotions.  He had, I knew, been very genuinely and

+devotedly attached to his father, and to lose him, and at such a time,

+was a bitter blow to him.  With me he was warm as ever, and to Van

+Helsing he was sweetly courteous.  But I could not help seeing that

+there was some constraint with him.  The professor noticed it too, and

+motioned me to bring him upstairs.  I did so, and left him at the door

+of the room, as I felt he would like to be quite alone with her, but

+he took my arm and led me in, saying huskily,

+

+"You loved her too, old fellow.  She told me all about it, and there

+was no friend had a closer place in her heart than you.  I don't know

+how to thank you for all you have done for her.  I can't think

+yet . . ."

+

+Here he suddenly broke down, and threw his arms round my shoulders and

+laid his head on my breast, crying, "Oh, Jack!  Jack!  What shall I

+do?  The whole of life seems gone from me all at once, and there is

+nothing in the wide world for me to live for."

+

+I comforted him as well as I could.  In such cases men do not need

+much expression.  A grip of the hand, the tightening of an arm over

+the shoulder, a sob in unison, are expressions of sympathy dear to a

+man's heart.  I stood still and silent till his sobs died away, and

+then I said softly to him, "Come and look at her."

+

+Together we moved over to the bed, and I lifted the lawn from her

+face.  God!  How beautiful she was.  Every hour seemed to be enhancing

+her loveliness.  It frightened and amazed me somewhat.  And as for

+Arthur, he fell to trembling, and finally was shaken with doubt as

+with an ague.  At last, after a long pause, he said to me in a faint

+whisper, "Jack, is she really dead?"

+

+I assured him sadly that it was so, and went on to suggest, for I felt

+that such a horrible doubt should not have life for a moment longer

+than I could help, that it often happened that after death faces

+become softened and even resolved into their youthful beauty, that

+this was especially so when death had been preceded by any acute or

+prolonged suffering.  I seemed to quite do away with any doubt, and

+after kneeling beside the couch for a while and looking at her

+lovingly and long, he turned aside.  I told him that that must be

+goodbye, as the coffin had to be prepared, so he went back and took

+her dead hand in his and kissed it, and bent over and kissed her

+forehead.  He came away, fondly looking back over his shoulder at her

+as he came.

+

+I left him in the drawing room, and told Van Helsing that he had said

+goodbye, so the latter went to the kitchen to tell the undertaker's

+men to proceed with the preparations and to screw up the coffin.  When

+he came out of the room again I told him of Arthur's question, and he

+replied, "I am not surprised.  Just now I doubted for a moment

+myself!"

+

+We all dined together, and I could see that poor Art was trying to

+make the best of things.  Van Helsing had been silent all dinner time,

+but when we had lit our cigars he said, "Lord . . ." but Arthur

+interrupted him.

+

+"No, no, not that, for God's sake!  Not yet at any rate.  Forgive me,

+sir.  I did not mean to speak offensively.  It is only because my loss

+is so recent."

+

+The Professor answered very sweetly, "I only used that name because I

+was in doubt.  I must not call you 'Mr.' and I have grown to love you,

+yes, my dear boy, to love you, as Arthur."

+

+Arthur held out his hand, and took the old man's warmly.  "Call me

+what you will," he said.  "I hope I may always have the title of a

+friend.  And let me say that I am at a loss for words to thank you for

+your goodness to my poor dear."  He paused a moment, and went on, "I

+know that she understood your goodness even better than I do.  And if

+I was rude or in any way wanting at that time you acted so, you

+remember"--the Professor nodded--"you must forgive me."

+

+He answered with a grave kindness, "I know it was hard for you to

+quite trust me then, for to trust such violence needs to understand,

+and I take it that you do not, that you cannot, trust me now, for you

+do not yet understand.  And there may be more times when I shall want

+you to trust when you cannot, and may not, and must not yet

+understand.  But the time will come when your trust shall be whole and

+complete in me, and when you shall understand as though the sunlight

+himself shone through.  Then you shall bless me from first to last for

+your own sake, and for the sake of others, and for her dear sake to

+whom I swore to protect."

+

+"And indeed, indeed, sir," said Arthur warmly.  "I shall in all ways

+trust you.  I know and believe you have a very noble heart, and you

+are Jack's friend, and you were hers.  You shall do what you like."

+

+The Professor cleared his throat a couple of times, as though about to

+speak, and finally said, "May I ask you something now?"

+

+"Certainly."

+

+"You know that Mrs. Westenra left you all her property?"

+

+"No, poor dear.  I never thought of it."

+

+"And as it is all yours, you have a right to deal with it as you will.

+I want you to give me permission to read all Miss Lucy's papers and

+letters.  Believe me, it is no idle curiosity.  I have a motive of

+which, be sure, she would have approved.  I have them all here.  I

+took them before we knew that all was yours, so that no strange hand

+might touch them, no strange eye look through words into her soul.  I

+shall keep them, if I may.  Even you may not see them yet, but I shall

+keep them safe.  No word shall be lost, and in the good time I shall

+give them back to you.  It is a hard thing that I ask, but you will do

+it, will you not, for Lucy's sake?"

+

+Arthur spoke out heartily, like his old self, "Dr. Van Helsing, you

+may do what you will.  I feel that in saying this I am doing what my

+dear one would have approved.  I shall not trouble you with questions

+till the time comes."

+

+The old Professor stood up as he said solemnly, "And you are right.

+There will be pain for us all, but it will not be all pain, nor will

+this pain be the last.  We and you too, you most of all, dear boy,

+will have to pass through the bitter water before we reach the sweet.

+But we must be brave of heart and unselfish, and do our duty, and all

+will be well!"

+

+I slept on a sofa in Arthur's room that night.  Van Helsing did not go

+to bed at all.  He went to and fro, as if patroling the house, and was

+never out of sight of the room where Lucy lay in her coffin, strewn

+with the wild garlic flowers, which sent through the odour of lily and

+rose, a heavy, overpowering smell into the night.

+

+

+

+

+MINA HARKER'S JOURNAL

+

+22 September.--In the train to Exeter.  Jonathan sleeping.  It seems

+only yesterday that the last entry was made, and yet how much between

+then, in Whitby and all the world before me, Jonathan away and no news

+of him, and now, married to Jonathan, Jonathan a solicitor, a partner,

+rich, master of his business, Mr. Hawkins dead and buried, and

+Jonathan with another attack that may harm him.  Some day he may ask

+me about it.  Down it all goes.  I am rusty in my shorthand, see what

+unexpected prosperity does for us, so it may be as well to freshen it

+up again with an exercise anyhow.

+

+The service was very simple and very solemn.  There were only

+ourselves and the servants there, one or two old friends of his from

+Exeter, his London agent, and a gentleman representing Sir John

+Paxton, the President of the Incorporated Law Society.  Jonathan and I

+stood hand in hand, and we felt that our best and dearest friend was

+gone from us.

+

+We came back to town quietly, taking a bus to Hyde Park Corner.

+Jonathan thought it would interest me to go into the Row for a while,

+so we sat down.  But there were very few people there, and it was

+sad-looking and desolate to see so many empty chairs.  It made us

+think of the empty chair at home.  So we got up and walked down

+Piccadilly.  Jonathan was holding me by the arm, the way he used to in

+the old days before I went to school.  I felt it very improper, for

+you can't go on for some years teaching etiquette and decorum to other

+girls without the pedantry of it biting into yourself a bit.  But it

+was Jonathan, and he was my husband, and we didn't know anybody who

+saw us, and we didn't care if they did, so on we walked.  I was

+looking at a very beautiful girl, in a big cart-wheel hat, sitting in

+a victoria outside Guiliano's, when I felt Jonathan clutch my arm so

+tight that he hurt me, and he said under his breath, "My God!"

+

+I am always anxious about Jonathan, for I fear that some nervous fit

+may upset him again.  So I turned to him quickly, and asked him what

+it was that disturbed him.

+

+He was very pale, and his eyes seemed bulging out as, half in terror

+and half in amazement, he gazed at a tall, thin man, with a beaky nose

+and black moustache and pointed beard, who was also observing the

+pretty girl.  He was looking at her so hard that he did not see either

+of us, and so I had a good view of him.  His face was not a good

+face.  It was hard, and cruel, and sensual, and big white teeth, that

+looked all the whiter because his lips were so red, were pointed like

+an animal's.  Jonathan kept staring at him, till I was afraid he would

+notice.  I feared he might take it ill, he looked so fierce and nasty.

+I asked Jonathan why he was disturbed, and he answered, evidently

+thinking that I knew as much about it as he did, "Do you see who it

+is?"

+

+"No, dear," I said.  "I don't know him, who is it?"  His answer seemed

+to shock and thrill me, for it was said as if he did not know that it

+was me, Mina, to whom he was speaking.  "It is the man himself!"

+

+The poor dear was evidently terrified at something, very greatly

+terrified.  I do believe that if he had not had me to lean on and to

+support him he would have sunk down.  He kept staring.  A man came out

+of the shop with a small parcel, and gave it to the lady, who then

+drove off.  The dark man kept his eyes fixed on her, and when the

+carriage moved up Piccadilly he followed in the same direction, and

+hailed a hansom.  Jonathan kept looking after him, and said, as if to

+himself,

+

+"I believe it is the Count, but he has grown young.  My God, if this

+be so!  Oh, my God!  My God!  If only I knew!  If only I knew!"  He was

+distressing himself so much that I feared to keep his mind on the

+subject by asking him any questions, so I remained silent.  I drew

+away quietly, and he, holding my arm, came easily.  We walked a little

+further, and then went in and sat for a while in the Green Park.  It

+was a hot day for autumn, and there was a comfortable seat in a shady

+place.  After a few minutes' staring at nothing, Jonathan's eyes

+closed, and he went quickly into a sleep, with his head on my

+shoulder.  I thought it was the best thing for him, so did not disturb

+him.  In about twenty minutes he woke up, and said to me quite

+cheerfully,

+

+"Why, Mina, have I been asleep!  Oh, do forgive me for being so rude.

+Come, and we'll have a cup of tea somewhere."

+

+He had evidently forgotten all about the dark stranger, as in his

+illness he had forgotten all that this episode had reminded him of.  I

+don't like this lapsing into forgetfulness.  It may make or continue

+some injury to the brain.  I must not ask him, for fear I shall do

+more harm than good, but I must somehow learn the facts of his journey

+abroad.  The time is come, I fear, when I must open the parcel, and

+know what is written.  Oh, Jonathan, you will, I know, forgive me if I

+do wrong, but it is for your own dear sake.

+

+

+Later.--A sad homecoming in every way, the house empty of the dear

+soul who was so good to us.  Jonathan still pale and dizzy under a

+slight relapse of his malady, and now a telegram from Van Helsing,

+whoever he may be.  "You will be grieved to hear that Mrs. Westenra

+died five days ago, and that Lucy died the day before yesterday.  They

+were both buried today."

+

+Oh, what a wealth of sorrow in a few words!  Poor Mrs. Westenra!  Poor

+Lucy!  Gone, gone, never to return to us!  And poor, poor Arthur, to

+have lost such a sweetness out of his life!  God help us all to bear

+our troubles.

+

+

+

+DR. SEWARD'S DIARY-CONT.

+

+22 September.--It is all over.  Arthur has gone back to Ring, and has

+taken Quincey Morris with him.  What a fine fellow is Quincey!  I

+believe in my heart of hearts that he suffered as much about Lucy's

+death as any of us, but he bore himself through it like a moral

+Viking.  If America can go on breeding men like that, she will be a

+power in the world indeed.  Van Helsing is lying down, having a rest

+preparatory to his journey.  He goes to Amsterdam tonight, but says he

+returns tomorrow night, that he only wants to make some arrangements

+which can only be made personally.  He is to stop with me then, if he

+can.  He says he has work to do in London which may take him some

+time.  Poor old fellow!  I fear that the strain of the past week has

+broken down even his iron strength.  All the time of the burial he

+was, I could see, putting some terrible restraint on himself.  When it

+was all over, we were standing beside Arthur, who, poor fellow, was

+speaking of his part in the operation where his blood had been

+transfused to his Lucy's veins.  I could see Van Helsing's face grow

+white and purple by turns.  Arthur was saying that he felt since then

+as if they two had been really married, and that she was his wife in

+the sight of God.  None of us said a word of the other operations, and

+none of us ever shall.  Arthur and Quincey went away together to the

+station, and Van Helsing and I came on here.  The moment we were alone

+in the carriage he gave way to a regular fit of hysterics.  He has

+denied to me since that it was hysterics, and insisted that it was

+only his sense of humor asserting itself under very terrible

+conditions.  He laughed till he cried, and I had to draw down the

+blinds lest any one should see us and misjudge.  And then he cried,

+till he laughed again, and laughed and cried together, just as a woman

+does.  I tried to be stern with him, as one is to a woman under the

+circumstances, but it had no effect.  Men and women are so different

+in manifestations of nervous strength or weakness!  Then when his face

+grew grave and stern again I asked him why his mirth, and why at such

+a time.  His reply was in a way characteristic of him, for it was

+logical and forceful and mysterious.  He said,

+

+"Ah, you don't comprehend, friend John.  Do not think that I am not

+sad, though I laugh.  See, I have cried even when the laugh did choke

+me.  But no more think that I am all sorry when I cry, for the laugh

+he come just the same.  Keep it always with you that laughter who

+knock at your door and say, 'May I come in?' is not true laughter.

+No!  He is a king, and he come when and how he like.  He ask no

+person, he choose no time of suitability.  He say, 'I am here.'

+Behold, in example I grieve my heart out for that so sweet young

+girl.  I give my blood for her, though I am old and worn.  I give my

+time, my skill, my sleep.  I let my other sufferers want that she may

+have all.  And yet I can laugh at her very grave, laugh when the clay

+from the spade of the sexton drop upon her coffin and say 'Thud,

+thud!' to my heart, till it send back the blood from my cheek.  My

+heart bleed for that poor boy, that dear boy, so of the age of mine

+own boy had I been so blessed that he live, and with his hair and eyes

+the same.

+

+"There, you know now why I love him so.  And yet when he say things

+that touch my husband-heart to the quick, and make my father-heart

+yearn to him as to no other man, not even you, friend John, for we are

+more level in experiences than father and son, yet even at such a

+moment King Laugh he come to me and shout and bellow in my ear, 'Here I

+am!  Here I am!' till the blood come dance back and bring some of the

+sunshine that he carry with him to my cheek.  Oh, friend John, it is a

+strange world, a sad world, a world full of miseries, and woes, and

+troubles.  And yet when King Laugh come, he make them all dance to the

+tune he play.  Bleeding hearts, and dry bones of the churchyard, and

+tears that burn as they fall, all dance together to the music that he

+make with that smileless mouth of him.  And believe me, friend John,

+that he is good to come, and kind.  Ah, we men and women are like

+ropes drawn tight with strain that pull us different ways.  Then tears

+come, and like the rain on the ropes, they brace us up, until perhaps

+the strain become too great, and we break.  But King Laugh he come

+like the sunshine, and he ease off the strain again, and we bear to go

+on with our labor, what it may be."

+

+I did not like to wound him by pretending not to see his idea, but as

+I did not yet understand the cause of his laughter, I asked him.  As

+he answered me his face grew stern, and he said in quite a different

+tone,

+

+"Oh, it was the grim irony of it all, this so lovely lady garlanded

+with flowers, that looked so fair as life, till one by one we wondered

+if she were truly dead, she laid in that so fine marble house in that

+lonely churchyard, where rest so many of her kin, laid there with the

+mother who loved her, and whom she loved, and that sacred bell going

+'Toll!  Toll!  Toll!' so sad and slow, and those holy men, with the

+white garments of the angel, pretending to read books, and yet all the

+time their eyes never on the page, and all of us with the bowed head.

+And all for what?  She is dead, so!  Is it not?"

+

+"Well, for the life of me, Professor," I said, "I can't see anything

+to laugh at in all that.  Why, your expression makes it a harder

+puzzle than before.  But even if the burial service was comic, what

+about poor Art and his trouble?  Why his heart was simply breaking."

+

+"Just so.  Said he not that the transfusion of his blood to her veins

+had made her truly his bride?"

+

+"Yes, and it was a sweet and comforting idea for him."

+

+"Quite so.  But there was a difficulty, friend John.  If so that, then

+what about the others?  Ho, ho!  Then this so sweet maid is a

+polyandrist, and me, with my poor wife dead to me, but alive by

+Church's law, though no wits, all gone, even I, who am faithful

+husband to this now-no-wife, am bigamist."

+

+"I don't see where the joke comes in there either!" I said, and I did

+not feel particularly pleased with him for saying such things.  He

+laid his hand on my arm, and said,

+

+"Friend John, forgive me if I pain.  I showed not my feeling to others

+when it would wound, but only to you, my old friend, whom I can trust.

+If you could have looked into my heart then when I want to laugh, if

+you could have done so when the laugh arrived, if you could do so now,

+when King Laugh have pack up his crown, and all that is to him, for he

+go far, far away from me, and for a long, long time, maybe you would

+perhaps pity me the most of all."

+

+I was touched by the tenderness of his tone, and asked why.

+

+"Because I know!"

+

+And now we are all scattered, and for many a long day loneliness will

+sit over our roofs with brooding wings.  Lucy lies in the tomb of her

+kin, a lordly death house in a lonely churchyard, away from teeming

+London, where the air is fresh, and the sun rises over Hampstead Hill,

+and where wild flowers grow of their own accord.

+

+So I can finish this diary, and God only knows if I shall ever begin

+another.  If I do, or if I even open this again, it will be to deal

+with different people and different themes, for here at the end, where

+the romance of my life is told, ere I go back to take up the thread of

+my life-work, I say sadly and without hope, "FINIS".

+

+

+

+

+THE WESTMINSTER GAZETTE, 25 SEPTEMBER A HAMPSTEAD MYSTERY

+

+The neighborhood of Hampstead is just at present exercised

+with a series of events which seem to run on lines parallel

+to those of what was known to the writers of headlines as

+"The Kensington Horror," or "The Stabbing Woman," or "The

+Woman in Black."  During the past two or three days several

+cases have occurred of young children straying from home or

+neglecting to return from their playing on the Heath.  In

+all these cases the children were too young to give any

+properly intelligible account of themselves, but the

+consensus of their excuses is that they had been with a

+"bloofer lady."  It has always been late in the evening when

+they have been missed, and on two occasions the children

+have not been found until early in the following morning.

+It is generally supposed in the neighborhood that, as the

+first child missed gave as his reason for being away that a

+"bloofer lady" had asked him to come for a walk, the others

+had picked up the phrase and used it as occasion served.  This

+is the more natural as the favourite game of the little ones

+at present is luring each other away by wiles.  A correspondent

+writes us that to see some of the tiny tots pretending to be the

+"bloofer lady" is supremely funny.  Some of our caricaturists

+might, he says, take a lesson in the irony of grotesque by

+comparing the reality and the picture.  It is only in accordance

+with general principles of human nature that the "bloofer lady"

+should be the popular role at these al fresco performances.  Our

+correspondent naively says that even Ellen Terry could not be so

+winningly attractive as some of these grubby-faced little

+children pretend, and even imagine themselves, to be.

+

+There is, however, possibly a serious side to the question,

+for some of the children, indeed all who have been missed

+at night, have been slightly torn or wounded in the throat.

+The wounds seem such as might be made by a rat or a small

+dog, and although of not much importance individually, would tend

+to show that whatever animal inflicts them has a system or method

+of its own.  The police of the division have been instructed to

+keep a sharp lookout for straying children, especially when very

+young, in and around Hampstead Heath, and for any stray dog which

+may be about.

+

+

+

+

+THE WESTMINSTER GAZETTE, 25 SEPTEMBER EXTRA SPECIAL

+

+THE HAMPSTEAD HORROR

+

+

+ANOTHER CHILD INJURED

+

+THE "BLOOFER LADY"

+

+We have just received intelligence that another child,

+missed last night, was only discovered late in the morning

+under a furze bush at the Shooter's Hill side of Hampstead

+Heath, which is perhaps, less frequented than the other

+parts.  It has the same tiny wound in the throat as has

+been noticed in other cases.  It was terribly weak, and

+looked quite emaciated.  It too, when partially restored,

+had the common story to tell of being lured away by the

+"bloofer lady".

+

+

+

+

+CHAPTER 14

+

+

+MINA HARKER'S JOURNAL

+

+23 September.--Jonathan is better after a bad night.  I am so glad

+that he has plenty of work to do, for that keeps his mind off the

+terrible things, and oh, I am rejoiced that he is not now weighed down

+with the responsibility of his new position.  I knew he would be true

+to himself, and now how proud I am to see my Jonathan rising to the

+height of his advancement and keeping pace in all ways with the duties

+that come upon him.  He will be away all day till late, for he said he

+could not lunch at home.  My household work is done, so I shall take

+his foreign journal, and lock myself up in my room and read it.

+

+

+24 September.--I hadn't the heart to write last night, that terrible

+record of Jonathan's upset me so.  Poor dear!  How he must have

+suffered, whether it be true or only imagination.  I wonder if there

+is any truth in it at all.  Did he get his brain fever, and then write

+all those terrible things, or had he some cause for it all?  I suppose

+I shall never know, for I dare not open the subject to him.  And yet

+that man we saw yesterday!  He seemed quite certain of him, poor

+fellow!  I suppose it was the funeral upset him and sent his mind back

+on some train of thought.

+

+He believes it all himself.  I remember how on our wedding day he said

+"Unless some solemn duty come upon me to go back to the bitter hours,

+asleep or awake, mad or sane . . ."  There seems to be through it all

+some thread of continuity.  That fearful Count was coming to London.

+If it should be, and he came to London, with its teeming millions . . .

+There may be a solemn duty, and if it come we must not shrink from

+it.  I shall be prepared.  I shall get my typewriter this very hour

+and begin transcribing.  Then we shall be ready for other eyes if

+required.  And if it be wanted, then, perhaps, if I am ready, poor

+Jonathan may not be upset, for I can speak for him and never let him

+be troubled or worried with it at all.  If ever Jonathan quite gets

+over the nervousness he may want to tell me of it all, and I can ask

+him questions and find out things, and see how I may comfort him.

+

+

+

+

+LETTER, VAN HELSING TO MRS. HARKER

+

+24 September

+

+(Confidence)

+

+"Dear Madam,

+

+"I pray you to pardon my writing, in that I am so far

+friend as that I sent to you sad news of Miss Lucy

+Westenra's death.  By the kindness of Lord Godalming, I am

+empowered to read her letters and papers, for I am deeply

+concerned about certain matters vitally important.  In them

+I find some letters from you, which show how great friends

+you were and how you love her.  Oh, Madam Mina, by that

+love, I implore you, help me.  It is for others' good that

+I ask, to redress great wrong, and to lift much and terrible

+troubles, that may be more great than you can know.  May it be

+that I see you?  You can trust me.  I am friend of Dr. John

+Seward and of Lord Godalming (that was Arthur of Miss Lucy).  I

+must keep it private for the present from all.  I should come to

+Exeter to see you at once if you tell me I am privilege to come,

+and where and when.  I implore your pardon, Madam.  I have read

+your letters to poor Lucy, and know how good you are and how your

+husband suffer.  So I pray you, if it may be, enlighten him not,

+least it may harm.  Again your pardon, and forgive me.

+

+"VAN HELSING"

+

+

+

+

+TELEGRAM, MRS. HARKER TO VAN HELSING

+

+25 September.--Come today by quarter past ten train if you

+can catch it.  Can see you any time you call.

+

+"WILHELMINA HARKER"

+

+

+

+

+MINA HARKER'S JOURNAL

+

+25 September.--I cannot help feeling terribly excited as the time

+draws near for the visit of Dr. Van Helsing, for somehow I expect that

+it will throw some light upon Jonathan's sad experience, and as he

+attended poor dear Lucy in her last illness, he can tell me all about

+her.  That is the reason of his coming.  It is concerning Lucy and her

+sleep-walking, and not about Jonathan.  Then I shall never know the

+real truth now!  How silly I am.  That awful journal gets hold of my

+imagination and tinges everything with something of its own colour.  Of

+course it is about Lucy.  That habit came back to the poor dear, and

+that awful night on the cliff must have made her ill.  I had almost

+forgotten in my own affairs how ill she was afterwards.  She must have

+told him of her sleep-walking adventure on the cliff, and that I knew

+all about it, and now he wants me to tell him what I know, so that he

+may understand.  I hope I did right in not saying anything of it to

+Mrs. Westenra.  I should never forgive myself if any act of mine, were

+it even a negative one, brought harm on poor dear Lucy.  I hope too,

+Dr. Van Helsing will not blame me.  I have had so much trouble and

+anxiety of late that I feel I cannot bear more just at present.

+

+I suppose a cry does us all good at times, clears the air as other

+rain does.  Perhaps it was reading the journal yesterday that upset

+me, and then Jonathan went away this morning to stay away from me a

+whole day and night, the first time we have been parted since our

+marriage.  I do hope the dear fellow will take care of himself, and

+that nothing will occur to upset him.  It is two o'clock, and the

+doctor will be here soon now.  I shall say nothing of Jonathan's

+journal unless he asks me.  I am so glad I have typewritten out my own

+journal, so that, in case he asks about Lucy, I can hand it to him.

+It will save much questioning.

+

+Later.--He has come and gone.  Oh, what a strange meeting, and how it

+all makes my head whirl round.  I feel like one in a dream.  Can it be

+all possible, or even a part of it?  If I had not read Jonathan's

+journal first, I should never have accepted even a possibility.  Poor,

+poor, dear Jonathan!  How he must have suffered.  Please the good God,

+all this may not upset him again.  I shall try to save him from it.

+But it may be even a consolation and a help to him, terrible though it

+be and awful in its consequences, to know for certain that his eyes

+and ears and brain did not deceive him, and that it is all true.  It

+may be that it is the doubt which haunts him, that when the doubt is

+removed, no matter which, waking or dreaming, may prove the truth, he

+will be more satisfied and better able to bear the shock.  Dr. Van

+Helsing must be a good man as well as a clever one if he is Arthur's

+friend and Dr. Seward's, and if they brought him all the way from

+Holland to look after Lucy.  I feel from having seen him that he is

+good and kind and of a noble nature.  When he comes tomorrow I shall

+ask him about Jonathan.  And then, please God, all this sorrow and

+anxiety may lead to a good end.  I used to think I would like to

+practice interviewing.  Jonathan's friend on "The Exeter News" told

+him that memory is everything in such work, that you must be able to

+put down exactly almost every word spoken, even if you had to refine

+some of it afterwards.  Here was a rare interview.  I shall try to

+record it verbatim.

+

+It was half-past two o'clock when the knock came.  I took my courage a

+deux mains and waited.  In a few minutes Mary opened the door, and

+announced "Dr. Van Helsing".

+

+I rose and bowed, and he came towards me, a man of medium weight,

+strongly built, with his shoulders set back over a broad, deep chest

+and a neck well balanced on the trunk as the head is on the neck.  The

+poise of the head strikes me at once as indicative of thought and

+power.  The head is noble, well-sized, broad, and large behind the

+ears.  The face, clean-shaven, shows a hard, square chin, a large

+resolute, mobile mouth, a good-sized nose, rather straight, but with

+quick, sensitive nostrils, that seem to broaden as the big bushy brows

+come down and the mouth tightens.  The forehead is broad and fine,

+rising at first almost straight and then sloping back above two bumps

+or ridges wide apart, such a forehead that the reddish hair cannot

+possibly tumble over it, but falls naturally back and to the sides.

+Big, dark blue eyes are set widely apart, and are quick and tender or

+stern with the man's moods.  He said to me,

+

+"Mrs. Harker, is it not?"  I bowed assent.

+

+"That was Miss Mina Murray?"  Again I assented.

+

+"It is Mina Murray that I came to see that was friend of that poor dear

+child Lucy Westenra.  Madam Mina, it is on account of the dead that I

+come."

+

+"Sir," I said, "you could have no better claim on me than that you

+were a friend and helper of Lucy Westenra."  And I held out my hand.

+He took it and said tenderly,

+

+"Oh, Madam Mina, I know that the friend of that poor little girl must

+be good, but I had yet to learn . . ."  He finished his speech with a

+courtly bow.  I asked him what it was that he wanted to see me about,

+so he at once began.

+

+"I have read your letters to Miss Lucy.  Forgive me, but I had to

+begin to inquire somewhere, and there was none to ask.  I know that

+you were with her at Whitby.  She sometimes kept a diary, you need not

+look surprised, Madam Mina.  It was begun after you had left, and was

+an imitation of you, and in that diary she traces by inference certain

+things to a sleep-walking in which she puts down that you saved her.

+In great perplexity then I come to you, and ask you out of your so

+much kindness to tell me all of it that you can remember."

+

+"I can tell you, I think, Dr. Van Helsing, all about it."

+

+"Ah, then you have good memory for facts, for details?  It is not

+always so with young ladies."

+

+"No, doctor, but I wrote it all down at the time.  I can show it to

+you if you like."

+

+"Oh, Madam Mina, I well be grateful.  You will do me much favour."

+

+I could not resist the temptation of mystifying him a bit, I suppose

+it is some taste of the original apple that remains still in our

+mouths, so I handed him the shorthand diary.  He took it with a

+grateful bow, and said, "May I read it?"

+

+"If you wish," I answered as demurely as I could.  He opened it, and

+for an instant his face fell.  Then he stood up and bowed.

+

+"Oh, you so clever woman!" he said.  "I knew long that Mr. Jonathan

+was a man of much thankfulness, but see, his wife have all the good

+things.  And will you not so much honour me and so help me as to read

+it for me?  Alas!  I know not the shorthand."

+

+By this time my little joke was over, and I was almost ashamed.  So I

+took the typewritten copy from my work basket and handed it to him.

+

+"Forgive me," I said.  "I could not help it, but I had been thinking

+that it was of dear Lucy that you wished to ask, and so that you might

+not have time to wait, not on my account, but because I know your time

+must be precious, I have written it out on the typewriter for you."

+

+He took it and his eyes glistened.  "You are so good," he said.  "And

+may I read it now?  I may want to ask you some things when I have

+read."

+

+"By all means," I said, "read it over whilst I order lunch, and then

+you can ask me questions whilst we eat."

+

+He bowed and settled himself in a chair with his back to the light,

+and became so absorbed in the papers, whilst I went to see after lunch

+chiefly in order that he might not be disturbed.  When I came back, I

+found him walking hurriedly up and down the room, his face all ablaze

+with excitement.  He rushed up to me and took me by both hands.

+

+"Oh, Madam Mina," he said, "how can I say what I owe to you?  This

+paper is as sunshine.  It opens the gate to me.  I am dazed, I am

+dazzled, with so much light, and yet clouds roll in behind the light

+every time.  But that you do not, cannot comprehend.  Oh, but I am

+grateful to you, you so clever woman.  Madame," he said this very

+solemnly, "if ever Abraham Van Helsing can do anything for you or

+yours, I trust you will let me know.  It will be pleasure and delight

+if I may serve you as a friend, as a friend, but all I have ever

+learned, all I can ever do, shall be for you and those you love.  There

+are darknesses in life, and there are lights.  You are one of the

+lights.  You will have a happy life and a good life, and your husband

+will be blessed in you."

+

+"But, doctor, you praise me too much, and you do not know me."

+

+"Not know you, I, who am old, and who have studied all my life men and

+women, I who have made my specialty the brain and all that belongs to

+him and all that follow from him!  And I have read your diary that you

+have so goodly written for me, and which breathes out truth in every

+line.  I, who have read your so sweet letter to poor Lucy of your

+marriage and your trust, not know you!  Oh, Madam Mina, good women

+tell all their lives, and by day and by hour and by minute, such

+things that angels can read.  And we men who wish to know have in us

+something of angels' eyes.  Your husband is noble nature, and you are

+noble too, for you trust, and trust cannot be where there is mean

+nature.  And your husband, tell me of him.  Is he quite well?  Is all

+that fever gone, and is he strong and hearty?"

+

+I saw here an opening to ask him about Jonathan, so I said, "He was

+almost recovered, but he has been greatly upset by Mr. Hawkins death."

+

+He interrupted, "Oh, yes.  I know.  I know.  I have read your last two

+letters."

+

+I went on, "I suppose this upset him, for when we were in town on

+Thursday last he had a sort of shock."

+

+"A shock, and after brain fever so soon!  That is not good.  What kind

+of shock was it?"

+

+"He thought he saw some one who recalled something terrible, something

+which led to his brain fever."  And here the whole thing seemed to

+overwhelm me in a rush.  The pity for Jonathan, the horror which he

+experienced, the whole fearful mystery of his diary, and the fear that

+has been brooding over me ever since, all came in a tumult.  I suppose

+I was hysterical, for I threw myself on my knees and held up my hands

+to him, and implored him to make my husband well again.  He took my

+hands and raised me up, and made me sit on the sofa, and sat by me.  He

+held my hand in his, and said to me with, oh, such infinite sweetness,

+

+"My life is a barren and lonely one, and so full of work that I have

+not had much time for friendships, but since I have been summoned to

+here by my friend John Seward I have known so many good people and

+seen such nobility that I feel more than ever, and it has grown with

+my advancing years, the loneliness of my life.  Believe me, then, that

+I come here full of respect for you, and you have given me hope, hope,

+not in what I am seeking of, but that there are good women still left

+to make life happy, good women, whose lives and whose truths may make

+good lesson for the children that are to be.  I am glad, glad, that I

+may here be of some use to you.  For if your husband suffer, he suffer

+within the range of my study and experience.  I promise you that I

+will gladly do all for him that I can, all to make his life strong and

+manly, and your life a happy one.  Now you must eat.  You are

+overwrought and perhaps over-anxious.  Husband Jonathan would not like

+to see you so pale, and what he like not where he love, is not to his

+good.  Therefore for his sake you must eat and smile.  You have told

+me about Lucy, and so now we shall not speak of it, lest it distress.

+I shall stay in Exeter tonight, for I want to think much over what you

+have told me, and when I have thought I will ask you questions, if I

+may.  And then too, you will tell me of husband Jonathan's trouble so

+far as you can, but not yet.  You must eat now, afterwards you shall

+tell me all."

+

+After lunch, when we went back to the drawing room, he said to me,

+"And now tell me all about him."

+

+When it came to speaking to this great learned man, I began to fear

+that he would think me a weak fool, and Jonathan a madman, that

+journal is all so strange, and I hesitated to go on.  But he was so

+sweet and kind, and he had promised to help, and I trusted him, so I

+said,

+

+"Dr. Van Helsing, what I have to tell you is so queer that you must

+not laugh at me or at my husband.  I have been since yesterday in a

+sort of fever of doubt.  You must be kind to me, and not think me

+foolish that I have even half believed some very strange things."

+

+He reassured me by his manner as well as his words when he said, "Oh,

+my dear, if you only know how strange is the matter regarding which I

+am here, it is you who would laugh.  I have learned not to think

+little of any one's belief, no matter how strange it may be.  I have

+tried to keep an open mind, and it is not the ordinary things of life

+that could close it, but the strange things, the extraordinary things,

+the things that make one doubt if they be mad or sane."

+

+"Thank you, thank you a thousand times!  You have taken a weight off my

+mind.  If you will let me, I shall give you a paper to read.  It is

+long, but I have typewritten it out.  It will tell you my trouble and

+Jonathan's.  It is the copy of his journal when abroad, and all that

+happened.  I dare not say anything of it.  You will read for yourself

+and judge.  And then when I see you, perhaps, you will be very kind

+and tell me what you think."

+

+"I promise," he said as I gave him the papers.  "I shall in the

+morning, as soon as I can, come to see you and your husband, if I

+may."

+

+"Jonathan will be here at half-past eleven, and you must come to lunch

+with us and see him then.  You could catch the quick 3:34 train, which

+will leave you at Paddington before eight."  He was surprised at my

+knowledge of the trains offhand, but he does not know that I have made

+up all the trains to and from Exeter, so that I may help Jonathan in

+case he is in a hurry.

+

+So he took the papers with him and went away, and I sit here thinking,

+thinking I don't know what.

+

+

+

+

+LETTER (by hand), VAN HELSING TO MRS. HARKER

+

+25 September, 6 o'clock

+

+"Dear Madam Mina,

+

+"I have read your husband's so wonderful diary.  You may

+sleep without doubt.  Strange and terrible as it is, it is

+true!  I will pledge my life on it.  It may be worse for

+others, but for him and you there is no dread.  He is a

+noble fellow, and let me tell you from experience of men,

+that one who would do as he did in going down that wall and

+to that room, aye, and going a second time, is not one to

+be injured in permanence by a shock.  His brain and his

+heart are all right, this I swear, before I have even seen

+him, so be at rest.  I shall have much to ask him of other

+things.  I am blessed that today I come to see you, for I

+have learn all at once so much that again I am dazzled,

+dazzled more than ever, and I must think.

+

+"Yours the most faithful,

+

+"Abraham Van Helsing."

+

+

+LETTER, MRS. HARKER TO VAN HELSING

+

+25 September, 6:30 P.M.

+

+"My dear Dr. Van Helsing,

+

+"A thousand thanks for your kind letter, which has taken a

+great weight off my mind.  And yet, if it be true, what

+terrible things there are in the world, and what an awful

+thing if that man, that monster, be really in London!  I

+fear to think.  I have this moment, whilst writing, had a

+wire from Jonathan, saying that he leaves by the 6:25 tonight

+from Launceston and will be here at 10:18, so that I shall have

+no fear tonight.  Will you, therefore, instead of lunching with

+us, please come to breakfast at eight o'clock, if this be not too

+early for you?  You can get away, if you are in a hurry, by the

+10:30 train, which will bring you to Paddington by 2:35.  Do not

+answer this, as I shall take it that, if I do not hear, you will

+come to breakfast.

+

+"Believe me,

+

+"Your faithful and grateful friend,

+

+"Mina Harker."

+

+

+

+

+

+JONATHAN HARKER'S JOURNAL

+

+26 September.--I thought never to write in this diary again, but the

+time has come.  When I got home last night Mina had supper ready, and

+when we had supped she told me of Van Helsing's visit, and of her

+having given him the two diaries copied out, and of how anxious she

+has been about me.  She showed me in the doctor's letter that all I

+wrote down was true.  It seems to have made a new man of me.  It was

+the doubt as to the reality of the whole thing that knocked me over.

+I felt impotent, and in the dark, and distrustful.  But, now that I

+know, I am not afraid, even of the Count.  He has succeeded after all,

+then, in his design in getting to London, and it was he I saw.  He has

+got younger, and how?  Van Helsing is the man to unmask him and hunt

+him out, if he is anything like what Mina says.  We sat late, and

+talked it over.  Mina is dressing, and I shall call at the hotel in a

+few minutes and bring him over.

+

+

+He was, I think, surprised to see me.  When I came into the room where

+he was, and introduced myself, he took me by the shoulder, and turned

+my face round to the light, and said, after a sharp scrutiny,

+

+"But Madam Mina told me you were ill, that you had had a shock."

+

+It was so funny to hear my wife called 'Madam Mina' by this kindly,

+strong-faced old man.  I smiled, and said, "I was ill, I have had a

+shock, but you have cured me already."

+

+"And how?"

+

+"By your letter to Mina last night.  I was in doubt, and then

+everything took a hue of unreality, and I did not know what to trust,

+even the evidence of my own senses.  Not knowing what to trust, I did

+not know what to do, and so had only to keep on working in what had

+hitherto been the groove of my life.  The groove ceased to avail me,

+and I mistrusted myself.  Doctor, you don't know what it is to doubt

+everything, even yourself.  No, you don't, you couldn't with eyebrows

+like yours."

+

+He seemed pleased, and laughed as he said, "So!  You are a

+physiognomist.  I learn more here with each hour.  I am with so much

+pleasure coming to you to breakfast, and, oh, sir, you will pardon

+praise from an old man, but you are blessed in your wife."

+

+I would listen to him go on praising Mina for a day, so I simply

+nodded and stood silent.

+

+"She is one of God's women, fashioned by His own hand to show us men

+and other women that there is a heaven where we can enter, and that

+its light can be here on earth.  So true, so sweet, so noble, so

+little an egoist, and that, let me tell you, is much in this age, so

+sceptical and selfish.  And you, sir . . . I have read all the letters

+to poor Miss Lucy, and some of them speak of you, so I know you since

+some days from the knowing of others, but I have seen your true self

+since last night.  You will give me your hand, will you not?  And let

+us be friends for all our lives."

+

+We shook hands, and he was so earnest and so kind that it made me

+quite choky.

+

+"And now," he said, "may I ask you for some more help?  I have a great

+task to do, and at the beginning it is to know.  You can help me

+here.  Can you tell me what went before your going to Transylvania?

+Later on I may ask more help, and of a different kind, but at first

+this will do."

+

+"Look here, Sir," I said, "does what you have to do concern the

+Count?"

+

+"It does," he said solemnly.

+

+"Then I am with you heart and soul.  As you go by the 10:30 train, you

+will not have time to read them, but I shall get the bundle of papers.

+You can take them with you and read them in the train."

+

+After breakfast I saw him to the station.  When we were parting he

+said, "Perhaps you will come to town if I send for you, and take Madam

+Mina too."

+

+"We shall both come when you will," I said.

+

+I had got him the morning papers and the London papers of the previous

+night, and while we were talking at the carriage window, waiting for

+the train to start, he was turning them over.  His eyes suddenly

+seemed to catch something in one of them, "The Westminster Gazette", I

+knew it by the colour, and he grew quite white.  He read something

+intently, groaning to himself, "Mein Gott!  Mein Gott!  So soon!  So

+soon!"  I do not think he remembered me at the moment.  Just then the

+whistle blew, and the train moved off.  This recalled him to himself,

+and he leaned out of the window and waved his hand, calling out, "Love

+to Madam Mina.  I shall write so soon as ever I can."

+

+

+

+

+DR. SEWARD'S DIARY

+

+26 September.--Truly there is no such thing as finality.  Not a week

+since I said "Finis," and yet here I am starting fresh again, or

+rather going on with the record.  Until this afternoon I had no cause

+to think of what is done.  Renfield had become, to all intents, as

+sane as he ever was.  He was already well ahead with his fly business,

+and he had just started in the spider line also, so he had not been of

+any trouble to me.  I had a letter from Arthur, written on Sunday, and

+from it I gather that he is bearing up wonderfully well.  Quincey

+Morris is with him, and that is much of a help, for he himself is a

+bubbling well of good spirits.  Quincey wrote me a line too, and from

+him I hear that Arthur is beginning to recover something of his old

+buoyancy, so as to them all my mind is at rest.  As for myself, I was

+settling down to my work with the enthusiasm which I used to have for

+it, so that I might fairly have said that the wound which poor Lucy

+left on me was becoming cicatrised.

+

+Everything is, however, now reopened, and what is to be the end God

+only knows.  I have an idea that Van Helsing thinks he knows, too, but

+he will only let out enough at a time to whet curiosity.  He went to

+Exeter yesterday, and stayed there all night.  Today he came back, and

+almost bounded into the room at about half-past five o'clock, and

+thrust last night's "Westminster Gazette" into my hand.

+

+"What do you think of that?" he asked as he stood back and folded his

+arms.

+

+I looked over the paper, for I really did not know what he meant, but

+he took it from me and pointed out a paragraph about children being

+decoyed away at Hampstead.  It did not convey much to me, until I

+reached a passage where it described small puncture wounds on their

+throats.  An idea struck me, and I looked up.

+

+"Well?" he said.

+

+"It is like poor Lucy's."

+

+"And what do you make of it?"

+

+"Simply that there is some cause in common.  Whatever it was that

+injured her has injured them."  I did not quite understand his answer.

+

+"That is true indirectly, but not directly."

+

+"How do you mean, Professor?" I asked.  I was a little inclined to

+take his seriousness lightly, for, after all, four days of rest and

+freedom from burning, harrowing, anxiety does help to restore one's

+spirits, but when I saw his face, it sobered me.  Never, even in the

+midst of our despair about poor Lucy, had he looked more stern.

+

+"Tell me!" I said.  "I can hazard no opinion.  I do not know what to

+think, and I have no data on which to found a conjecture."

+

+"Do you mean to tell me, friend John, that you have no suspicion as to

+what poor Lucy died of, not after all the hints given, not only by

+events, but by me?"

+

+"Of nervous prostration following a great loss or waste of blood."

+

+"And how was the blood lost or wasted?"  I shook my head.

+

+He stepped over and sat down beside me, and went on, "You are a clever

+man, friend John.  You reason well, and your wit is bold, but you are

+too prejudiced.  You do not let your eyes see nor your ears hear, and

+that which is outside your daily life is not of account to you.  Do

+you not think that there are things which you cannot understand, and

+yet which are, that some people see things that others cannot?  But

+there are things old and new which must not be contemplated by men's

+eyes, because they know, or think they know, some things which other

+men have told them.  Ah, it is the fault of our science that it wants

+to explain all, and if it explain not, then it says there is nothing

+to explain.  But yet we see around us every day the growth of new

+beliefs, which think themselves new, and which are yet but the old,

+which pretend to be young, like the fine ladies at the opera.  I

+suppose now you do not believe in corporeal transference.  No?  Nor in

+materialization.  No?  Nor in astral bodies.  No?  Nor in the reading

+of thought.  No?  Nor in hypnotism . . ."

+

+"Yes," I said.  "Charcot has proved that pretty well."

+

+He smiled as he went on, "Then you are satisfied as to it.  Yes?  And

+of course then you understand how it act, and can follow the mind of

+the great Charcot, alas that he is no more, into the very soul of the

+patient that he influence.  No?  Then, friend John, am I to take it

+that you simply accept fact, and are satisfied to let from premise to

+conclusion be a blank?  No?  Then tell me, for I am a student of the

+brain, how you accept hypnotism and reject the thought reading.  Let

+me tell you, my friend, that there are things done today in electrical

+science which would have been deemed unholy by the very man who

+discovered electricity, who would themselves not so long before been

+burned as wizards.  There are always mysteries in life.  Why was it

+that Methuselah lived nine hundred years, and 'Old Parr' one hundred

+and sixty-nine, and yet that poor Lucy, with four men's blood in her

+poor veins, could not live even one day?  For, had she live one more

+day, we could save her.  Do you know all the mystery of life and

+death?  Do you know the altogether of comparative anatomy and can say

+wherefore the qualities of brutes are in some men, and not in others?

+Can you tell me why, when other spiders die small and soon, that one

+great spider lived for centuries in the tower of the old Spanish

+church and grew and grew, till, on descending, he could drink the oil

+of all the church lamps?  Can you tell me why in the Pampas, ay and

+elsewhere, there are bats that come out at night and open the veins of

+cattle and horses and suck dry their veins, how in some islands of the

+Western seas there are bats which hang on the trees all day, and those

+who have seen describe as like giant nuts or pods, and that when the

+sailors sleep on the deck, because that it is hot, flit down on them

+and then, and then in the morning are found dead men, white as even

+Miss Lucy was?"

+

+"Good God, Professor!" I said, starting up.  "Do you mean to tell me

+that Lucy was bitten by such a bat, and that such a thing is here in

+London in the nineteenth century?"

+

+He waved his hand for silence, and went on, "Can you tell me why the

+tortoise lives more long than generations of men, why the elephant

+goes on and on till he have sees dynasties, and why the parrot never

+die only of bite of cat of dog or other complaint?  Can you tell me

+why men believe in all ages and places that there are men and women

+who cannot die?  We all know, because science has vouched for the

+fact, that there have been toads shut up in rocks for thousands of

+years, shut in one so small hole that only hold him since the youth of

+the world.  Can you tell me how the Indian fakir can make himself to

+die and have been buried, and his grave sealed and corn sowed on it,

+and the corn reaped and be cut and sown and reaped and cut again, and

+then men come and take away the unbroken seal and that there lie the

+Indian fakir, not dead, but that rise up and walk amongst them as

+before?"

+

+Here I interrupted him.  I was getting bewildered.  He so crowded on

+my mind his list of nature's eccentricities and possible

+impossibilities that my imagination was getting fired.  I had a dim

+idea that he was teaching me some lesson, as long ago he used to do in

+his study at Amsterdam.  But he used them to tell me the thing, so

+that I could have the object of thought in mind all the time.  But now

+I was without his help, yet I wanted to follow him, so I said,

+

+"Professor, let me be your pet student again.  Tell me the thesis, so

+that I may apply your knowledge as you go on.  At present I am going

+in my mind from point to point as a madman, and not a sane one,

+follows an idea.  I feel like a novice lumbering through a bog in a

+midst, jumping from one tussock to another in the mere blind effort to

+move on without knowing where I am going."

+

+"That is a good image," he said.  "Well, I shall tell you.  My thesis

+is this, I want you to believe."

+

+"To believe what?"

+

+"To believe in things that you cannot.  Let me illustrate.  I heard

+once of an American who so defined faith, 'that faculty which enables

+us to believe things which we know to be untrue.'  For one, I follow

+that man.  He meant that we shall have an open mind, and not let a

+little bit of truth check the rush of the big truth, like a small rock

+does a railway truck.  We get the small truth first.  Good!  We keep

+him, and we value him, but all the same we must not let him think

+himself all the truth in the universe."

+

+"Then you want me not to let some previous conviction inure the

+receptivity of my mind with regard to some strange matter.  Do I read

+your lesson aright?"

+

+"Ah, you are my favourite pupil still.  It is worth to teach you.  Now

+that you are willing to understand, you have taken the first step to

+understand.  You think then that those so small holes in the

+children's throats were made by the same that made the holes in Miss

+Lucy?"

+

+"I suppose so."

+

+He stood up and said solemnly, "Then you are wrong.  Oh, would it were

+so!  But alas!  No.  It is worse, far, far worse."

+

+"In God's name, Professor Van Helsing, what do you mean?" I cried.

+

+He threw himself with a despairing gesture into a chair, and placed

+his elbows on the table, covering his face with his hands as he spoke.

+

+"They were made by Miss Lucy!"

+

+

+

+

+CHAPTER 15

+

+

+DR. SEWARD'S DIARY--cont.

+

+For a while sheer anger mastered me.  It was as if he had during her

+life struck Lucy on the face.  I smote the table hard and rose up as I

+said to him, "Dr. Van Helsing, are you mad?"

+

+He raised his head and looked at me, and somehow the tenderness of his

+face calmed me at once.  "Would I were!" he said.  "Madness were easy

+to bear compared with truth like this.  Oh, my friend, why, think

+you, did I go so far round, why take so long to tell so simple a

+thing?  Was it because I hate you and have hated you all my life?  Was

+it because I wished to give you pain?  Was it that I wanted, now so

+late, revenge for that time when you saved my life, and from a fearful

+death?  Ah no!"

+

+"Forgive me," said I.

+

+He went on, "My friend, it was because I wished to be gentle in the

+breaking to you, for I know you have loved that so sweet lady.  But

+even yet I do not expect you to believe.  It is so hard to accept at

+once any abstract truth, that we may doubt such to be possible when we

+have always believed the 'no' of it.  It is more hard still to accept

+so sad a concrete truth, and of such a one as Miss Lucy.  Tonight I go

+to prove it.  Dare you come with me?"

+

+This staggered me.  A man does not like to prove such a truth, Byron

+excepted from the category, jealousy.

+

+    "And prove the very truth he most abhorred."

+

+He saw my hesitation, and spoke, "The logic is simple, no madman's

+logic this time, jumping from tussock to tussock in a misty bog.  If

+it not be true, then proof will be relief.  At worst it will not harm.

+If it be true!  Ah, there is the dread.  Yet every dread should help my

+cause, for in it is some need of belief.  Come, I tell you what I

+propose.  First, that we go off now and see that child in the

+hospital.  Dr. Vincent, of the North Hospital, where the papers say

+the child is, is a friend of mine, and I think of yours since you were

+in class at Amsterdam.  He will let two scientists see his case, if he

+will not let two friends.  We shall tell him nothing, but only that we

+wish to learn.  And then . . ."

+

+"And then?"

+

+He took a key from his pocket and held it up.  "And then we spend the

+night, you and I, in the churchyard where Lucy lies.  This is the key

+that lock the tomb.  I had it from the coffin man to give to Arthur."

+

+My heart sank within me, for I felt that there was some fearful ordeal

+before us.  I could do nothing, however, so I plucked up what heart I

+could and said that we had better hasten, as the afternoon was

+passing.

+

+We found the child awake.  It had had a sleep and taken some food, and

+altogether was going on well.  Dr. Vincent took the bandage from its

+throat, and showed us the punctures.  There was no mistaking the

+similarity to those which had been on Lucy's throat.  They were

+smaller, and the edges looked fresher, that was all.  We asked Vincent

+to what he attributed them, and he replied that it must have been a

+bite of some animal, perhaps a rat, but for his own part, he was

+inclined to think it was one of the bats which are so numerous on the

+northern heights of London.  "Out of so many harmless ones," he said,

+"there may be some wild specimen from the South of a more malignant

+species.  Some sailor may have brought one home, and it managed to

+escape, or even from the Zoological Gardens a young one may have got

+loose, or one be bred there from a vampire.  These things do occur,

+you, know.  Only ten days ago a wolf got out, and was, I believe,

+traced up in this direction.  For a week after, the children were

+playing nothing but Red Riding Hood on the Heath and in every alley in

+the place until this 'bloofer lady' scare came along, since then it

+has been quite a gala time with them.  Even this poor little mite,

+when he woke up today, asked the nurse if he might go away.  When she

+asked him why he wanted to go, he said he wanted to play with the

+'bloofer lady'."

+

+"I hope," said Van Helsing, "that when you are sending the child home

+you will caution its parents to keep strict watch over it.  These

+fancies to stray are most dangerous, and if the child were to remain

+out another night, it would probably be fatal.  But in any case I

+suppose you will not let it away for some days?"

+

+"Certainly not, not for a week at least, longer if the wound is not

+healed."

+

+Our visit to the hospital took more time than we had reckoned on, and

+the sun had dipped before we came out.  When Van Helsing saw how dark

+it was, he said,

+

+"There is not hurry.  It is more late than I thought.  Come, let us

+seek somewhere that we may eat, and then we shall go on our way."

+

+We dined at 'Jack Straw's Castle' along with a little crowd of

+bicyclists and others who were genially noisy.  About ten o'clock we

+started from the inn.  It was then very dark, and the scattered lamps

+made the darkness greater when we were once outside their individual

+radius.  The Professor had evidently noted the road we were to go, for

+he went on unhesitatingly, but, as for me, I was in quite a mixup as

+to locality.  As we went further, we met fewer and fewer people, till

+at last we were somewhat surprised when we met even the patrol of

+horse police going their usual suburban round.  At last we reached the

+wall of the churchyard, which we climbed over.  With some little

+difficulty, for it was very dark, and the whole place seemed so

+strange to us, we found the Westenra tomb.  The Professor took the

+key, opened the creaky door, and standing back, politely, but quite

+unconsciously, motioned me to precede him.  There was a delicious

+irony in the offer, in the courtliness of giving preference on such a

+ghastly occasion.  My companion followed me quickly, and cautiously

+drew the door to, after carefully ascertaining that the lock was a

+falling, and not a spring one.  In the latter case we should have been

+in a bad plight.  Then he fumbled in his bag, and taking out a

+matchbox and a piece of candle, proceeded to make a light.  The tomb

+in the daytime, and when wreathed with fresh flowers, had looked grim

+and gruesome enough, but now, some days afterwards, when the flowers

+hung lank and dead, their whites turning to rust and their greens to

+browns, when the spider and the beetle had resumed their accustomed

+dominance, when the time-discoloured stone, and dust-encrusted mortar,

+and rusty, dank iron, and tarnished brass, and clouded silver-plating

+gave back the feeble glimmer of a candle, the effect was more

+miserable and sordid than could have been imagined.  It conveyed

+irresistibly the idea that life, animal life, was not the only thing

+which could pass away.

+

+Van Helsing went about his work systematically.  Holding his candle so

+that he could read the coffin plates, and so holding it that the sperm

+dropped in white patches which congealed as they touched the metal, he

+made assurance of Lucy's coffin.  Another search in his bag, and he

+took out a turnscrew.

+

+"What are you going to do?" I asked.

+

+"To open the coffin.  You shall yet be convinced."

+

+Straightway he began taking out the screws, and finally lifted off the

+lid, showing the casing of lead beneath.  The sight was almost too

+much for me.  It seemed to be as much an affront to the dead as it

+would have been to have stripped off her clothing in her sleep whilst

+living.  I actually took hold of his hand to stop him.

+

+He only said, "You shall see," and again fumbling in his bag took out

+a tiny fret saw.  Striking the turnscrew through the lead with a swift

+downward stab, which made me wince, he made a small hole, which was,

+however, big enough to admit the point of the saw.  I had expected a

+rush of gas from the week-old corpse.  We doctors, who have had to

+study our dangers, have to become accustomed to such things, and I

+drew back towards the door.  But the Professor never stopped for a

+moment.  He sawed down a couple of feet along one side of the lead

+coffin, and then across, and down the other side.  Taking the edge of

+the loose flange, he bent it back towards the foot of the coffin, and

+holding up the candle into the aperture, motioned to me to look.

+

+I drew near and looked.  The coffin was empty.  It was certainly a

+surprise to me, and gave me a considerable shock, but Van Helsing was

+unmoved.  He was now more sure than ever of his ground, and so

+emboldened to proceed in his task.  "Are you satisfied now, friend

+John?" he asked.

+

+I felt all the dogged argumentativeness of my nature awake within me as

+I answered him, "I am satisfied that Lucy's body is not in that

+coffin, but that only proves one thing."

+

+"And what is that, friend John?"

+

+"That it is not there."

+

+"That is good logic," he said, "so far as it goes.  But how do you,

+how can you, account for it not being there?"

+

+"Perhaps a body-snatcher," I suggested.  "Some of the undertaker's

+people may have stolen it."  I felt that I was speaking folly, and yet

+it was the only real cause which I could suggest.

+

+The Professor sighed.  "Ah well!" he said, "we must have more proof.

+Come with me."

+

+He put on the coffin lid again, gathered up all his things and placed

+them in the bag, blew out the light, and placed the candle also in the

+bag.  We opened the door, and went out.  Behind us he closed the door

+and locked it.  He handed me the key, saying, "Will you keep it?  You

+had better be assured."

+

+I laughed, it was not a very cheerful laugh, I am bound to say, as I

+motioned him to keep it.  "A key is nothing," I said, "there are many

+duplicates, and anyhow it is not difficult to pick a lock of this

+kind."

+

+He said nothing, but put the key in his pocket.  Then he told me to

+watch at one side of the churchyard whilst he would watch at the

+other.

+

+I took up my place behind a yew tree, and I saw his dark figure move

+until the intervening headstones and trees hid it from my sight.

+

+It was a lonely vigil.  Just after I had taken my place I heard a

+distant clock strike twelve, and in time came one and two.  I was

+chilled and unnerved, and angry with the Professor for taking me on

+such an errand and with myself for coming.  I was too cold and too

+sleepy to be keenly observant, and not sleepy enough to betray my

+trust, so altogether I had a dreary, miserable time.

+

+Suddenly, as I turned round, I thought I saw something like a white

+streak, moving between two dark yew trees at the side of the

+churchyard farthest from the tomb.  At the same time a dark mass moved

+from the Professor's side of the ground, and hurriedly went towards

+it.  Then I too moved, but I had to go round headstones and railed-off

+tombs, and I stumbled over graves.  The sky was overcast, and

+somewhere far off an early cock crew.  A little ways off, beyond a

+line of scattered juniper trees, which marked the pathway to the

+church, a white dim figure flitted in the direction of the tomb.  The

+tomb itself was hidden by trees, and I could not see where the figure

+had disappeared.  I heard the rustle of actual movement where I had

+first seen the white figure, and coming over, found the Professor

+holding in his arms a tiny child.  When he saw me he held it out to

+me, and said, "Are you satisfied now?"

+

+"No," I said, in a way that I felt was aggressive.

+

+"Do you not see the child?"

+

+"Yes, it is a child, but who brought it here?  And is it wounded?"

+

+"We shall see," said the Professor, and with one impulse we took our

+way out of the churchyard, he carrying the sleeping child.

+

+When we had got some little distance away, we went into a clump of

+trees, and struck a match, and looked at the child's throat.  It was

+without a scratch or scar of any kind.

+

+"Was I right?" I asked triumphantly.

+

+"We were just in time," said the Professor thankfully.

+

+We had now to decide what we were to do with the child, and so

+consulted about it.  If we were to take it to a police station we

+should have to give some account of our movements during the night.

+At least, we should have had to make some statement as to how we had

+come to find the child.  So finally we decided that we would take it

+to the Heath, and when we heard a policeman coming, would leave it

+where he could not fail to find it.  We would then seek our way home

+as quickly as we could.  All fell out well.  At the edge of Hampstead

+Heath we heard a policeman's heavy tramp, and laying the child on the

+pathway, we waited and watched until he saw it as he flashed his

+lantern to and fro.  We heard his exclamation of astonishment, and

+then we went away silently.  By good chance we got a cab near the

+'Spainiards,' and drove to town.

+

+I cannot sleep, so I make this entry.  But I must try to get a few

+hours' sleep, as Van Helsing is to call for me at noon.  He insists

+that I go with him on another expedition.

+

+

+27 September.--It was two o'clock before we found a suitable

+opportunity for our attempt.  The funeral held at noon was all

+completed, and the last stragglers of the mourners had taken

+themselves lazily away, when, looking carefully from behind a clump of

+alder trees, we saw the sexton lock the gate after him.  We knew that

+we were safe till morning did we desire it, but the Professor told me

+that we should not want more than an hour at most.  Again I felt that

+horrid sense of the reality of things, in which any effort of

+imagination seemed out of place, and I realized distinctly the perils

+of the law which we were incurring in our unhallowed work.  Besides, I

+felt it was all so useless.  Outrageous as it was to open a leaden

+coffin, to see if a woman dead nearly a week were really dead, it now

+seemed the height of folly to open the tomb again, when we knew, from

+the evidence of our own eyesight, that the coffin was empty.  I

+shrugged my shoulders, however, and rested silent, for Van Helsing had

+a way of going on his own road, no matter who remonstrated.  He took

+the key, opened the vault, and again courteously motioned me to

+precede.  The place was not so gruesome as last night, but oh, how

+unutterably mean looking when the sunshine streamed in.  Van Helsing

+walked over to Lucy's coffin, and I followed.  He bent over and again

+forced back the leaden flange, and a shock of surprise and dismay shot

+through me.

+

+There lay Lucy, seemingly just as we had seen her the night before her

+funeral.  She was, if possible, more radiantly beautiful than ever,

+and I could not believe that she was dead.  The lips were red, nay

+redder than before, and on the cheeks was a delicate bloom.

+

+"Is this a juggle?" I said to him.

+

+"Are you convinced now?" said the Professor, in response, and as he

+spoke he put over his hand, and in a way that made me shudder, pulled

+back the dead lips and showed the white teeth.  "See," he went on,

+"they are even sharper than before.  With this and this," and he

+touched one of the canine teeth and that below it, "the little

+children can be bitten.  Are you of belief now, friend John?"

+

+Once more argumentative hostility woke within me.  I could not accept

+such an overwhelming idea as he suggested.  So, with an attempt to

+argue of which I was even at the moment ashamed, I said, "She may have

+been placed here since last night."

+

+"Indeed?  That is so, and by whom?"

+

+"I do not know.  Someone has done it."

+

+"And yet she has been dead one week.  Most peoples in that time would

+not look so."

+

+I had no answer for this, so was silent.  Van Helsing did not seem to

+notice my silence.  At any rate, he showed neither chagrin nor

+triumph.  He was looking intently at the face of the dead woman,

+raising the eyelids and looking at the eyes, and once more opening the

+lips and examining the teeth.  Then he turned to me and said,

+

+"Here, there is one thing which is different from all recorded.  Here

+is some dual life that is not as the common.  She was bitten by the

+vampire when she was in a trance, sleep-walking, oh, you start.  You

+do not know that, friend John, but you shall know it later, and in

+trance could he best come to take more blood.  In trance she dies, and

+in trance she is UnDead, too.  So it is that she differ from all

+other.  Usually when the UnDead sleep at home," as he spoke he made a

+comprehensive sweep of his arm to designate what to a vampire was

+'home', "their face show what they are, but this so sweet that was

+when she not UnDead she go back to the nothings of the common dead.

+There is no malign there, see, and so it make hard that I must kill

+her in her sleep."

+

+This turned my blood cold, and it began to dawn upon me that I was

+accepting Van Helsing's theories.  But if she were really dead, what

+was there of terror in the idea of killing her?

+

+He looked up at me, and evidently saw the change in my face, for he

+said almost joyously, "Ah, you believe now?"

+

+I answered, "Do not press me too hard all at once.  I am willing to

+accept.  How will you do this bloody work?"

+

+"I shall cut off her head and fill her mouth with garlic, and I shall

+drive a stake through her body."

+

+It made me shudder to think of so mutilating the body of the woman

+whom I had loved.  And yet the feeling was not so strong as I had

+expected.  I was, in fact, beginning to shudder at the presence of

+this being, this UnDead, as Van Helsing called it, and to loathe it.

+Is it possible that love is all subjective, or all objective?

+

+I waited a considerable time for Van Helsing to begin, but he stood as

+if wrapped in thought.  Presently he closed the catch of his bag with

+a snap, and said,

+

+"I have been thinking, and have made up my mind as to what is best.

+If I did simply follow my inclining I would do now, at this moment,

+what is to be done.  But there are other things to follow, and things

+that are thousand times more difficult in that them we do not know.

+This is simple.  She have yet no life taken, though that is of time,

+and to act now would be to take danger from her forever.  But then we

+may have to want Arthur, and how shall we tell him of this?  If you,

+who saw the wounds on Lucy's throat, and saw the wounds so similar on

+the child's at the hospital, if you, who saw the coffin empty last

+night and full today with a woman who have not change only to be more

+rose and more beautiful in a whole week, after she die, if you know of

+this and know of the white figure last night that brought the child to

+the churchyard, and yet of your own senses you did not believe, how

+then, can I expect Arthur, who know none of those things, to believe?

+

+"He doubted me when I took him from her kiss when she was dying.  I

+know he has forgiven me because in some mistaken idea I have done

+things that prevent him say goodbye as he ought, and he may think that

+in some more mistaken idea this woman was buried alive, and that in

+most mistake of all we have killed her.  He will then argue back that

+it is we, mistaken ones, that have killed her by our ideas, and so he

+will be much unhappy always.  Yet he never can be sure, and that is

+the worst of all.  And he will sometimes think that she he loved was

+buried alive, and that will paint his dreams with horrors of what she

+must have suffered, and again, he will think that we may be right, and

+that his so beloved was, after all, an UnDead.  No!  I told him once,

+and since then I learn much.  Now, since I know it is all true, a

+hundred thousand times more do I know that he must pass through the

+bitter waters to reach the sweet.  He, poor fellow, must have one hour

+that will make the very face of heaven grow black to him, then we can

+act for good all round and send him peace.  My mind is made up.  Let

+us go.  You return home for tonight to your asylum, and see that all

+be well.  As for me, I shall spend the night here in this churchyard

+in my own way.  Tomorrow night you will come to me to the Berkeley

+Hotel at ten of the clock.  I shall send for Arthur to come too, and

+also that so fine young man of America that gave his blood.  Later we

+shall all have work to do.  I come with you so far as Piccadilly and

+there dine, for I must be back here before the sun set."

+

+So we locked the tomb and came away, and got over the wall of the

+churchyard, which was not much of a task, and drove back to

+Piccadilly.

+

+

+

+

+NOTE LEFT BY VAN HELSING IN HIS PORTMANTEAU, BERKELEY HOTEL DIRECTED TO

+JOHN SEWARD, M. D. (Not Delivered)

+

+27 September

+

+"Friend John,

+

+"I write this in case anything should happen.  I go alone to

+watch in that churchyard.  It pleases me that the UnDead,

+Miss Lucy, shall not leave tonight, that so on the morrow

+night she may be more eager.  Therefore I shall fix some

+things she like not, garlic and a crucifix, and so seal up

+the door of the tomb.  She is young as UnDead, and will

+heed.  Moreover, these are only to prevent her coming out.

+They may not prevail on her wanting to get in, for then the

+UnDead is desperate, and must find the line of least resistance,

+whatsoever it may be.  I shall be at hand all the night from

+sunset till after sunrise, and if there be aught that may be

+learned I shall learn it.  For Miss Lucy or from her, I have no

+fear, but that other to whom is there that she is UnDead, he have

+not the power to seek her tomb and find shelter.  He is cunning,

+as I know from Mr. Jonathan and from the way that all along he

+have fooled us when he played with us for Miss Lucy's life, and

+we lost, and in many ways the UnDead are strong.  He have always

+the strength in his hand of twenty men, even we four who gave our

+strength to Miss Lucy it also is all to him.  Besides, he can

+summon his wolf and I know not what.  So if it be that he came

+thither on this night he shall find me.  But none other shall,

+until it be too late.  But it may be that he will not attempt the

+place.  There is no reason why he should.  His hunting ground is

+more full of game than the churchyard where the UnDead woman

+sleeps, and the one old man watch.

+

+"Therefore I write this in case . . . Take the papers that

+are with this, the diaries of Harker and the rest, and read

+them, and then find this great UnDead, and cut off his head

+and burn his heart or drive a stake through it, so that the

+world may rest from him.

+

+"If it be so, farewell.

+

+"VAN HELSING."

+

+

+

+

+DR. SEWARD'S DIARY

+

+28 September.--It is wonderful what a good night's sleep will do for

+one.  Yesterday I was almost willing to accept Van Helsing's monstrous

+ideas, but now they seem to start out lurid before me as outrages on

+common sense.  I have no doubt that he believes it all.  I wonder if

+his mind can have become in any way unhinged.  Surely there must be

+some rational explanation of all these mysterious things.  Is it

+possible that the Professor can have done it himself?  He is so

+abnormally clever that if he went off his head he would carry out his

+intent with regard to some fixed idea in a wonderful way.  I am loathe

+to think it, and indeed it would be almost as great a marvel as the

+other to find that Van Helsing was mad, but anyhow I shall watch him

+carefully.  I may get some light on the mystery.

+

+

+29 September.--Last night, at a little before ten o'clock, Arthur and

+Quincey came into Van Helsing's room.  He told us all what he wanted

+us to do, but especially addressing himself to Arthur, as if all our

+wills were centred in his.  He began by saying that he hoped we would

+all come with him too, "for," he said, "there is a grave duty to be

+done there.  You were doubtless surprised at my letter?"  This query

+was directly addressed to Lord Godalming.

+

+"I was.  It rather upset me for a bit.  There has been so much trouble

+around my house of late that I could do without any more.  I have been

+curious, too, as to what you mean.

+

+"Quincey and I talked it over, but the more we talked, the more

+puzzled we got, till now I can say for myself that I'm about up a tree

+as to any meaning about anything."

+

+"Me too," said Quincey Morris laconically.

+

+"Oh," said the Professor, "then you are nearer the beginning, both of

+you, than friend John here, who has to go a long way back before he

+can even get so far as to begin."

+

+It was evident that he recognized my return to my old doubting frame

+of mind without my saying a word.  Then, turning to the other two, he

+said with intense gravity,

+

+"I want your permission to do what I think good this night.  It is, I

+know, much to ask, and when you know what it is I propose to do you

+will know, and only then how much.  Therefore may I ask that you

+promise me in the dark, so that afterwards, though you may be angry

+with me for a time, I must not disguise from myself the possibility

+that such may be, you shall not blame yourselves for anything."

+

+"That's frank anyhow," broke in Quincey.  "I'll answer for the

+Professor.  I don't quite see his drift, but I swear he's honest, and

+that's good enough for me."

+

+"I thank you, Sir," said Van Helsing proudly.  "I have done myself the

+honour of counting you one trusting friend, and such endorsement is

+dear to me."  He held out a hand, which Quincey took.

+

+Then Arthur spoke out, "Dr. Van Helsing, I don't quite like to 'buy a

+pig in a poke', as they say in Scotland, and if it be anything in

+which my honour as a gentleman or my faith as a Christian is

+concerned, I cannot make such a promise.  If you can assure me that

+what you intend does not violate either of these two, then I give my

+consent at once, though for the life of me, I cannot understand what

+you are driving at."

+

+"I accept your limitation," said Van Helsing, "and all I ask of you is

+that if you feel it necessary to condemn any act of mine, you will

+first consider it well and be satisfied that it does not violate your

+reservations."

+

+"Agreed!" said Arthur.  "That is only fair.  And now that the

+pourparlers are over, may I ask what it is we are to do?"

+

+"I want you to come with me, and to come in secret, to the churchyard

+at Kingstead."

+

+Arthur's face fell as he said in an amazed sort of way,

+

+"Where poor Lucy is buried?"

+

+The Professor bowed.

+

+Arthur went on, "And when there?"

+

+"To enter the tomb!"

+

+Arthur stood up.  "Professor, are you in earnest, or is it some

+monstrous joke?  Pardon me, I see that you are in earnest."  He sat

+down again, but I could see that he sat firmly and proudly, as one who

+is on his dignity.  There was silence until he asked again, "And when

+in the tomb?"

+

+"To open the coffin."

+

+"This is too much!" he said, angrily rising again.  "I am willing to

+be patient in all things that are reasonable, but in this, this

+desecration of the grave, of one who . . ."  He fairly choked with

+indignation.

+

+The Professor looked pityingly at him.  "If I could spare you one pang,

+my poor friend," he said, "God knows I would.  But this night our feet

+must tread in thorny paths, or later, and for ever, the feet you love

+must walk in paths of flame!"

+

+Arthur looked up with set white face and said, "Take care, sir, take

+care!"

+

+"Would it not be well to hear what I have to say?" said Van Helsing.

+"And then you will at least know the limit of my purpose.  Shall I go

+on?"

+

+"That's fair enough," broke in Morris.

+

+After a pause Van Helsing went on, evidently with an effort, "Miss

+Lucy is dead, is it not so?  Yes!  Then there can be no wrong to her.

+But if she be not dead . . ."

+

+Arthur jumped to his feet, "Good God!" he cried.  "What do you mean?

+Has there been any mistake, has she been buried alive?"  He groaned in

+anguish that not even hope could soften.

+

+"I did not say she was alive, my child.  I did not think it.  I go no

+further than to say that she might be UnDead."

+

+"UnDead!  Not alive!  What do you mean?  Is this all a nightmare, or

+what is it?"

+

+"There are mysteries which men can only guess at, which age by age

+they may solve only in part.  Believe me, we are now on the verge of

+one.  But I have not done.  May I cut off the head of dead Miss Lucy?"

+

+"Heavens and earth, no!" cried Arthur in a storm of passion.  "Not for

+the wide world will I consent to any mutilation of her dead body.  Dr.

+Van Helsing, you try me too far.  What have I done to you that you

+should torture me so?  What did that poor, sweet girl do that you

+should want to cast such dishonour on her grave?  Are you mad, that you

+speak of such things, or am I mad to listen to them?  Don't dare think

+more of such a desecration.  I shall not give my consent to anything

+you do.  I have a duty to do in protecting her grave from outrage, and

+by God, I shall do it!"

+

+Van Helsing rose up from where he had all the time been seated, and

+said, gravely and sternly, "My Lord Godalming, I too, have a duty to

+do, a duty to others, a duty to you, a duty to the dead, and by God, I

+shall do it!  All I ask you now is that you come with me, that you

+look and listen, and if when later I make the same request you do not

+be more eager for its fulfillment even than I am, then, I shall do my

+duty, whatever it may seem to me.  And then, to follow your Lordship's

+wishes I shall hold myself at your disposal to render an account to

+you, when and where you will."  His voice broke a little, and he went

+on with a voice full of pity.

+

+"But I beseech you, do not go forth in anger with me.  In a long life

+of acts which were often not pleasant to do, and which sometimes did

+wring my heart, I have never had so heavy a task as now.  Believe me

+that if the time comes for you to change your mind towards me, one

+look from you will wipe away all this so sad hour, for I would do what

+a man can to save you from sorrow.  Just think.  For why should I give

+myself so much labor and so much of sorrow?  I have come here from my

+own land to do what I can of good, at the first to please my friend

+John, and then to help a sweet young lady, whom too, I come to love.

+For her, I am ashamed to say so much, but I say it in kindness, I gave

+what you gave, the blood of my veins.  I gave it, I who was not, like

+you, her lover, but only her physician and her friend.  I gave her my

+nights and days, before death, after death, and if my death can do her

+good even now, when she is the dead UnDead, she shall have it freely."

+He said this with a very grave, sweet pride, and Arthur was much

+affected by it.

+

+He took the old man's hand and said in a broken voice, "Oh, it is hard

+to think of it, and I cannot understand, but at least I shall go with

+you and wait."

+

+

+

+

+CHAPTER 16

+

+

+DR. SEWARD'S DIARY--cont.

+

+It was just a quarter before twelve o'clock when we got into the

+churchyard over the low wall.  The night was dark with occasional

+gleams of moonlight between the dents of the heavy clouds that scudded

+across the sky.  We all kept somehow close together, with Van Helsing

+slightly in front as he led the way.  When we had come close to the

+tomb I looked well at Arthur, for I feared the proximity to a place

+laden with so sorrowful a memory would upset him, but he bore himself

+well.  I took it that the very mystery of the proceeding was in some

+way a counteractant to his grief.  The Professor unlocked the door,

+and seeing a natural hesitation amongst us for various reasons, solved

+the difficulty by entering first himself.  The rest of us followed,

+and he closed the door.  He then lit a dark lantern and pointed to a

+coffin.  Arthur stepped forward hesitatingly.  Van Helsing said to me,

+"You were with me here yesterday.  Was the body of Miss Lucy in that

+coffin?"

+

+"It was."

+

+The Professor turned to the rest saying, "You hear, and yet there is

+no one who does not believe with me."

+

+He took his screwdriver and again took off the lid of the coffin.

+Arthur looked on, very pale but silent.  When the lid was removed he

+stepped forward.  He evidently did not know that there was a leaden

+coffin, or at any rate, had not thought of it.  When he saw the rent

+in the lead, the blood rushed to his face for an instant, but as

+quickly fell away again, so that he remained of a ghastly whiteness.

+He was still silent.  Van Helsing forced back the leaden flange, and

+we all looked in and recoiled.

+

+The coffin was empty!

+

+For several minutes no one spoke a word.  The silence was broken by

+Quincey Morris, "Professor, I answered for you.  Your word is all I

+want.  I wouldn't ask such a thing ordinarily, I wouldn't so dishonour

+you as to imply a doubt, but this is a mystery that goes beyond any

+honour or dishonour.  Is this your doing?"

+

+"I swear to you by all that I hold sacred that I have not removed or

+touched her.  What happened was this.  Two nights ago my friend Seward

+and I came here, with good purpose, believe me.  I opened that coffin,

+which was then sealed up, and we found it as now, empty.  We then

+waited, and saw something white come through the trees.  The next day

+we came here in daytime and she lay there.  Did she not, friend John?

+

+"Yes."

+

+"That night we were just in time.  One more so small child was

+missing, and we find it, thank God, unharmed amongst the graves.

+Yesterday I came here before sundown, for at sundown the UnDead can

+move.  I waited here all night till the sun rose, but I saw nothing.

+It was most probable that it was because I had laid over the clamps of

+those doors garlic, which the UnDead cannot bear, and other things

+which they shun.  Last night there was no exodus, so tonight before

+the sundown I took away my garlic and other things.  And so it is we

+find this coffin empty.  But bear with me.  So far there is much that

+is strange.  Wait you with me outside, unseen and unheard, and things

+much stranger are yet to be.  So," here he shut the dark slide of his

+lantern, "now to the outside."  He opened the door, and we filed out,

+he coming last and locking the door behind him.

+

+Oh!  But it seemed fresh and pure in the night air after the terror of

+that vault.  How sweet it was to see the clouds race by, and the

+passing gleams of the moonlight between the scudding clouds crossing

+and passing, like the gladness and sorrow of a man's life.  How sweet

+it was to breathe the fresh air, that had no taint of death and decay.

+How humanizing to see the red lighting of the sky beyond the hill, and

+to hear far away the muffled roar that marks the life of a great

+city.  Each in his own way was solemn and overcome.  Arthur was

+silent, and was, I could see, striving to grasp the purpose and the

+inner meaning of the mystery.  I was myself tolerably patient, and

+half inclined again to throw aside doubt and to accept Van Helsing's

+conclusions.  Quincey Morris was phlegmatic in the way of a man who

+accepts all things, and accepts them in the spirit of cool bravery,

+with hazard of all he has at stake.  Not being able to smoke, he cut

+himself a good-sized plug of tobacco and began to chew.  As to Van

+Helsing, he was employed in a definite way.  First he took from his

+bag a mass of what looked like thin, wafer-like biscuit, which was

+carefully rolled up in a white napkin.  Next he took out a double

+handful of some whitish stuff, like dough or putty.  He crumbled the

+wafer up fine and worked it into the mass between his hands.  This he

+then took, and rolling it into thin strips, began to lay them into the

+crevices between the door and its setting in the tomb.  I was somewhat

+puzzled at this, and being close, asked him what it was that he was

+doing.  Arthur and Quincey drew near also, as they too were curious.

+

+He answered, "I am closing the tomb so that the UnDead may not enter."

+

+"And is that stuff you have there going to do it?"

+

+"It is."

+

+"What is that which you are using?"  This time the question was by

+Arthur.  Van Helsing reverently lifted his hat as he answered.

+

+"The Host.  I brought it from Amsterdam.  I have an Indulgence."

+

+It was an answer that appalled the most sceptical of us, and we felt

+individually that in the presence of such earnest purpose as the

+Professor's, a purpose which could thus use the to him most sacred of

+things, it was impossible to distrust.  In respectful silence we took

+the places assigned to us close round the tomb, but hidden from the

+sight of any one approaching.  I pitied the others, especially Arthur.

+I had myself been apprenticed by my former visits to this watching

+horror, and yet I, who had up to an hour ago repudiated the proofs,

+felt my heart sink within me.  Never did tombs look so ghastly white.

+Never did cypress, or yew, or juniper so seem the embodiment of

+funeral gloom.  Never did tree or grass wave or rustle so ominously.

+Never did bough creak so mysteriously, and never did the far-away

+howling of dogs send such a woeful presage through the night.

+

+There was a long spell of silence, big, aching, void, and then from

+the Professor a keen "S-s-s-s!"  He pointed, and far down the avenue of

+yews we saw a white figure advance, a dim white figure, which held

+something dark at its breast.  The figure stopped, and at the moment a

+ray of moonlight fell upon the masses of driving clouds, and showed in

+startling prominence a dark-haired woman, dressed in the cerements of

+the grave.  We could not see the face, for it was bent down over what

+we saw to be a fair-haired child.  There was a pause and a sharp

+little cry, such as a child gives in sleep, or a dog as it lies before

+the fire and dreams.  We were starting forward, but the Professor's

+warning hand, seen by us as he stood behind a yew tree, kept us back.

+And then as we looked the white figure moved forwards again.  It was

+now near enough for us to see clearly, and the moonlight still held.

+My own heart grew cold as ice, and I could hear the gasp of Arthur, as

+we recognized the features of Lucy Westenra.  Lucy Westenra, but yet

+how changed.  The sweetness was turned to adamantine, heartless

+cruelty, and the purity to voluptuous wantonness.

+

+Van Helsing stepped out, and obedient to his gesture, we all advanced

+too.  The four of us ranged in a line before the door of the tomb.  Van

+Helsing raised his lantern and drew the slide.  By the concentrated

+light that fell on Lucy's face we could see that the lips were crimson

+with fresh blood, and that the stream had trickled over her chin and

+stained the purity of her lawn death-robe.

+

+We shuddered with horror.  I could see by the tremulous light that

+even Van Helsing's iron nerve had failed.  Arthur was next to me, and

+if I had not seized his arm and held him up, he would have fallen.

+

+When Lucy, I call the thing that was before us Lucy because it bore

+her shape, saw us she drew back with an angry snarl, such as a cat

+gives when taken unawares, then her eyes ranged over us.  Lucy's eyes

+in form and colour, but Lucy's eyes unclean and full of hell fire,

+instead of the pure, gentle orbs we knew.  At that moment the remnant

+of my love passed into hate and loathing.  Had she then to be killed,

+I could have done it with savage delight.  As she looked, her eyes

+blazed with unholy light, and the face became wreathed with a

+voluptuous smile.  Oh, God, how it made me shudder to see it!  With a

+careless motion, she flung to the ground, callous as a devil, the

+child that up to now she had clutched strenuously to her breast,

+growling over it as a dog growls over a bone.  The child gave a sharp

+cry, and lay there moaning.  There was a cold-bloodedness in the act

+which wrung a groan from Arthur.  When she advanced to him with

+outstretched arms and a wanton smile he fell back and hid his face in

+his hands.

+

+She still advanced, however, and with a languorous, voluptuous grace,

+said, "Come to me, Arthur.  Leave these others and come to me.  My

+arms are hungry for you.  Come, and we can rest together.  Come, my

+husband, come!"

+

+There was something diabolically sweet in her tones, something of the

+tinkling of glass when struck, which rang through the brains even of

+us who heard the words addressed to another.

+

+As for Arthur, he seemed under a spell, moving his hands from his

+face, he opened wide his arms.  She was leaping for them, when Van

+Helsing sprang forward and held between them his little golden

+crucifix.  She recoiled from it, and, with a suddenly distorted face,

+full of rage, dashed past him as if to enter the tomb.

+

+When within a foot or two of the door, however, she stopped, as if

+arrested by some irresistible force.  Then she turned, and her face

+was shown in the clear burst of moonlight and by the lamp, which had

+now no quiver from Van Helsing's nerves.  Never did I see such baffled

+malice on a face, and never, I trust, shall such ever be seen again by

+mortal eyes.  The beautiful colour became livid, the eyes seemed to

+throw out sparks of hell fire, the brows were wrinkled as though the

+folds of flesh were the coils of Medusa's snakes, and the lovely,

+blood-stained mouth grew to an open square, as in the passion masks of

+the Greeks and Japanese.  If ever a face meant death, if looks could

+kill, we saw it at that moment.

+

+And so for full half a minute, which seemed an eternity, she remained

+between the lifted crucifix and the sacred closing of her means of

+entry.

+

+Van Helsing broke the silence by asking Arthur, "Answer me, oh my

+friend!  Am I to proceed in my work?"

+

+"Do as you will, friend.  Do as you will.  There can be no horror like

+this ever any more."  And he groaned in spirit.

+

+Quincey and I simultaneously moved towards him, and took his arms.  We

+could hear the click of the closing lantern as Van Helsing held it

+down.  Coming close to the tomb, he began to remove from the chinks

+some of the sacred emblem which he had placed there.  We all looked on

+with horrified amazement as we saw, when he stood back, the woman,

+with a corporeal body as real at that moment as our own, pass through

+the interstice where scarce a knife blade could have gone.  We all

+felt a glad sense of relief when we saw the Professor calmly restoring

+the strings of putty to the edges of the door.

+

+When this was done, he lifted the child and said, "Come now, my

+friends.  We can do no more till tomorrow.  There is a funeral at

+noon, so here we shall all come before long after that.  The friends

+of the dead will all be gone by two, and when the sexton locks the

+gate we shall remain.  Then there is more to do, but not like this of

+tonight.  As for this little one, he is not much harmed, and by

+tomorrow night he shall be well.  We shall leave him where the police

+will find him, as on the other night, and then to home."

+

+Coming close to Arthur, he said, "My friend Arthur, you have had a sore

+trial, but after, when you look back, you will see how it was

+necessary.  You are now in the bitter waters, my child.  By this time

+tomorrow you will, please God, have passed them, and have drunk of the

+sweet waters.  So do not mourn over-much.  Till then I shall not ask

+you to forgive me."

+

+Arthur and Quincey came home with me, and we tried to cheer each other

+on the way.  We had left behind the child in safety, and were tired.

+So we all slept with more or less reality of sleep.

+

+

+29 September, night.--A little before twelve o'clock we three, Arthur,

+Quincey Morris, and myself, called for the Professor.  It was odd to

+notice that by common consent we had all put on black clothes.  Of

+course, Arthur wore black, for he was in deep mourning, but the rest

+of us wore it by instinct.  We got to the graveyard by half-past one,

+and strolled about, keeping out of official observation, so that when

+the gravediggers had completed their task and the sexton, under the

+belief that every one had gone, had locked the gate, we had the place

+all to ourselves.  Van Helsing, instead of his little black bag, had

+with him a long leather one, something like a cricketing bag.  It was

+manifestly of fair weight.

+

+When we were alone and had heard the last of the footsteps die out up

+the road, we silently, and as if by ordered intention, followed the

+Professor to the tomb.  He unlocked the door, and we entered, closing

+it behind us.  Then he took from his bag the lantern, which he lit,

+and also two wax candles, which, when lighted, he stuck by melting

+their own ends, on other coffins, so that they might give light

+sufficient to work by.  When he again lifted the lid off Lucy's coffin

+we all looked, Arthur trembling like an aspen, and saw that the corpse

+lay there in all its death beauty.  But there was no love in my own

+heart, nothing but loathing for the foul Thing which had taken Lucy's

+shape without her soul.  I could see even Arthur's face grow hard as

+he looked.  Presently he said to Van Helsing, "Is this really Lucy's

+body, or only a demon in her shape?"

+

+"It is her body, and yet not it.  But wait a while, and you shall see

+her as she was, and is."

+

+She seemed like a nightmare of Lucy as she lay there, the pointed

+teeth, the blood stained, voluptuous mouth, which made one shudder to

+see, the whole carnal and unspirited appearance, seeming like a

+devilish mockery of Lucy's sweet purity.  Van Helsing, with his usual

+methodicalness, began taking the various contents from his bag and

+placing them ready for use.  First he took out a soldering iron and

+some plumbing solder, and then small oil lamp, which gave out, when

+lit in a corner of the tomb, gas which burned at a fierce heat with a

+blue flame, then his operating knives, which he placed to hand, and

+last a round wooden stake, some two and a half or three inches thick

+and about three feet long.  One end of it was hardened by charring in

+the fire, and was sharpened to a fine point.  With this stake came a

+heavy hammer, such as in households is used in the coal cellar for

+breaking the lumps.  To me, a doctor's preparations for work of any

+kind are stimulating and bracing, but the effect of these things on

+both Arthur and Quincey was to cause them a sort of consternation.

+They both, however, kept their courage, and remained silent and quiet.

+

+When all was ready, Van Helsing said, "Before we do anything, let me

+tell you this.  It is out of the lore and experience of the ancients

+and of all those who have studied the powers of the UnDead.  When they

+become such, there comes with the change the curse of immortality.

+They cannot die, but must go on age after age adding new victims and

+multiplying the evils of the world.  For all that die from the preying

+of the Undead become themselves Undead, and prey on their kind.  And

+so the circle goes on ever widening, like as the ripples from a stone

+thrown in the water.  Friend Arthur, if you had met that kiss which

+you know of before poor Lucy die, or again, last night when you open

+your arms to her, you would in time, when you had died, have become

+nosferatu, as they call it in Eastern Europe, and would for all time

+make more of those Un-Deads that so have filled us with horror.  The

+career of this so unhappy dear lady is but just begun.  Those children

+whose blood she sucked are not as yet so much the worse, but if she

+lives on, UnDead, more and more they lose their blood and by her power

+over them they come to her, and so she draw their blood with that so

+wicked mouth.  But if she die in truth, then all cease.  The tiny

+wounds of the throats disappear, and they go back to their play

+unknowing ever of what has been.  But of the most blessed of all, when

+this now UnDead be made to rest as true dead, then the soul of the

+poor lady whom we love shall again be free.  Instead of working

+wickedness by night and growing more debased in the assimilating of it

+by day, she shall take her place with the other Angels.  So that, my

+friend, it will be a blessed hand for her that shall strike the blow

+that sets her free.  To this I am willing, but is there none amongst

+us who has a better right?  Will it be no joy to think of hereafter in

+the silence of the night when sleep is not, 'It was my hand that sent

+her to the stars.  It was the hand of him that loved her best, the

+hand that of all she would herself have chosen, had it been to her to

+choose?'  Tell me if there be such a one amongst us?"

+

+We all looked at Arthur.  He saw too, what we all did, the infinite

+kindness which suggested that his should be the hand which would

+restore Lucy to us as a holy, and not an unholy, memory.  He stepped

+forward and said bravely, though his hand trembled, and his face was

+as pale as snow, "My true friend, from the bottom of my broken heart I

+thank you.  Tell me what I am to do, and I shall not falter!"

+

+Van Helsing laid a hand on his shoulder, and said, "Brave lad!  A

+moment's courage, and it is done.  This stake must be driven through

+her.  It well be a fearful ordeal, be not deceived in that, but it

+will be only a short time, and you will then rejoice more than your

+pain was great.  From this grim tomb you will emerge as though you

+tread on air.  But you must not falter when once you have begun.  Only

+think that we, your true friends, are round you, and that we pray for

+you all the time."

+

+"Go on," said Arthur hoarsely.  "Tell me what I am to do."

+

+"Take this stake in your left hand, ready to place to the point over

+the heart, and the hammer in your right.  Then when we begin our

+prayer for the dead, I shall read him, I have here the book, and the

+others shall follow, strike in God's name, that so all may be well

+with the dead that we love and that the UnDead pass away."

+

+Arthur took the stake and the hammer, and when once his mind was set

+on action his hands never trembled nor even quivered.  Van Helsing

+opened his missal and began to read, and Quincey and I followed as

+well as we could.

+

+Arthur placed the point over the heart, and as I looked I could see its

+dint in the white flesh.  Then he struck with all his might.

+

+The thing in the coffin writhed, and a hideous, blood-curdling screech

+came from the opened red lips.  The body shook and quivered and

+twisted in wild contortions.  The sharp white teeth champed together till

+the lips were cut, and the mouth was smeared with a crimson foam.  But

+Arthur never faltered.  He looked like a figure of Thor as his

+untrembling arm rose and fell, driving deeper and deeper the

+mercy-bearing stake, whilst the blood from the pierced heart welled

+and spurted up around it.  His face was set, and high duty seemed to

+shine through it.  The sight of it gave us courage so that our voices

+seemed to ring through the little vault.

+

+And then the writhing and quivering of the body became less, and the

+teeth seemed to champ, and the face to quiver.  Finally it lay still.

+The terrible task was over.

+

+The hammer fell from Arthur's hand.  He reeled and would have fallen

+had we not caught him.  The great drops of sweat sprang from his

+forehead, and his breath came in broken gasps.  It had indeed been an

+awful strain on him, and had he not been forced to his task by more

+than human considerations he could never have gone through with it.

+For a few minutes we were so taken up with him that we did not look

+towards the coffin.  When we did, however, a murmur of startled

+surprise ran from one to the other of us.  We gazed so eagerly that

+Arthur rose, for he had been seated on the ground, and came and looked

+too, and then a glad strange light broke over his face and dispelled

+altogether the gloom of horror that lay upon it.

+

+There, in the coffin lay no longer the foul Thing that we had so

+dreaded and grown to hate that the work of her destruction was yielded

+as a privilege to the one best entitled to it, but Lucy as we had seen

+her in life, with her face of unequalled sweetness and purity.  True

+that there were there, as we had seen them in life, the traces of care

+and pain and waste.  But these were all dear to us, for they marked

+her truth to what we knew.  One and all we felt that the holy calm

+that lay like sunshine over the wasted face and form was only an

+earthly token and symbol of the calm that was to reign for ever.

+

+Van Helsing came and laid his hand on Arthur's shoulder, and said to

+him, "And now, Arthur my friend, dear lad, am I not forgiven?"

+

+The reaction of the terrible strain came as he took the old man's hand

+in his, and raising it to his lips, pressed it, and said, "Forgiven!

+God bless you that you have given my dear one her soul again, and me

+peace."  He put his hands on the Professor's shoulder, and laying his

+head on his breast, cried for a while silently, whilst we stood

+unmoving.

+

+When he raised his head Van Helsing said to him, "And now, my child,

+you may kiss her.  Kiss her dead lips if you will, as she would have

+you to, if for her to choose.  For she is not a grinning devil now,

+not any more a foul Thing for all eternity.  No longer she is the

+devil's UnDead.  She is God's true dead, whose soul is with Him!"

+

+Arthur bent and kissed her, and then we sent him and Quincey out of the

+tomb.  The Professor and I sawed the top off the stake, leaving the

+point of it in the body.  Then we cut off the head and filled the

+mouth with garlic.  We soldered up the leaden coffin, screwed on the

+coffin lid, and gathering up our belongings, came away.  When the

+Professor locked the door he gave the key to Arthur.

+

+Outside the air was sweet, the sun shone, and the birds sang, and it

+seemed as if all nature were tuned to a different pitch.  There was

+gladness and mirth and peace everywhere, for we were at rest ourselves

+on one account, and we were glad, though it was with a tempered joy.

+

+Before we moved away Van Helsing said, "Now, my friends, one step of

+our work is done, one the most harrowing to ourselves.  But there

+remains a greater task: to find out the author of all this our sorrow

+and to stamp him out.  I have clues which we can follow, but it is a

+long task, and a difficult one, and there is danger in it, and pain.

+Shall you not all help me?  We have learned to believe, all of us, is

+it not so?  And since so, do we not see our duty?  Yes!  And do we not

+promise to go on to the bitter end?"

+

+Each in turn, we took his hand, and the promise was made.  Then said

+the Professor as we moved off, "Two nights hence you shall meet with

+me and dine together at seven of the clock with friend John.  I shall

+entreat two others, two that you know not as yet, and I shall be ready

+to all our work show and our plans unfold.  Friend John, you come with

+me home, for I have much to consult you about, and you can help me.

+Tonight I leave for Amsterdam, but shall return tomorrow night.  And

+then begins our great quest.  But first I shall have much to say, so

+that you may know what to do and to dread.  Then our promise shall be

+made to each other anew.  For there is a terrible task before us, and

+once our feet are on the ploughshare we must not draw back."

+

+

+

+

+CHAPTER 17

+

+

+DR. SEWARD'S DIARY--cont.

+

+When we arrived at the Berkely Hotel, Van Helsing found a telegram

+waiting for him.

+

+"Am coming up by train.  Jonathan at Whitby.  Important news.  Mina

+Harker."

+

+

+The Professor was delighted.  "Ah, that wonderful Madam Mina," he

+said, "pearl among women!  She arrive, but I cannot stay.  She must go

+to your house, friend John.  You must meet her at the station.

+Telegraph her en route so that she may be prepared."

+

+When the wire was dispatched he had a cup of tea.  Over it he told me

+of a diary kept by Jonathan Harker when abroad, and gave me a

+typewritten copy of it, as also of Mrs. Harker's diary at Whitby.

+"Take these," he said, "and study them well.  When I have returned you

+will be master of all the facts, and we can then better enter on our

+inquisition.  Keep them safe, for there is in them much of treasure.

+You will need all your faith, even you who have had such an experience

+as that of today.  What is here told," he laid his hand heavily and

+gravely on the packet of papers as he spoke, "may be the beginning of

+the end to you and me and many another, or it may sound the knell of

+the UnDead who walk the earth.  Read all, I pray you, with the open

+mind, and if you can add in any way to the story here told do so, for

+it is all important.  You have kept a diary of all these so strange

+things, is it not so?  Yes!  Then we shall go through all these

+together when we meet."  He then made ready for his departure and

+shortly drove off to Liverpool Street.  I took my way to Paddington,

+where I arrived about fifteen minutes before the train came in.

+

+The crowd melted away, after the bustling fashion common to arrival

+platforms, and I was beginning to feel uneasy, lest I might miss my

+guest, when a sweet-faced, dainty looking girl stepped up to me, and

+after a quick glance said, "Dr. Seward, is it not?"

+

+"And you are Mrs. Harker!" I answered at once, whereupon she held out

+her hand.

+

+"I knew you from the description of poor dear Lucy, but . . ."  She

+stopped suddenly, and a quick blush overspread her face.

+

+The blush that rose to my own cheeks somehow set us both at ease, for

+it was a tacit answer to her own.  I got her luggage, which included a

+typewriter, and we took the Underground to Fenchurch Street, after I

+had sent a wire to my housekeeper to have a sitting room and a bedroom

+prepared at once for Mrs. Harker.

+

+In due time we arrived.  She knew, of course, that the place was a

+lunatic asylum, but I could see that she was unable to repress a

+shudder when we entered.

+

+She told me that, if she might, she would come presently to my study,

+as she had much to say.  So here I am finishing my entry in my

+phonograph diary whilst I await her.  As yet I have not had the chance

+of looking at the papers which Van Helsing left with me, though they

+lie open before me.  I must get her interested in something, so that I

+may have an opportunity of reading them.  She does not know how

+precious time is, or what a task we have in hand.  I must be careful

+not to frighten her.  Here she is!

+

+

+

+

+MINA HARKER'S JOURNAL

+

+29 September.--After I had tidied myself, I went down to Dr. Seward's

+study.  At the door I paused a moment, for I thought I heard him

+talking with some one.  As, however, he had pressed me to be quick, I

+knocked at the door, and on his calling out, "Come in," I entered.

+

+To my intense surprise, there was no one with him.  He was quite

+alone, and on the table opposite him was what I knew at once from the

+description to be a phonograph.  I had never seen one, and was much

+interested.

+

+"I hope I did not keep you waiting," I said, "but I stayed at the door

+as I heard you talking, and thought there was someone with you."

+

+"Oh," he replied with a smile, "I was only entering my diary."

+

+"Your diary?" I asked him in surprise.

+

+"Yes," he answered.  "I keep it in this."  As he spoke he laid his

+hand on the phonograph.  I felt quite excited over it, and blurted

+out, "Why, this beats even shorthand!  May I hear it say something?"

+

+"Certainly," he replied with alacrity, and stood up to put it in train

+for speaking.  Then he paused, and a troubled look overspread his

+face.

+

+"The fact is," he began awkwardly, "I only keep my diary in it, and as

+it is entirely, almost entirely, about my cases it may be awkward,

+that is, I mean . . ."  He stopped, and I tried to help him out of his

+embarrassment.

+

+"You helped to attend dear Lucy at the end.  Let me hear how she died,

+for all that I know of her, I shall be very grateful.  She was very,

+very dear to me."

+

+To my surprise, he answered, with a horrorstruck look in his face,

+"Tell you of her death?  Not for the wide world!"

+

+"Why not?" I asked, for some grave, terrible feeling was coming over me.

+

+Again he paused, and I could see that he was trying to invent an

+excuse.  At length, he stammered out, "You see, I do not know how to

+pick out any particular part of the diary."

+

+Even while he was speaking an idea dawned upon him, and he said with

+unconscious simplicity, in a different voice, and with the naivete of

+a child, "that's quite true, upon my honour.  Honest Indian!"

+

+I could not but smile, at which he grimaced.  "I gave myself away that

+time!" he said.  "But do you know that, although I have kept the diary

+for months past, it never once struck me how I was going to find any

+particular part of it in case I wanted to look it up?"

+

+By this time my mind was made up that the diary of a doctor who

+attended Lucy might have something to add to the sum of our knowledge

+of that terrible Being, and I said boldly, "Then, Dr. Seward, you had

+better let me copy it out for you on my typewriter."

+

+He grew to a positively deathly pallor as he said, "No!  No!  No!  For

+all the world.  I wouldn't let you know that terrible story!"

+

+Then it was terrible.  My intuition was right!  For a moment, I

+thought, and as my eyes ranged the room, unconsciously looking for

+something or some opportunity to aid me, they lit on a great batch of

+typewriting on the table.  His eyes caught the look in mine, and

+without his thinking, followed their direction.  As they saw the

+parcel he realized my meaning.

+

+"You do not know me," I said.  "When you have read those papers, my

+own diary and my husband's also, which I have typed, you will know me

+better.  I have not faltered in giving every thought of my own heart

+in this cause.  But, of course, you do not know me, yet, and I must

+not expect you to trust me so far."

+

+He is certainly a man of noble nature.  Poor dear Lucy was right about

+him.  He stood up and opened a large drawer, in which were arranged in

+order a number of hollow cylinders of metal covered with dark wax, and

+said,

+

+"You are quite right.  I did not trust you because I did not know

+you.  But I know you now, and let me say that I should have known you

+long ago.  I know that Lucy told you of me.  She told me of you too.

+May I make the only atonement in my power?  Take the cylinders and

+hear them.  The first half-dozen of them are personal to me, and they

+will not horrify you.  Then you will know me better.  Dinner will by

+then be ready.  In the meantime I shall read over some of these

+documents, and shall be better able to understand certain things."

+

+He carried the phonograph himself up to my sitting room and adjusted

+it for me.  Now I shall learn something pleasant, I am sure.  For it

+will tell me the other side of a true love episode of which I know one

+side already.

+

+

+

+

+DR. SEWARD'S DIARY

+

+29 September.--I was so absorbed in that wonderful diary of Jonathan

+Harker and that other of his wife that I let the time run on without

+thinking.  Mrs. Harker was not down when the maid came to announce

+dinner, so I said, "She is possibly tired.  Let dinner wait an hour,"

+and I went on with my work.  I had just finished Mrs. Harker's diary,

+when she came in.  She looked sweetly pretty, but very sad, and her

+eyes were flushed with crying.  This somehow moved me much.  Of late I

+have had cause for tears, God knows!  But the relief of them was

+denied me, and now the sight of those sweet eyes, brightened by recent

+tears, went straight to my heart.  So I said as gently as I could, "I

+greatly fear I have distressed you."

+

+"Oh, no, not distressed me," she replied.  "But I have been more

+touched than I can say by your grief.  That is a wonderful machine,

+but it is cruelly true.  It told me, in its very tones, the anguish of

+your heart.  It was like a soul crying out to Almighty God.  No one

+must hear them spoken ever again!  See, I have tried to be useful.  I

+have copied out the words on my typewriter, and none other need now

+hear your heart beat, as I did."

+

+"No one need ever know, shall ever know," I said in a low voice.  She

+laid her hand on mine and said very gravely, "Ah, but they must!"

+

+"Must!  But why?" I asked.

+

+"Because it is a part of the terrible story, a part of poor Lucy's

+death and all that led to it.  Because in the struggle which we have

+before us to rid the earth of this terrible monster we must have all

+the knowledge and all the help which we can get.  I think that the

+cylinders which you gave me contained more than you intended me to

+know.  But I can see that there are in your record many lights to this

+dark mystery.  You will let me help, will you not?  I know all up to a

+certain point, and I see already, though your diary only took me to 7

+September, how poor Lucy was beset, and how her terrible doom was

+being wrought out.  Jonathan and I have been working day and night

+since Professor Van Helsing saw us.  He is gone to Whitby to get more

+information, and he will be here tomorrow to help us.  We need have no

+secrets amongst us.  Working together and with absolute trust, we can

+surely be stronger than if some of us were in the dark."

+

+She looked at me so appealingly, and at the same time manifested such

+courage and resolution in her bearing, that I gave in at once to her

+wishes.  "You shall," I said, "do as you like in the matter.  God

+forgive me if I do wrong!  There are terrible things yet to learn of,

+but if you have so far traveled on the road to poor Lucy's death, you

+will not be content, I know, to remain in the dark.  Nay, the end, the

+very end, may give you a gleam of peace.  Come, there is dinner.  We

+must keep one another strong for what is before us.  We have a cruel

+and dreadful task.  When you have eaten you shall learn the rest, and

+I shall answer any questions you ask, if there be anything which you

+do not understand, though it was apparent to us who were present."

+

+

+

+MINA HARKER'S JOURNAL

+

+29 September.--After dinner I came with Dr. Seward to his study.  He

+brought back the phonograph from my room, and I took a chair, and

+arranged the phonograph so that I could touch it without getting up,

+and showed me how to stop it in case I should want to pause.  Then he

+very thoughtfully took a chair, with his back to me, so that I might

+be as free as possible, and began to read.  I put the forked metal to

+my ears and listened.

+

+When the terrible story of Lucy's death, and all that followed, was

+done, I lay back in my chair powerless.  Fortunately I am not of a

+fainting disposition.  When Dr. Seward saw me he jumped up with a

+horrified exclamation, and hurriedly taking a case bottle from the

+cupboard, gave me some brandy, which in a few minutes somewhat

+restored me.  My brain was all in a whirl, and only that there came

+through all the multitude of horrors, the holy ray of light that my

+dear Lucy was at last at peace, I do not think I could have borne it

+without making a scene.  It is all so wild and mysterious, and strange

+that if I had not known Jonathan's experience in Transylvania I could

+not have believed.  As it was, I didn't know what to believe, and so

+got out of my difficulty by attending to something else.  I took the

+cover off my typewriter, and said to Dr. Seward,

+

+"Let me write this all out now.  We must be ready for Dr. Van Helsing

+when he comes.  I have sent a telegram to Jonathan to come on here

+when he arrives in London from Whitby.  In this matter dates are

+everything, and I think that if we get all of our material ready, and

+have every item put in chronological order, we shall have done much.

+

+"You tell me that Lord Godalming and Mr. Morris are coming too.  Let

+us be able to tell them when they come."

+

+He accordingly set the phonograph at a slow pace, and I began to

+typewrite from the beginning of the seventeenth cylinder.  I used

+manifold, and so took three copies of the diary, just as I had done

+with the rest.  It was late when I got through, but Dr. Seward went

+about his work of going his round of the patients.  When he had

+finished he came back and sat near me, reading, so that I did not feel

+too lonely whilst I worked.  How good and thoughtful he is.  The world

+seems full of good men, even if there are monsters in it.

+

+Before I left him I remembered what Jonathan put in his diary of the

+Professor's perturbation at reading something in an evening paper at

+the station at Exeter, so, seeing that Dr. Seward keeps his

+newspapers, I borrowed the files of 'The Westminster Gazette' and 'The

+Pall Mall Gazette' and took them to my room.  I remember how much the

+'Dailygraph' and 'The Whitby Gazette', of which I had made cuttings,

+had helped us to understand the terrible events at Whitby when Count

+Dracula landed, so I shall look through the evening papers since then,

+and perhaps I shall get some new light.  I am not sleepy, and the work

+will help to keep me quiet.

+

+

+

+

+DR. SEWARD'S DIARY

+

+30 September.--Mr. Harker arrived at nine o'clock.  He got his wife's

+wire just before starting.  He is uncommonly clever, if one can judge

+from his face, and full of energy.  If this journal be true, and

+judging by one's own wonderful experiences, it must be, he is also a

+man of great nerve.  That going down to the vault a second time was a

+remarkable piece of daring.  After reading his account of it I was

+prepared to meet a good specimen of manhood, but hardly the quiet,

+businesslike gentleman who came here today.

+

+

+LATER.--After lunch Harker and his wife went back to their own room,

+and as I passed a while ago I heard the click of the typewriter.  They

+are hard at it.  Mrs. Harker says that they are knitting together in

+chronological order every scrap of evidence they have.  Harker has got

+the letters between the consignee of the boxes at Whitby and the

+carriers in London who took charge of them.  He is now reading his

+wife's transcript of my diary.  I wonder what they make out of it.

+Here it is . . .

+

+Strange that it never struck me that the very next house might be the

+Count's hiding place!  Goodness knows that we had enough clues from

+the conduct of the patient Renfield!  The bundle of letters relating

+to the purchase of the house were with the transcript.  Oh, if we had

+only had them earlier we might have saved poor Lucy!  Stop!  That way

+madness lies!  Harker has gone back, and is again collecting material.

+He says that by dinner time they will be able to show a whole

+connected narrative.  He thinks that in the meantime I should see

+Renfield, as hitherto he has been a sort of index to the coming and

+going of the Count.  I hardly see this yet, but when I get at the

+dates I suppose I shall.  What a good thing that Mrs. Harker put my

+cylinders into type!  We never could have found the dates otherwise.

+

+I found Renfield sitting placidly in his room with his hands folded,

+smiling benignly.  At the moment he seemed as sane as any one I ever

+saw.  I sat down and talked with him on a lot of subjects, all of

+which he treated naturally.  He then, of his own accord, spoke of

+going home, a subject he has never mentioned to my knowledge during

+his sojourn here.  In fact, he spoke quite confidently of getting his

+discharge at once.  I believe that, had I not had the chat with Harker

+and read the letters and the dates of his outbursts, I should have

+been prepared to sign for him after a brief time of observation.  As

+it is, I am darkly suspicious.  All those out-breaks were in some way

+linked with the proximity of the Count.  What then does this absolute

+content mean?  Can it be that his instinct is satisfied as to the

+vampire's ultimate triumph?  Stay.  He is himself zoophagous, and in

+his wild ravings outside the chapel door of the deserted house he

+always spoke of 'master'.  This all seems confirmation of our idea.

+However, after a while I came away.  My friend is just a little too

+sane at present to make it safe to probe him too deep with questions.

+He might begin to think, and then . . . So I came away.  I mistrust

+these quiet moods of his, so I have given the attendant a hint to

+look closely after him, and to have a strait waistcoat ready in case

+of need.

+

+

+

+

+

+JOHNATHAN HARKER'S JOURNAL

+

+29 September, in train to London.--When I received Mr. Billington's

+courteous message that he would give me any information in his power I

+thought it best to go down to Whitby and make, on the spot, such

+inquiries as I wanted.  It was now my object to trace that horrid

+cargo of the Count's to its place in London.  Later, we may be able to

+deal with it.  Billington junior, a nice lad, met me at the station,

+and brought me to his father's house, where they had decided that I

+must spend the night.  They are hospitable, with true Yorkshire

+hospitality, give a guest everything and leave him to do as he likes.

+They all knew that I was busy, and that my stay was short, and Mr.

+Billington had ready in his office all the papers concerning the

+consignment of boxes.  It gave me almost a turn to see again one of

+the letters which I had seen on the Count's table before I knew of his

+diabolical plans.  Everything had been carefully thought out, and done

+systematically and with precision.  He seemed to have been prepared

+for every obstacle which might be placed by accident in the way of his

+intentions being carried out.  To use an Americanism, he had 'taken no

+chances', and the absolute accuracy with which his instructions were

+fulfilled was simply the logical result of his care.  I saw the

+invoice, and took note of it.  'Fifty cases of common earth, to be used

+for experimental purposes'.  Also the copy of the letter to Carter

+Paterson, and their reply.  Of both these I got copies.  This was all

+the information Mr. Billington could give me, so I went down to the

+port and saw the coastguards, the Customs Officers and the harbour

+master, who kindly put me in communication with the men who had

+actually received the boxes.  Their tally was exact with the list, and

+they had nothing to add to the simple description 'fifty cases of

+common earth', except that the boxes were 'main and mortal heavy', and

+that shifting them was dry work.  One of them added that it was hard

+lines that there wasn't any gentleman 'such like as like yourself,

+squire', to show some sort of appreciation of their efforts in a

+liquid form.  Another put in a rider that the thirst then generated

+was such that even the time which had elapsed had not completely

+allayed it.  Needless to add, I took care before leaving to lift,

+forever and adequately, this source of reproach.

+

+30 September.--The station master was good enough to give me a line to

+his old companion the station master at King's Cross, so that when I

+arrived there in the morning I was able to ask him about the arrival

+of the boxes.  He, too put me at once in communication with the proper

+officials, and I saw that their tally was correct with the original

+invoice.  The opportunities of acquiring an abnormal thirst had been

+here limited.  A noble use of them had, however, been made, and again

+I was compelled to deal with the result in ex post facto manner.

+

+From thence I went to Carter Paterson's central office, where I met

+with the utmost courtesy.  They looked up the transaction in their day

+book and letter book, and at once telephoned to their King's Cross

+office for more details.  By good fortune, the men who did the teaming

+were waiting for work, and the official at once sent them over,

+sending also by one of them the way-bill and all the papers connected

+with the delivery of the boxes at Carfax.  Here again I found the

+tally agreeing exactly.  The carriers' men were able to supplement the

+paucity of the written words with a few more details.  These were, I

+shortly found, connected almost solely with the dusty nature of the

+job, and the consequent thirst engendered in the operators.  On my

+affording an opportunity, through the medium of the currency of the

+realm, of the allaying, at a later period, this beneficial evil, one

+of the men remarked,

+

+"That 'ere 'ouse, guv'nor, is the rummiest I ever was in.  Blyme!  But

+it ain't been touched sence a hundred years.  There was dust that

+thick in the place that you might have slep' on it without 'urtin' of

+yer bones.  An' the place was that neglected that yer might 'ave

+smelled ole Jerusalem in it.  But the old chapel, that took the cike,

+that did!  Me and my mate, we thort we wouldn't never git out quick

+enough.  Lor', I wouldn't take less nor a quid a moment to stay there

+arter dark."

+

+Having been in the house, I could well believe him, but if he knew

+what I know, he would, I think have raised his terms.

+

+Of one thing I am now satisfied.  That all those boxes which arrived at

+Whitby from Varna in the Demeter were safely deposited in the old

+chapel at Carfax.  There should be fifty of them there, unless any

+have since been removed, as from Dr. Seward's diary I fear.

+

+

+Later.--Mina and I have worked all day, and we have put all the papers

+into order.

+

+

+

+

+MINA HARKER'S JOURNAL

+

+30 September.--I am so glad that I hardly know how to contain myself.

+It is, I suppose, the reaction from the haunting fear which I have

+had, that this terrible affair and the reopening of his old wound

+might act detrimentally on Jonathan.  I saw him leave for Whitby with

+as brave a face as could, but I was sick with apprehension.  The

+effort has, however, done him good.  He was never so resolute, never

+so strong, never so full of volcanic energy, as at present.  It is

+just as that dear, good Professor Van Helsing said, he is true grit,

+and he improves under strain that would kill a weaker nature.  He came

+back full of life and hope and determination.  We have got everything

+in order for tonight.  I feel myself quite wild with excitement.  I

+suppose one ought to pity anything so hunted as the Count.  That is

+just it.  This thing is not human, not even a beast.  To read Dr.

+Seward's account of poor Lucy's death, and what followed, is enough to

+dry up the springs of pity in one's heart.

+

+

+Later.--Lord Godalming and Mr. Morris arrived earlier than we

+expected.  Dr. Seward was out on business, and had taken Jonathan with

+him, so I had to see them.  It was to me a painful meeting, for it

+brought back all poor dear Lucy's hopes of only a few months ago.  Of

+course they had heard Lucy speak of me, and it seemed that Dr. Van

+Helsing, too, had been quite 'blowing my trumpet', as Mr. Morris

+expressed it.  Poor fellows, neither of them is aware that I know all

+about the proposals they made to Lucy.  They did not quite know what

+to say or do, as they were ignorant of the amount of my knowledge.  So

+they had to keep on neutral subjects.  However, I thought the matter

+over, and came to the conclusion that the best thing I could do would

+be to post them on affairs right up to date.  I knew from Dr. Seward's

+diary that they had been at Lucy's death, her real death, and that I

+need not fear to betray any secret before the time.  So I told them,

+as well as I could, that I had read all the papers and diaries, and

+that my husband and I, having typewritten them, had just finished

+putting them in order.  I gave them each a copy to read in the

+library.  When Lord Godalming got his and turned it over, it does make

+a pretty good pile, he said, "Did you write all this, Mrs. Harker?"

+

+I nodded, and he went on.

+

+"I don't quite see the drift of it, but you people are all so good and

+kind, and have been working so earnestly and so energetically, that

+all I can do is to accept your ideas blindfold and try to help you.  I

+have had one lesson already in accepting facts that should make a man

+humble to the last hour of his life.  Besides, I know you loved my

+Lucy . . ."

+

+Here he turned away and covered his face with his hands.  I could hear

+the tears in his voice.  Mr. Morris, with instinctive delicacy, just

+laid a hand for a moment on his shoulder, and then walked quietly out

+of the room.  I suppose there is something in a woman's nature that

+makes a man free to break down before her and express his feelings on

+the tender or emotional side without feeling it derogatory to his

+manhood.  For when Lord Godalming found himself alone with me he sat

+down on the sofa and gave way utterly and openly.  I sat down beside

+him and took his hand.  I hope he didn't think it forward of me, and

+that if he ever thinks of it afterwards he never will have such a

+thought.  There I wrong him.  I know he never will.  He is too true a

+gentleman.  I said to him, for I could see that his heart was

+breaking, "I loved dear Lucy, and I know what she was to you, and what

+you were to her.  She and I were like sisters, and now she is gone,

+will you not let me be like a sister to you in your trouble?  I know

+what sorrows you have had, though I cannot measure the depth of them.

+If sympathy and pity can help in your affliction, won't you let me be

+of some little service, for Lucy's sake?"

+

+In an instant the poor dear fellow was overwhelmed with grief.  It

+seemed to me that all that he had of late been suffering in silence

+found a vent at once.  He grew quite hysterical, and raising his open

+hands, beat his palms together in a perfect agony of grief.  He stood

+up and then sat down again, and the tears rained down his cheeks.  I

+felt an infinite pity for him, and opened my arms unthinkingly.  With

+a sob he laid his head on my shoulder and cried like a wearied child,

+whilst he shook with emotion.

+

+We women have something of the mother in us that makes us rise above

+smaller matters when the mother spirit is invoked.  I felt this big

+sorrowing man's head resting on me, as though it were that of a baby

+that some day may lie on my bosom, and I stroked his hair as though he

+were my own child.  I never thought at the time how strange it all

+was.

+

+After a little bit his sobs ceased, and he raised himself with an

+apology, though he made no disguise of his emotion.  He told me that

+for days and nights past, weary days and sleepless nights, he had been

+unable to speak with any one, as a man must speak in his time of

+sorrow.  There was no woman whose sympathy could be given to him, or

+with whom, owing to the terrible circumstance with which his sorrow

+was surrounded, he could speak freely.

+

+"I know now how I suffered," he said, as he dried his eyes, "but I do

+not know even yet, and none other can ever know, how much your sweet

+sympathy has been to me today.  I shall know better in time, and

+believe me that, though I am not ungrateful now, my gratitude will

+grow with my understanding.  You will let me be like a brother, will

+you not, for all our lives, for dear Lucy's sake?"

+

+"For dear Lucy's sake," I said as we clasped hands.  "Ay, and for your

+own sake," he added, "for if a man's esteem and gratitude are ever

+worth the winning, you have won mine today.  If ever the future should

+bring to you a time when you need a man's help, believe me, you will

+not call in vain.  God grant that no such time may ever come to you to

+break the sunshine of your life, but if it should ever come, promise

+me that you will let me know."

+

+He was so earnest, and his sorrow was so fresh, that I felt it would

+comfort him, so I said, "I promise."

+

+As I came along the corridor I saw Mr. Morris looking out of a window.

+He turned as he heard my footsteps.  "How is Art?" he said.  Then

+noticing my red eyes, he went on, "Ah, I see you have been comforting

+him.  Poor old fellow!  He needs it.  No one but a woman can help a

+man when he is in trouble of the heart, and he had no one to comfort

+him."

+

+He bore his own trouble so bravely that my heart bled for him.  I saw

+the manuscript in his hand, and I knew that when he read it he would

+realize how much I knew, so I said to him, "I wish I could comfort all

+who suffer from the heart.  Will you let me be your friend, and will

+you come to me for comfort if you need it?  You will know later why I

+speak."

+

+He saw that I was in earnest, and stooping, took my hand, and raising

+it to his lips, kissed it.  It seemed but poor comfort to so brave and

+unselfish a soul, and impulsively I bent over and kissed him.  The

+tears rose in his eyes, and there was a momentary choking in his

+throat.  He said quite calmly, "Little girl, you will never forget

+that true hearted kindness, so long as ever you live!"  Then he went

+into the study to his friend.

+

+"Little girl!"  The very words he had used to Lucy, and, oh, but he

+proved himself a friend.

+

+

+

+

+CHAPTER 18

+

+

+DR. SEWARD'S DIARY

+

+30 September.--I got home at five o'clock, and found that Godalming

+and Morris had not only arrived, but had already studied the

+transcript of the various diaries and letters which Harker had not yet

+returned from his visit to the carriers' men, of whom Dr. Hennessey

+had written to me.  Mrs. Harker gave us a cup of tea, and I can

+honestly say that, for the first time since I have lived in it, this

+old house seemed like home.  When we had finished, Mrs. Harker said,

+

+"Dr. Seward, may I ask a favour?  I want to see your patient, Mr.

+Renfield.  Do let me see him.  What you have said of him in your diary

+interests me so much!"

+

+She looked so appealing and so pretty that I could not refuse her, and

+there was no possible reason why I should, so I took her with me.

+When I went into the room, I told the man that a lady would like to see

+him, to which he simply answered, "Why?"

+

+"She is going through the house, and wants to see every one in it," I

+answered.

+

+"Oh, very well," he said, "let her come in, by all means, but just

+wait a minute till I tidy up the place."

+

+His method of tidying was peculiar, he simply swallowed all the flies

+and spiders in the boxes before I could stop him.  It was quite

+evident that he feared, or was jealous of, some interference.  When he

+had got through his disgusting task, he said cheerfully, "Let the lady

+come in," and sat down on the edge of his bed with his head down, but

+with his eyelids raised so that he could see her as she entered.  For

+a moment I thought that he might have some homicidal intent.  I

+remembered how quiet he had been just before he attacked me in my own

+study, and I took care to stand where I could seize him at once if he

+attempted to make a spring at her.

+

+She came into the room with an easy gracefulness which would at once

+command the respect of any lunatic, for easiness is one of the

+qualities mad people most respect.  She walked over to him, smiling

+pleasantly, and held out her hand.

+

+"Good evening, Mr. Renfield," said she.  "You see, I know you, for Dr.

+Seward has told me of you."  He made no immediate reply, but eyed her

+all over intently with a set frown on his face.  This look gave way to

+one of wonder, which merged in doubt, then to my intense astonishment

+he said, "You're not the girl the doctor wanted to marry, are you?  You

+can't be, you know, for she's dead."

+

+Mrs. Harker smiled sweetly as she replied, "Oh no!  I have a husband

+of my own, to whom I was married before I ever saw Dr. Seward, or he

+me.  I am Mrs. Harker."

+

+"Then what are you doing here?"

+

+"My husband and I are staying on a visit with Dr. Seward."

+

+"Then don't stay."

+

+"But why not?"

+

+I thought that this style of conversation might not be pleasant to

+Mrs. Harker, any more than it was to me, so I joined in, "How did you

+know I wanted to marry anyone?"

+

+His reply was simply contemptuous, given in a pause in which he turned

+his eyes from Mrs. Harker to me, instantly turning them back again,

+"What an asinine question!"

+

+"I don't see that at all, Mr. Renfield," said Mrs. Harker, at once

+championing me.

+

+He replied to her with as much courtesy and respect as he had shown

+contempt to me, "You will, of course, understand, Mrs. Harker, that

+when a man is so loved and honoured as our host is, everything

+regarding him is of interest in our little community.  Dr. Seward is

+loved not only by his household and his friends, but even by his

+patients, who, being some of them hardly in mental equilibrium, are

+apt to distort causes and effects.  Since I myself have been an inmate

+of a lunatic asylum, I cannot but notice that the sophistic tendencies

+of some of its inmates lean towards the errors of non causa and

+ignoratio elenche."

+

+I positively opened my eyes at this new development.  Here was my own

+pet lunatic, the most pronounced of his type that I had ever met with,

+talking elemental philosophy, and with the manner of a polished

+gentleman.  I wonder if it was Mrs. Harker's presence which had

+touched some chord in his memory.  If this new phase was spontaneous,

+or in any way due to her unconscious influence, she must have some

+rare gift or power.

+

+We continued to talk for some time, and seeing that he was seemingly

+quite reasonable, she ventured, looking at me questioningly as she

+began, to lead him to his favourite topic.  I was again astonished,

+for he addressed himself to the question with the impartiality of

+the completest sanity.  He even took himself as an example when he

+mentioned certain things.

+

+"Why, I myself am an instance of a man who had a strange belief.

+Indeed, it was no wonder that my friends were alarmed, and insisted on

+my being put under control.  I used to fancy that life was a positive

+and perpetual entity, and that by consuming a multitude of live

+things, no matter how low in the scale of creation, one might

+indefinitely prolong life.  At times I held the belief so strongly

+that I actually tried to take human life.  The doctor here will bear

+me out that on one occasion I tried to kill him for the purpose of

+strengthening my vital powers by the assimilation with my own body of

+his life through the medium of his blood, relying of course, upon the

+Scriptural phrase, 'For the blood is the life.'  Though, indeed, the

+vendor of a certain nostrum has vulgarized the truism to the very

+point of contempt.  Isn't that true, doctor?"

+

+I nodded assent, for I was so amazed that I hardly knew what to either

+think or say, it was hard to imagine that I had seen him eat up his

+spiders and flies not five minutes before.  Looking at my watch, I saw

+that I should go to the station to meet Van Helsing, so I told Mrs.

+Harker that it was time to leave.

+

+She came at once, after saying pleasantly to Mr. Renfield, "Goodbye,

+and I hope I may see you often, under auspices pleasanter to

+yourself."

+

+To which, to my astonishment, he replied, "Goodbye, my dear.  I pray

+God I may never see your sweet face again.  May He bless and keep

+you!"

+

+When I went to the station to meet Van Helsing I left the boys behind

+me.  Poor Art seemed more cheerful than he has been since Lucy first

+took ill, and Quincey is more like his own bright self than he has

+been for many a long day.

+

+Van Helsing stepped from the carriage with the eager nimbleness of a

+boy.  He saw me at once, and rushed up to me, saying, "Ah, friend

+John, how goes all?  Well?  So!  I have been busy, for I come here to

+stay if need be.  All affairs are settled with me, and I have much to

+tell.  Madam Mina is with you?  Yes.  And her so fine husband?  And

+Arthur and my friend Quincey, they are with you, too?  Good!"

+

+As I drove to the house I told him of what had passed, and of how my

+own diary had come to be of some use through Mrs. Harker's suggestion,

+at which the Professor interrupted me.

+

+"Ah, that wonderful Madam Mina!  She has man's brain, a brain that a

+man should have were he much gifted, and a woman's heart.  The good

+God fashioned her for a purpose, believe me, when He made that so good

+combination.  Friend John, up to now fortune has made that woman of

+help to us, after tonight she must not have to do with this so

+terrible affair.  It is not good that she run a risk so great.  We men

+are determined, nay, are we not pledged, to destroy this monster?  But

+it is no part for a woman.  Even if she be not harmed, her heart may

+fail her in so much and so many horrors and hereafter she may suffer,

+both in waking, from her nerves, and in sleep, from her dreams.  And,

+besides, she is young woman and not so long married, there may be

+other things to think of some time, if not now.  You tell me she has

+wrote all, then she must consult with us, but tomorrow she say goodbye

+to this work, and we go alone."

+

+I agreed heartily with him, and then I told him what we had found in

+his absence, that the house which Dracula had bought was the very next

+one to my own.  He was amazed, and a great concern seemed to come on

+him.

+

+"Oh that we had known it before!" he said, "for then we might have

+reached him in time to save poor Lucy.  However, 'the milk that is

+spilt cries not out afterwards,' as you say.  We shall not think of

+that, but go on our way to the end."  Then he fell into a silence that

+lasted till we entered my own gateway.  Before we went to prepare for

+dinner he said to Mrs. Harker, "I am told, Madam Mina, by my friend

+John that you and your husband have put up in exact order all things

+that have been, up to this moment."

+

+"Not up to this moment, Professor," she said impulsively, "but up to

+this morning."

+

+"But why not up to now?  We have seen hitherto how good light all the

+little things have made.  We have told our secrets, and yet no one who

+has told is the worse for it."

+

+Mrs. Harker began to blush, and taking a paper from her pockets, she

+said, "Dr. Van Helsing, will you read this, and tell me if it must go

+in.  It is my record of today.  I too have seen the need of putting

+down at present everything, however trivial, but there is little in

+this except what is personal.  Must it go in?"

+

+The Professor read it over gravely, and handed it back, saying, "It

+need not go in if you do not wish it, but I pray that it may.  It can

+but make your husband love you the more, and all us, your friends,

+more honour you, as well as more esteem and love."  She took it back

+with another blush and a bright smile.

+

+And so now, up to this very hour, all the records we have are complete

+and in order.  The Professor took away one copy to study after dinner,

+and before our meeting, which is fixed for nine o'clock.  The rest of

+us have already read everything, so when we meet in the study we shall

+all be informed as to facts, and can arrange our plan of battle with

+this terrible and mysterious enemy.

+

+

+

+

+

+MINA HARKER'S JOURNAL

+

+30 September.--When we met in Dr. Seward's study two hours after

+dinner, which had been at six o'clock, we unconsciously formed a sort

+of board or committee.  Professor Van Helsing took the head of the

+table, to which Dr. Seward motioned him as he came into the room.  He

+made me sit next to him on his right, and asked me to act as

+secretary.  Jonathan sat next to me.  Opposite us were Lord Godalming,

+Dr. Seward, and Mr. Morris, Lord Godalming being next the Professor,

+and Dr. Seward in the centre.

+

+The Professor said, "I may, I suppose, take it that we are all

+acquainted with the facts that are in these papers."  We all expressed

+assent, and he went on, "Then it were, I think, good that I tell you

+something of the kind of enemy with which we have to deal.  I shall

+then make known to you something of the history of this man, which has

+been ascertained for me.  So we then can discuss how we shall act, and

+can take our measure according.

+

+"There are such beings as vampires, some of us have evidence that they

+exist.  Even had we not the proof of our own unhappy experience, the

+teachings and the records of the past give proof enough for sane

+peoples.  I admit that at the first I was sceptic.  Were it not that

+through long years I have trained myself to keep an open mind, I could

+not have believed until such time as that fact thunder on my ear.  'See!

+See!  I prove, I prove.'  Alas!  Had I known at first what now I know,

+nay, had I even guess at him, one so precious life had been spared to

+many of us who did love her.  But that is gone, and we must so work,

+that other poor souls perish not, whilst we can save.  The nosferatu

+do not die like the bee when he sting once.  He is only stronger, and

+being stronger, have yet more power to work evil.  This vampire which

+is amongst us is of himself so strong in person as twenty men, he is

+of cunning more than mortal, for his cunning be the growth of ages, he

+have still the aids of necromancy, which is, as his etymology imply,

+the divination by the dead, and all the dead that he can come nigh to

+are for him at command; he is brute, and more than brute; he is devil

+in callous, and the heart of him is not; he can, within his range,

+direct the elements, the storm, the fog, the thunder; he can command

+all the meaner things, the rat, and the owl, and the bat, the moth,

+and the fox, and the wolf, he can grow and become small; and he can at

+times vanish and come unknown.  How then are we to begin our strike to

+destroy him?  How shall we find his where, and having found it, how

+can we destroy?  My friends, this is much, it is a terrible task that

+we undertake, and there may be consequence to make the brave shudder.

+For if we fail in this our fight he must surely win, and then where

+end we?  Life is nothings, I heed him not.  But to fail here, is not

+mere life or death.  It is that we become as him, that we henceforward

+become foul things of the night like him, without heart or conscience,

+preying on the bodies and the souls of those we love best.  To us

+forever are the gates of heaven shut, for who shall open them to us

+again?  We go on for all time abhorred by all, a blot on the face of

+God's sunshine, an arrow in the side of Him who died for man.  But we

+are face to face with duty, and in such case must we shrink?  For me,

+I say no, but then I am old, and life, with his sunshine, his fair

+places, his song of birds, his music and his love, lie far behind.  You

+others are young.  Some have seen sorrow, but there are fair days yet

+in store.  What say you?"

+

+Whilst he was speaking, Jonathan had taken my hand.  I feared, oh so

+much, that the appalling nature of our danger was overcoming him when

+I saw his hand stretch out, but it was life to me to feel its touch,

+so strong, so self reliant, so resolute.  A brave man's hand can speak

+for itself, it does not even need a woman's love to hear its music.

+

+When the Professor had done speaking my husband looked in my eyes, and

+I in his, there was no need for speaking between us.

+

+"I answer for Mina and myself," he said.

+

+"Count me in, Professor," said Mr. Quincey Morris, laconically as

+usual.

+

+"I am with you," said Lord Godalming, "for Lucy's sake, if for no

+other reason."

+

+Dr. Seward simply nodded.

+

+The Professor stood up and, after laying his golden crucifix on the

+table, held out his hand on either side.  I took his right hand, and

+Lord Godalming his left, Jonathan held my right with his left and

+stretched across to Mr. Morris.  So as we all took hands our solemn

+compact was made.  I felt my heart icy cold, but it did not even occur

+to me to draw back.  We resumed our places, and Dr. Van Helsing went

+on with a sort of cheerfulness which showed that the serious work had

+begun.  It was to be taken as gravely, and in as businesslike a way,

+as any other transaction of life.

+

+"Well, you know what we have to contend against, but we too, are not

+without strength.  We have on our side power of combination, a power

+denied to the vampire kind, we have sources of science, we are free to

+act and think, and the hours of the day and the night are ours

+equally.  In fact, so far as our powers extend, they are unfettered,

+and we are free to use them.  We have self devotion in a cause and an

+end to achieve which is not a selfish one.  These things are much.

+

+"Now let us see how far the general powers arrayed against us are

+restrict, and how the individual cannot.  In fine, let us consider the

+limitations of the vampire in general, and of this one in particular.

+

+"All we have to go upon are traditions and superstitions.  These do

+not at the first appear much, when the matter is one of life and

+death, nay of more than either life or death.  Yet must we be

+satisfied, in the first place because we have to be, no other means is

+at our control, and secondly, because, after all these things,

+tradition and superstition, are everything.  Does not the belief in

+vampires rest for others, though not, alas! for us, on them?  A year

+ago which of us would have received such a possibility, in the midst

+of our scientific, sceptical, matter-of-fact nineteenth century?  We

+even scouted a belief that we saw justified under our very eyes.  Take

+it, then, that the vampire, and the belief in his limitations and his

+cure, rest for the moment on the same base.  For, let me tell you, he

+is known everywhere that men have been.  In old Greece, in old Rome,

+he flourish in Germany all over, in France, in India, even in the

+Chermosese, and in China, so far from us in all ways, there even is

+he, and the peoples for him at this day.  He have follow the wake of

+the berserker Icelander, the devil-begotten Hun, the Slav, the Saxon,

+the Magyar.

+

+"So far, then, we have all we may act upon, and let me tell you that

+very much of the beliefs are justified by what we have seen in our own

+so unhappy experience.  The vampire live on, and cannot die by mere

+passing of the time, he can flourish when that he can fatten on the

+blood of the living.  Even more, we have seen amongst us that he can

+even grow younger, that his vital faculties grow strenuous, and seem

+as though they refresh themselves when his special pabulum is plenty.

+

+"But he cannot flourish without this diet, he eat not as others.  Even

+friend Jonathan, who lived with him for weeks, did never see him eat,

+never!  He throws no shadow, he make in the mirror no reflect, as

+again Jonathan observe.  He has the strength of many of his hand,

+witness again Jonathan when he shut the door against the wolves, and

+when he help him from the diligence too.  He can transform himself to

+wolf, as we gather from the ship arrival in Whitby, when he tear open

+the dog, he can be as bat, as Madam Mina saw him on the window at

+Whitby, and as friend John saw him fly from this so near house, and as

+my friend Quincey saw him at the window of Miss Lucy.

+

+"He can come in mist which he create, that noble ship's captain proved

+him of this, but, from what we know, the distance he can make this

+mist is limited, and it can only be round himself.

+

+"He come on moonlight rays as elemental dust, as again Jonathan saw

+those sisters in the castle of Dracula.  He become so small, we

+ourselves saw Miss Lucy, ere she was at peace, slip through a

+hairbreadth space at the tomb door.  He can, when once he find his

+way, come out from anything or into anything, no matter how close it

+be bound or even fused up with fire, solder you call it.  He can see

+in the dark, no small power this, in a world which is one half shut

+from the light.  Ah, but hear me through.

+

+"He can do all these things, yet he is not free.  Nay, he is even more

+prisoner than the slave of the galley, than the madman in his cell.

+He cannot go where he lists, he who is not of nature has yet to obey

+some of nature's laws, why we know not.  He may not enter anywhere at

+the first, unless there be some one of the household who bid him to

+come, though afterwards he can come as he please.  His power ceases,

+as does that of all evil things, at the coming of the day.

+

+"Only at certain times can he have limited freedom.  If he be not at

+the place whither he is bound, he can only change himself at noon or

+at exact sunrise or sunset.  These things we are told, and in this

+record of ours we have proof by inference.  Thus, whereas he can do as

+he will within his limit, when he have his earth-home, his

+coffin-home, his hell-home, the place unhallowed, as we saw when he

+went to the grave of the suicide at Whitby, still at other time he can

+only change when the time come.  It is said, too, that he can only

+pass running water at the slack or the flood of the tide.  Then there

+are things which so afflict him that he has no power, as the garlic

+that we know of, and as for things sacred, as this symbol, my

+crucifix, that was amongst us even now when we resolve, to them he is

+nothing, but in their presence he take his place far off and silent

+with respect.  There are others, too, which I shall tell you of, lest

+in our seeking we may need them.

+

+"The branch of wild rose on his coffin keep him that he move not from

+it, a sacred bullet fired into the coffin kill him so that he be true

+dead, and as for the stake through him, we know already of its peace,

+or the cut off head that giveth rest.  We have seen it with our eyes.

+

+"Thus when we find the habitation of this man-that-was, we can confine

+him to his coffin and destroy him, if we obey what we know.  But he is

+clever.  I have asked my friend Arminius, of Buda-Pesth University, to

+make his record, and from all the means that are, he tell me of what

+he has been.  He must, indeed, have been that Voivode Dracula who won

+his name against the Turk, over the great river on the very frontier

+of Turkeyland.  If it be so, then was he no common man, for in that

+time, and for centuries after, he was spoken of as the cleverest and

+the most cunning, as well as the bravest of the sons of the 'land

+beyond the forest.'  That mighty brain and that iron resolution went

+with him to his grave, and are even now arrayed against us.  The

+Draculas were, says Arminius, a great and noble race, though now and

+again were scions who were held by their coevals to have had dealings

+with the Evil One.  They learned his secrets in the Scholomance,

+amongst the mountains over Lake Hermanstadt, where the devil claims

+the tenth scholar as his due.  In the records are such words as

+'stregoica' witch, 'ordog' and 'pokol' Satan and hell, and in one

+manuscript this very Dracula is spoken of as 'wampyr,' which we all

+understand too well.  There have been from the loins of this very one

+great men and good women, and their graves make sacred the earth where

+alone this foulness can dwell.  For it is not the least of its terrors

+that this evil thing is rooted deep in all good, in soil barren of

+holy memories it cannot rest."

+

+Whilst they were talking Mr. Morris was looking steadily at the

+window, and he now got up quietly, and went out of the room.  There

+was a little pause, and then the Professor went on.

+

+"And now we must settle what we do.  We have here much data, and we

+must proceed to lay out our campaign.  We know from the inquiry of

+Jonathan that from the castle to Whitby came fifty boxes of earth, all

+of which were delivered at Carfax, we also know that at least some of

+these boxes have been removed.  It seems to me, that our first step

+should be to ascertain whether all the rest remain in the house beyond

+that wall where we look today, or whether any more have been removed.

+If the latter, we must trace . . ."

+

+Here we were interrupted in a very startling way.  Outside the house

+came the sound of a pistol shot, the glass of the window was shattered

+with a bullet, which ricochetting from the top of the embrasure,

+struck the far wall of the room.  I am afraid I am at heart a coward,

+for I shrieked out.  The men all jumped to their feet, Lord Godalming

+flew over to the window and threw up the sash.  As he did so we heard

+Mr. Morris' voice without, "Sorry!  I fear I have alarmed you.  I

+shall come in and tell you about it."

+

+A minute later he came in and said, "It was an idiotic thing of me to

+do, and I ask your pardon, Mrs. Harker, most sincerely, I fear I must

+have frightened you terribly.  But the fact is that whilst the

+Professor was talking there came a big bat and sat on the window sill.

+I have got such a horror of the damned brutes from recent events that

+I cannot stand them, and I went out to have a shot, as I have been

+doing of late of evenings, whenever I have seen one.  You used to

+laugh at me for it then, Art."

+

+"Did you hit it?" asked Dr. Van Helsing.

+

+"I don't know, I fancy not, for it flew away into the wood."  Without

+saying any more he took his seat, and the Professor began to resume

+his statement.

+

+"We must trace each of these boxes, and when we are ready, we must

+either capture or kill this monster in his lair, or we must, so to

+speak, sterilize the earth, so that no more he can seek safety in it.

+Thus in the end we may find him in his form of man between the hours

+of noon and sunset, and so engage with him when he is at his most

+weak.

+

+"And now for you, Madam Mina, this night is the end until all be well.

+You are too precious to us to have such risk.  When we part tonight,

+you no more must question.  We shall tell you all in good time.  We

+are men and are able to bear, but you must be our star and our hope,

+and we shall act all the more free that you are not in the danger,

+such as we are."

+

+All the men, even Jonathan, seemed relieved, but it did not seem to me

+good that they should brave danger and, perhaps lessen their safety,

+strength being the best safety, through care of me, but their minds

+were made up, and though it was a bitter pill for me to swallow, I

+could say nothing, save to accept their chivalrous care of me.

+

+Mr. Morris resumed the discussion, "As there is no time to lose, I

+vote we have a look at his house right now.  Time is everything with

+him, and swift action on our part may save another victim."

+

+I own that my heart began to fail me when the time for action came so

+close, but I did not say anything, for I had a greater fear that if I

+appeared as a drag or a hindrance to their work, they might even leave

+me out of their counsels altogether.  They have now gone off to

+Carfax, with means to get into the house.

+

+Manlike, they had told me to go to bed and sleep, as if a woman can

+sleep when those she loves are in danger!  I shall lie down, and

+pretend to sleep, lest Jonathan have added anxiety about me when he

+returns.

+

+

+

+

+DR. SEWARD'S DIARY

+

+1 October, 4 A.M.--Just as we were about to leave the house, an urgent

+message was brought to me from Renfield to know if I would see him at

+once, as he had something of the utmost importance to say to me.  I

+told the messenger to say that I would attend to his wishes in the

+morning, I was busy just at the moment.

+

+The attendant added, "He seems very importunate, sir.  I have never

+seen him so eager.  I don't know but what, if you don't see him soon,

+he will have one of his violent fits."  I knew the man would not have

+said this without some cause, so I said, "All right, I'll go now," and

+I asked the others to wait a few minutes for me, as I had to go and

+see my patient.

+

+"Take me with you, friend John," said the Professor.  "His case in your

+diary interest me much, and it had bearing, too, now and again on our

+case.  I should much like to see him, and especial when his mind is

+disturbed."

+

+"May I come also?" asked Lord Godalming.

+

+"Me too?" said Quincey Morris.  "May I come?" said Harker.  I nodded,

+and we all went down the passage together.

+

+We found him in a state of considerable excitement, but far more

+rational in his speech and manner than I had ever seen him.  There was

+an unusual understanding of himself, which was unlike anything I had

+ever met with in a lunatic, and he took it for granted that his

+reasons would prevail with others entirely sane.  We all five went

+into the room, but none of the others at first said anything.  His

+request was that I would at once release him from the asylum and send

+him home.  This he backed up with arguments regarding his complete

+recovery, and adduced his own existing sanity.

+

+"I appeal to your friends," he said, "they will, perhaps, not mind

+sitting in judgement on my case.  By the way, you have not introduced

+me."

+

+I was so much astonished, that the oddness of introducing a madman in

+an asylum did not strike me at the moment, and besides, there was a

+certain dignity in the man's manner, so much of the habit of equality,

+that I at once made the introduction, "Lord Godalming, Professor Van

+Helsing, Mr. Quincey Morris, of Texas, Mr. Jonathan Harker, Mr.

+Renfield."

+

+He shook hands with each of them, saying in turn, "Lord Godalming, I

+had the honour of seconding your father at the Windham; I grieve to

+know, by your holding the title, that he is no more.  He was a man

+loved and honoured by all who knew him, and in his youth was, I have

+heard, the inventor of a burnt rum punch, much patronized on Derby

+night.  Mr. Morris, you should be proud of your great state.  Its

+reception into the Union was a precedent which may have far-reaching

+effects hereafter, when the Pole and the Tropics may hold alliance to

+the Stars and Stripes.  The power of Treaty may yet prove a vast

+engine of enlargement, when the Monroe doctrine takes its true place

+as a political fable.  What shall any man say of his pleasure at

+meeting Van Helsing?  Sir, I make no apology for dropping all forms of

+conventional prefix.  When an individual has revolutionized

+therapeutics by his discovery of the continuous evolution of brain

+matter, conventional forms are unfitting, since they would seem to

+limit him to one of a class.  You, gentlemen, who by nationality, by

+heredity, or by the possession of natural gifts, are fitted to hold

+your respective places in the moving world, I take to witness that I

+am as sane as at least the majority of men who are in full possession

+of their liberties.  And I am sure that you, Dr. Seward, humanitarian

+and medico-jurist as well as scientist, will deem it a moral duty to

+deal with me as one to be considered as under exceptional

+circumstances."  He made this last appeal with a courtly air of

+conviction which was not without its own charm.

+

+I think we were all staggered.  For my own part, I was under the

+conviction, despite my knowledge of the man's character and history,

+that his reason had been restored, and I felt under a strong impulse

+to tell him that I was satisfied as to his sanity, and would see about

+the necessary formalities for his release in the morning.  I thought

+it better to wait, however, before making so grave a statement, for of

+old I knew the sudden changes to which this particular patient was

+liable.  So I contented myself with making a general statement that he

+appeared to be improving very rapidly, that I would have a longer chat

+with him in the morning, and would then see what I could do in the

+direction of meeting his wishes.

+

+This did not at all satisfy him, for he said quickly, "But I fear, Dr.

+Seward, that you hardly apprehend my wish.  I desire to go at once,

+here, now, this very hour, this very moment, if I may.  Time presses,

+and in our implied agreement with the old scytheman it is of the

+essence of the contract.  I am sure it is only necessary to put before

+so admirable a practitioner as Dr. Seward so simple, yet so momentous

+a wish, to ensure its fulfilment."

+

+He looked at me keenly, and seeing the negative in my face, turned to

+the others, and scrutinized them closely.  Not meeting any sufficient

+response, he went on, "Is it possible that I have erred in my

+supposition?"

+

+"You have," I said frankly, but at the same time, as I felt, brutally.

+

+There was a considerable pause, and then he said slowly, "Then I

+suppose I must only shift my ground of request.  Let me ask for this

+concession, boon, privilege, what you will.  I am content to implore

+in such a case, not on personal grounds, but for the sake of others.  I

+am not at liberty to give you the whole of my reasons, but you may, I

+assure you, take it from me that they are good ones, sound and

+unselfish, and spring from the highest sense of duty.

+

+"Could you look, sir, into my heart, you would approve to the full the

+sentiments which animate me.  Nay, more, you would count me amongst

+the best and truest of your friends."

+

+Again he looked at us all keenly.  I had a growing conviction that

+this sudden change of his entire intellectual method was but yet

+another phase of his madness, and so determined to let him go on a

+little longer, knowing from experience that he would, like all

+lunatics, give himself away in the end.  Van Helsing was gazing at him

+with a look of utmost intensity, his bushy eyebrows almost meeting

+with the fixed concentration of his look.  He said to Renfield in a

+tone which did not surprise me at the time, but only when I thought of

+it afterwards, for it was as of one addressing an equal, "Can you not

+tell frankly your real reason for wishing to be free tonight?  I will

+undertake that if you will satisfy even me, a stranger, without

+prejudice, and with the habit of keeping an open mind, Dr. Seward will

+give you, at his own risk and on his own responsibility, the privilege

+you seek."

+

+He shook his head sadly, and with a look of poignant regret on his

+face.  The Professor went on, "Come, sir, bethink yourself.  You claim

+the privilege of reason in the highest degree, since you seek to

+impress us with your complete reasonableness.  You do this, whose

+sanity we have reason to doubt, since you are not yet released from

+medical treatment for this very defect.  If you will not help us in

+our effort to choose the wisest course, how can we perform the duty

+which you yourself put upon us?  Be wise, and help us, and if we can

+we shall aid you to achieve your wish."

+

+He still shook his head as he said, "Dr. Van Helsing, I have nothing to

+say.  Your argument is complete, and if I were free to speak I should

+not hesitate a moment, but I am not my own master in the matter.  I

+can only ask you to trust me.  If I am refused, the responsibility

+does not rest with me."

+

+I thought it was now time to end the scene, which was becoming too

+comically grave, so I went towards the door, simply saying, "Come, my

+friends, we have work to do.  Goodnight."

+

+As, however, I got near the door, a new change came over the patient.

+He moved towards me so quickly that for the moment I feared that he

+was about to make another homicidal attack.  My fears, however, were

+groundless, for he held up his two hands imploringly, and made his

+petition in a moving manner.  As he saw that the very excess of his

+emotion was militating against him, by restoring us more to our old

+relations, he became still more demonstrative.  I glanced at Van

+Helsing, and saw my conviction reflected in his eyes, so I became a

+little more fixed in my manner, if not more stern, and motioned to him

+that his efforts were unavailing.  I had previously seen something of

+the same constantly growing excitement in him when he had to make some

+request of which at the time he had thought much, such for instance,

+as when he wanted a cat, and I was prepared to see the collapse into

+the same sullen acquiescence on this occasion.

+

+My expectation was not realized, for when he found that his appeal

+would not be successful, he got into quite a frantic condition.  He

+threw himself on his knees, and held up his hands, wringing them in

+plaintive supplication, and poured forth a torrent of entreaty, with

+the tears rolling down his cheeks, and his whole face and form

+expressive of the deepest emotion.

+

+"Let me entreat you, Dr. Seward, oh, let me implore you, to let me out

+of this house at once.  Send me away how you will and where you will,

+send keepers with me with whips and chains, let them take me in a

+strait waistcoat, manacled and leg-ironed, even to gaol, but let me go

+out of this.  You don't know what you do by keeping me here.  I am

+speaking from the depths of my heart, of my very soul.  You don't know

+whom you wrong, or how, and I may not tell.  Woe is me!  I may not

+tell.  By all you hold sacred, by all you hold dear, by your love that

+is lost, by your hope that lives, for the sake of the Almighty, take

+me out of this and save my soul from guilt!  Can't you hear me, man?

+Can't you understand?  Will you never learn?  Don't you know that I am

+sane and earnest now, that I am no lunatic in a mad fit, but a sane

+man fighting for his soul?  Oh, hear me!  Hear me!  Let me go, let me

+go, let me go!"

+

+I thought that the longer this went on the wilder he would get, and so

+would bring on a fit, so I took him by the hand and raised him up.

+

+"Come," I said sternly, "no more of this, we have had quite enough

+already.  Get to your bed and try to behave more discreetly."

+

+He suddenly stopped and looked at me intently for several moments.

+Then, without a word, he rose and moving over, sat down on the side of

+the bed.  The collapse had come, as on former occasions, just as I had

+expected.

+

+When I was leaving the room, last of our party, he said to me in a

+quiet, well-bred voice, "You will, I trust, Dr. Seward, do me the

+justice to bear in mind, later on, that I did what I could to convince

+you tonight."

+

+

+

+

+CHAPTER 19

+

+

+JONATHAN HARKER'S JOURNAL

+

+1 October, 5 A.M.--I went with the party to the search with an easy

+mind, for I think I never saw Mina so absolutely strong and well.  I

+am so glad that she consented to hold back and let us men do the work.

+Somehow, it was a dread to me that she was in this fearful business at

+all, but now that her work is done, and that it is due to her energy

+and brains and foresight that the whole story is put together in such

+a way that every point tells, she may well feel that her part is

+finished, and that she can henceforth leave the rest to us.  We were,

+I think, all a little upset by the scene with Mr. Renfield.  When we

+came away from his room we were silent till we got back to the study.

+

+Then Mr. Morris said to Dr. Seward, "Say, Jack, if that man wasn't

+attempting a bluff, he is about the sanest lunatic I ever saw.  I'm

+not sure, but I believe that he had some serious purpose, and if he

+had, it was pretty rough on him not to get a chance."

+

+Lord Godalming and I were silent, but Dr. Van Helsing added, "Friend

+John, you know more lunatics than I do, and I'm glad of it, for I fear

+that if it had been to me to decide I would before that last

+hysterical outburst have given him free.  But we live and learn, and

+in our present task we must take no chance, as my friend Quincey would

+say.  All is best as they are."

+

+Dr. Seward seemed to answer them both in a dreamy kind of way, "I

+don't know but that I agree with you.  If that man had been an

+ordinary lunatic I would have taken my chance of trusting him, but he

+seems so mixed up with the Count in an indexy kind of way that I am

+afraid of doing anything wrong by helping his fads.  I can't forget

+how he prayed with almost equal fervor for a cat, and then tried to

+tear my throat out with his teeth.  Besides, he called the Count 'lord

+and master', and he may want to get out to help him in some diabolical

+way.  That horrid thing has the wolves and the rats and his own kind

+to help him, so I suppose he isn't above trying to use a respectable

+lunatic.  He certainly did seem earnest, though.  I only hope we have

+done what is best.  These things, in conjunction with the wild work we

+have in hand, help to unnerve a man."

+

+The Professor stepped over, and laying his hand on his shoulder, said

+in his grave, kindly way, "Friend John, have no fear.  We are trying

+to do our duty in a very sad and terrible case, we can only do as we

+deem best.  What else have we to hope for, except the pity of the good

+God?"

+

+Lord Godalming had slipped away for a few minutes, but now he

+returned.  He held up a little silver whistle as he remarked, "That

+old place may be full of rats, and if so, I've got an antidote on

+call."

+

+Having passed the wall, we took our way to the house, taking care to

+keep in the shadows of the trees on the lawn when the moonlight shone

+out.  When we got to the porch the Professor opened his bag and took

+out a lot of things, which he laid on the step, sorting them into four

+little groups, evidently one for each.  Then he spoke.

+

+"My friends, we are going into a terrible danger, and we need arms of

+many kinds.  Our enemy is not merely spiritual.  Remember that he has

+the strength of twenty men, and that, though our necks or our

+windpipes are of the common kind, and therefore breakable or

+crushable, his are not amenable to mere strength.  A stronger man, or

+a body of men more strong in all than him, can at certain times hold

+him, but they cannot hurt him as we can be hurt by him.  We must,

+therefore, guard ourselves from his touch.  Keep this near your

+heart."  As he spoke he lifted a little silver crucifix and held it

+out to me, I being nearest to him, "put these flowers round your

+neck," here he handed to me a wreath of withered garlic blossoms, "for

+other enemies more mundane, this revolver and this knife, and for aid

+in all, these so small electric lamps, which you can fasten to your

+breast, and for all, and above all at the last, this, which we must

+not desecrate needless."

+

+This was a portion of Sacred Wafer, which he put in an envelope and

+handed to me.  Each of the others was similarly equipped.

+

+"Now," he said, "friend John, where are the skeleton keys?  If so that

+we can open the door, we need not break house by the window, as before

+at Miss Lucy's."

+

+Dr. Seward tried one or two skeleton keys, his mechanical dexterity as

+a surgeon standing him in good stead.  Presently he got one to suit,

+after a little play back and forward the bolt yielded, and with a

+rusty clang, shot back.  We pressed on the door, the rusty hinges

+creaked, and it slowly opened.  It was startlingly like the image

+conveyed to me in Dr. Seward's diary of the opening of Miss Westenra's

+tomb, I fancy that the same idea seemed to strike the others, for with

+one accord they shrank back.  The Professor was the first to move

+forward, and stepped into the open door.

+

+"In manus tuas, Domine!" he said, crossing himself as he passed over

+the threshold.  We closed the door behind us, lest when we should have

+lit our lamps we should possibly attract attention from the road.  The

+Professor carefully tried the lock, lest we might not be able to open

+it from within should we be in a hurry making our exit.  Then we all

+lit our lamps and proceeded on our search.

+

+The light from the tiny lamps fell in all sorts of odd forms, as the

+rays crossed each other, or the opacity of our bodies threw great

+shadows.  I could not for my life get away from the feeling that there

+was someone else amongst us.  I suppose it was the recollection, so

+powerfully brought home to me by the grim surroundings, of that

+terrible experience in Transylvania.  I think the feeling was common

+to us all, for I noticed that the others kept looking over their

+shoulders at every sound and every new shadow, just as I felt myself

+doing.

+

+The whole place was thick with dust.  The floor was seemingly inches

+deep, except where there were recent footsteps, in which on holding

+down my lamp I could see marks of hobnails where the dust was cracked.

+The walls were fluffy and heavy with dust, and in the corners were

+masses of spider's webs, whereon the dust had gathered till they

+looked like old tattered rags as the weight had torn them partly down.

+On a table in the hall was a great bunch of keys, with a time-yellowed

+label on each.  They had been used several times, for on the table

+were several similar rents in the blanket of dust, similar to that

+exposed when the Professor lifted them.

+

+He turned to me and said, "You know this place, Jonathan.  You have

+copied maps of it, and you know it at least more than we do.  Which is

+the way to the chapel?"

+

+I had an idea of its direction, though on my former visit I had not

+been able to get admission to it, so I led the way, and after a few

+wrong turnings found myself opposite a low, arched oaken door, ribbed

+with iron bands.

+

+"This is the spot," said the Professor as he turned his lamp on a

+small map of the house, copied from the file of my original

+correspondence regarding the purchase.  With a little trouble we found

+the key on the bunch and opened the door.  We were prepared for some

+unpleasantness, for as we were opening the door a faint, malodorous

+air seemed to exhale through the gaps, but none of us ever expected

+such an odour as we encountered.  None of the others had met the Count

+at all at close quarters, and when I had seen him he was either in the

+fasting stage of his existence in his rooms or, when he was bloated

+with fresh blood, in a ruined building open to the air, but here the

+place was small and close, and the long disuse had made the air

+stagnant and foul.  There was an earthy smell, as of some dry miasma,

+which came through the fouler air.  But as to the odour itself, how

+shall I describe it?  It was not alone that it was composed of all the

+ills of mortality and with the pungent, acrid smell of blood, but it

+seemed as though corruption had become itself corrupt.  Faugh!  It

+sickens me to think of it.  Every breath exhaled by that monster

+seemed to have clung to the place and intensified its loathsomeness.

+

+Under ordinary circumstances such a stench would have brought our

+enterprise to an end, but this was no ordinary case, and the high and

+terrible purpose in which we were involved gave us a strength which

+rose above merely physical considerations.  After the involuntary

+shrinking consequent on the first nauseous whiff, we one and all set

+about our work as though that loathsome place were a garden of roses.

+

+We made an accurate examination of the place, the Professor saying as

+we began, "The first thing is to see how many of the boxes are left,

+we must then examine every hole and corner and cranny and see if we

+cannot get some clue as to what has become of the rest."

+

+A glance was sufficient to show how many remained, for the great earth

+chests were bulky, and there was no mistaking them.

+

+There were only twenty-nine left out of the fifty!  Once I got a

+fright, for, seeing Lord Godalming suddenly turn and look out of the

+vaulted door into the dark passage beyond, I looked too, and for an

+instant my heart stood still.  Somewhere, looking out from the shadow,

+I seemed to see the high lights of the Count's evil face, the ridge of

+the nose, the red eyes, the red lips, the awful pallor.  It was only

+for a moment, for, as Lord Godalming said, "I thought I saw a face,

+but it was only the shadows," and resumed his inquiry, I turned my

+lamp in the direction, and stepped into the passage.  There was no

+sign of anyone, and as there were no corners, no doors, no aperture of

+any kind, but only the solid walls of the passage, there could be no

+hiding place even for him.  I took it that fear had helped

+imagination, and said nothing.

+

+A few minutes later I saw Morris step suddenly back from a corner,

+which he was examining.  We all followed his movements with our eyes,

+for undoubtedly some nervousness was growing on us, and we saw a whole

+mass of phosphorescence, which twinkled like stars.  We all

+instinctively drew back.  The whole place was becoming alive with

+rats.

+

+For a moment or two we stood appalled, all save Lord Godalming, who

+was seemingly prepared for such an emergency.  Rushing over to the

+great iron-bound oaken door, which Dr. Seward had described from the

+outside, and which I had seen myself, he turned the key in the lock,

+drew the huge bolts, and swung the door open.  Then, taking his little

+silver whistle from his pocket, he blew a low, shrill call.  It was

+answered from behind Dr. Seward's house by the yelping of dogs, and

+after about a minute three terriers came dashing round the corner of

+the house.  Unconsciously we had all moved towards the door, and as we

+moved I noticed that the dust had been much disturbed.  The boxes

+which had been taken out had been brought this way.  But even in the

+minute that had elapsed the number of the rats had vastly increased.

+They seemed to swarm over the place all at once, till the lamplight,

+shining on their moving dark bodies and glittering, baleful eyes, made

+the place look like a bank of earth set with fireflies.  The dogs

+dashed on, but at the threshold suddenly stopped and snarled, and

+then, simultaneously lifting their noses, began to howl in most

+lugubrious fashion.  The rats were multiplying in thousands, and we

+moved out.

+

+Lord Godalming lifted one of the dogs, and carrying him in, placed him

+on the floor.  The instant his feet touched the ground he seemed to

+recover his courage, and rushed at his natural enemies.  They fled

+before him so fast that before he had shaken the life out of a score,

+the other dogs, who had by now been lifted in the same manner, had but

+small prey ere the whole mass had vanished.

+

+With their going it seemed as if some evil presence had departed, for

+the dogs frisked about and barked merrily as they made sudden darts at

+their prostrate foes, and turned them over and over and tossed them in

+the air with vicious shakes.  We all seemed to find our spirits rise.

+Whether it was the purifying of the deadly atmosphere by the opening

+of the chapel door, or the relief which we experienced by finding

+ourselves in the open I know not, but most certainly the shadow of

+dread seemed to slip from us like a robe, and the occasion of our

+coming lost something of its grim significance, though we did not

+slacken a whit in our resolution.  We closed the outer door and barred

+and locked it, and bringing the dogs with us, began our search of the

+house.  We found nothing throughout except dust in extraordinary

+proportions, and all untouched save for my own footsteps when I had

+made my first visit.  Never once did the dogs exhibit any symptom of

+uneasiness, and even when we returned to the chapel they frisked about

+as though they had been rabbit hunting in a summer wood.

+

+The morning was quickening in the east when we emerged from the front.

+Dr. Van Helsing had taken the key of the hall door from the bunch, and

+locked the door in orthodox fashion, putting the key into his pocket

+when he had done.

+

+"So far," he said, "our night has been eminently successful.  No harm

+has come to us such as I feared might be and yet we have ascertained

+how many boxes are missing.  More than all do I rejoice that this, our

+first, and perhaps our most difficult and dangerous, step has been

+accomplished without the bringing thereinto our most sweet Madam Mina

+or troubling her waking or sleeping thoughts with sights and sounds

+and smells of horror which she might never forget.  One lesson, too,

+we have learned, if it be allowable to argue a particulari, that the

+brute beasts which are to the Count's command are yet themselves not

+amenable to his spiritual power, for look, these rats that would come

+to his call, just as from his castle top he summon the wolves to your

+going and to that poor mother's cry, though they come to him, they run

+pell-mell from the so little dogs of my friend Arthur.  We have other

+matters before us, other dangers, other fears, and that monster . . .

+He has not used his power over the brute world for the only or the

+last time tonight.  So be it that he has gone elsewhere.  Good!  It

+has given us opportunity to cry 'check' in some ways in this chess

+game, which we play for the stake of human souls.  And now let us go

+home.  The dawn is close at hand, and we have reason to be content

+with our first night's work.  It may be ordained that we have many

+nights and days to follow, if full of peril, but we must go on, and

+from no danger shall we shrink."

+

+The house was silent when we got back, save for some poor creature who

+was screaming away in one of the distant wards, and a low, moaning

+sound from Renfield's room.  The poor wretch was doubtless torturing

+himself, after the manner of the insane, with needless thoughts of

+pain.

+

+I came tiptoe into our own room, and found Mina asleep, breathing so

+softly that I had to put my ear down to hear it.  She looks paler than

+usual.  I hope the meeting tonight has not upset her.  I am truly

+thankful that she is to be left out of our future work, and even of

+our deliberations.  It is too great a strain for a woman to bear.  I

+did not think so at first, but I know better now.  Therefore I am glad

+that it is settled.  There may be things which would frighten her to

+hear, and yet to conceal them from her might be worse than to tell her

+if once she suspected that there was any concealment.  Henceforth our

+work is to be a sealed book to her, till at least such time as we can

+tell her that all is finished, and the earth free from a monster of

+the nether world.  I daresay it will be difficult to begin to keep

+silence after such confidence as ours, but I must be resolute, and

+tomorrow I shall keep dark over tonight's doings, and shall refuse to

+speak of anything that has happened.  I rest on the sofa, so as not to

+disturb her.

+

+

+1 October, later.--I suppose it was natural that we should have all

+overslept ourselves, for the day was a busy one, and the night had no

+rest at all.  Even Mina must have felt its exhaustion, for though I

+slept till the sun was high, I was awake before her, and had to call

+two or three times before she awoke.  Indeed, she was so sound asleep

+that for a few seconds she did not recognize me, but looked at me with

+a sort of blank terror, as one looks who has been waked out of a bad

+dream.  She complained a little of being tired, and I let her rest

+till later in the day.  We now know of twenty-one boxes having been

+removed, and if it be that several were taken in any of these removals

+we may be able to trace them all.  Such will, of course, immensely

+simplify our labor, and the sooner the matter is attended to the

+better.  I shall look up Thomas Snelling today.

+

+

+

+DR. SEWARD'S DIARY

+

+1 October.--It was towards noon when I was awakened by the Professor

+walking into my room.  He was more jolly and cheerful than usual, and

+it is quite evident that last night's work has helped to take some of

+the brooding weight off his mind.

+

+After going over the adventure of the night he suddenly said, "Your

+patient interests me much.  May it be that with you I visit him this

+morning?  Or if that you are too occupy, I can go alone if it may be.

+It is a new experience to me to find a lunatic who talk philosophy,

+and reason so sound."

+

+I had some work to do which pressed, so I told him that if he would go

+alone I would be glad, as then I should not have to keep him waiting,

+so I called an attendant and gave him the necessary instructions.

+Before the Professor left the room I cautioned him against getting any

+false impression from my patient.

+

+"But," he answered, "I want him to talk of himself and of his delusion

+as to consuming live things.  He said to Madam Mina, as I see in your

+diary of yesterday, that he had once had such a belief.  Why do you

+smile, friend John?"

+

+"Excuse me," I said, "but the answer is here."  I laid my hand on the

+typewritten matter.  "When our sane and learned lunatic made that very

+statement of how he used to consume life, his mouth was actually

+nauseous with the flies and spiders which he had eaten just before

+Mrs. Harker entered the room."

+

+Van Helsing smiled in turn.  "Good!" he said.  "Your memory is true,

+friend John.  I should have remembered.  And yet it is this very

+obliquity of thought and memory which makes mental disease such a

+fascinating study.  Perhaps I may gain more knowledge out of the folly

+of this madman than I shall from the teaching of the most wise.  Who

+knows?"

+

+I went on with my work, and before long was through that in hand.  It

+seemed that the time had been very short indeed, but there was Van

+Helsing back in the study.

+

+"Do I interrupt?" he asked politely as he stood at the door.

+

+"Not at all," I answered.  "Come in.  My work is finished, and I am

+free.  I can go with you now, if you like."

+

+"It is needless, I have seen him!"

+

+"Well?"

+

+"I fear that he does not appraise me at much.  Our interview was

+short.  When I entered his room he was sitting on a stool in the

+centre, with his elbows on his knees, and his face was the picture of

+sullen discontent.  I spoke to him as cheerfully as I could, and with

+such a measure of respect as I could assume.  He made no reply

+whatever.  'Don't you know me?' I asked.  His answer was not

+reassuring: 'I know you well enough; you are the old fool Van

+Helsing.  I wish you would take yourself and your idiotic brain

+theories somewhere else.  Damn all thick-headed Dutchmen!'  Not a word

+more would he say, but sat in his implacable sullenness as indifferent

+to me as though I had not been in the room at all.  Thus departed for

+this time my chance of much learning from this so clever lunatic, so I

+shall go, if I may, and cheer myself with a few happy words with that

+sweet soul Madam Mina.  Friend John, it does rejoice me unspeakable

+that she is no more to be pained, no more to be worried with our

+terrible things.  Though we shall much miss her help, it is better

+so."

+

+"I agree with you with all my heart," I answered earnestly, for I did

+not want him to weaken in this matter.  "Mrs. Harker is better out of

+it.  Things are quite bad enough for us, all men of the world, and who

+have been in many tight places in our time, but it is no place for a

+woman, and if she had remained in touch with the affair, it would in

+time infallibly have wrecked her."

+

+So Van Helsing has gone to confer with Mrs. Harker and Harker, Quincey

+and Art are all out following up the clues as to the earth boxes.  I

+shall finish my round of work and we shall meet tonight.

+

+

+

+

+

+MINA HARKER'S JOURNAL

+

+1 October.--It is strange to me to be kept in the dark as I am today,

+after Jonathan's full confidence for so many years, to see him

+manifestly avoid certain matters, and those the most vital of all.

+This morning I slept late after the fatigues of yesterday, and though

+Jonathan was late too, he was the earlier.  He spoke to me before he

+went out, never more sweetly or tenderly, but he never mentioned a

+word of what had happened in the visit to the Count's house.  And yet

+he must have known how terribly anxious I was.  Poor dear fellow!  I

+suppose it must have distressed him even more than it did me.  They

+all agreed that it was best that I should not be drawn further into

+this awful work, and I acquiesced.  But to think that he keeps

+anything from me!  And now I am crying like a silly fool, when I know

+it comes from my husband's great love and from the good, good wishes

+of those other strong men.

+

+That has done me good.  Well, some day Jonathan will tell me all.  And

+lest it should ever be that he should think for a moment that I kept

+anything from him, I still keep my journal as usual.  Then if he has

+feared of my trust I shall show it to him, with every thought of my

+heart put down for his dear eyes to read.  I feel strangely sad and

+low-spirited today.  I suppose it is the reaction from the terrible

+excitement.

+

+Last night I went to bed when the men had gone, simply because they

+told me to.  I didn't feel sleepy, and I did feel full of devouring

+anxiety.  I kept thinking over everything that has been ever since

+Jonathan came to see me in London, and it all seems like a horrible

+tragedy, with fate pressing on relentlessly to some destined end.

+Everything that one does seems, no matter how right it may be, to bring

+on the very thing which is most to be deplored.  If I hadn't gone to

+Whitby, perhaps poor dear Lucy would be with us now.  She hadn't taken

+to visiting the churchyard till I came, and if she hadn't come there

+in the day time with me she wouldn't have walked in her sleep.  And if

+she hadn't gone there at night and asleep, that monster couldn't have

+destroyed her as he did.  Oh, why did I ever go to Whitby?  There now,

+crying again!  I wonder what has come over me today.  I must hide it

+from Jonathan, for if he knew that I had been crying twice in one

+morning . . . I, who never cried on my own account, and whom he has

+never caused to shed a tear, the dear fellow would fret his heart out.

+I shall put a bold face on, and if I do feel weepy, he shall never see

+it.  I suppose it is just one of the lessons that we poor women have

+to learn . . .

+

+I can't quite remember how I fell asleep last night.  I remember

+hearing the sudden barking of the dogs and a lot of queer sounds, like

+praying on a very tumultuous scale, from Mr. Renfield's room, which is

+somewhere under this.  And then there was silence over everything,

+silence so profound that it startled me, and I got up and looked out

+of the window.  All was dark and silent, the black shadows thrown by

+the moonlight seeming full of a silent mystery of their own.  Not a

+thing seemed to be stirring, but all to be grim and fixed as death or

+fate, so that a thin streak of white mist, that crept with almost

+imperceptible slowness across the grass towards the house, seemed to

+have a sentience and a vitality of its own.  I think that the

+digression of my thoughts must have done me good, for when I got back

+to bed I found a lethargy creeping over me.  I lay a while, but could

+not quite sleep, so I got out and looked out of the window again.  The

+mist was spreading, and was now close up to the house, so that I could

+see it lying thick against the wall, as though it were stealing up to

+the windows.  The poor man was more loud than ever, and though I could

+not distinguish a word he said, I could in some way recognize in his

+tones some passionate entreaty on his part.  Then there was the sound

+of a struggle, and I knew that the attendants were dealing with him.

+I was so frightened that I crept into bed, and pulled the clothes over

+my head, putting my fingers in my ears.  I was not then a bit sleepy,

+at least so I thought, but I must have fallen asleep, for except

+dreams, I do not remember anything until the morning, when Jonathan

+woke me.  I think that it took me an effort and a little time to

+realize where I was, and that it was Jonathan who was bending over me.

+My dream was very peculiar, and was almost typical of the way that

+waking thoughts become merged in, or continued in, dreams.

+

+I thought that I was asleep, and waiting for Jonathan to come back.  I

+was very anxious about him, and I was powerless to act, my feet, and

+my hands, and my brain were weighted, so that nothing could proceed at

+the usual pace.  And so I slept uneasily and thought.  Then it began

+to dawn upon me that the air was heavy, and dank, and cold.  I put

+back the clothes from my face, and found, to my surprise, that all was

+dim around.  The gaslight which I had left lit for Jonathan, but

+turned down, came only like a tiny red spark through the fog, which

+had evidently grown thicker and poured into the room.  Then it

+occurred to me that I had shut the window before I had come to bed.  I

+would have got out to make certain on the point, but some leaden

+lethargy seemed to chain my limbs and even my will.  I lay still and

+endured, that was all.  I closed my eyes, but could still see through

+my eyelids.  (It is wonderful what tricks our dreams play us, and how

+conveniently we can imagine.)  The mist grew thicker and thicker and I

+could see now how it came in, for I could see it like smoke, or with

+the white energy of boiling water, pouring in, not through the window,

+but through the joinings of the door.  It got thicker and thicker,

+till it seemed as if it became concentrated into a sort of pillar of

+cloud in the room, through the top of which I could see the light of

+the gas shining like a red eye.  Things began to whirl through my

+brain just as the cloudy column was now whirling in the room, and

+through it all came the scriptural words "a pillar of cloud by day and

+of fire by night."  Was it indeed such spiritual guidance that was

+coming to me in my sleep?  But the pillar was composed of both the day

+and the night guiding, for the fire was in the red eye, which at the

+thought got a new fascination for me, till, as I looked, the fire

+divided, and seemed to shine on me through the fog like two red eyes,

+such as Lucy told me of in her momentary mental wandering when, on the

+cliff, the dying sunlight struck the windows of St. Mary's Church.

+Suddenly the horror burst upon me that it was thus that Jonathan had

+seen those awful women growing into reality through the whirling mist

+in the moonlight, and in my dream I must have fainted, for all became

+black darkness.  The last conscious effort which imagination made was

+to show me a livid white face bending over me out of the mist.

+

+I must be careful of such dreams, for they would unseat one's reason if

+there were too much of them.  I would get Dr. Van Helsing or Dr.

+Seward to prescribe something for me which would make me sleep, only

+that I fear to alarm them.  Such a dream at the present time would

+become woven into their fears for me.  Tonight I shall strive hard to

+sleep naturally.  If I do not, I shall tomorrow night get them to give

+me a dose of chloral, that cannot hurt me for once, and it will give

+me a good night's sleep.  Last night tired me more than if I had not

+slept at all.

+

+

+2 October 10 P.M.--Last night I slept, but did not dream.  I must have

+slept soundly, for I was not waked by Jonathan coming to bed, but the

+sleep has not refreshed me, for today I feel terribly weak and

+spiritless.  I spent all yesterday trying to read, or lying down

+dozing.  In the afternoon, Mr. Renfield asked if he might see me.  Poor

+man, he was very gentle, and when I came away he kissed my hand and

+bade God bless me.  Some way it affected me much.  I am crying when I

+think of him.  This is a new weakness, of which I must be careful.

+Jonathan would be miserable if he knew I had been crying.  He and the

+others were out till dinner time, and they all came in tired.  I did

+what I could to brighten them up, and I suppose that the effort did me

+good, for I forgot how tired I was.  After dinner they sent me to bed,

+and all went off to smoke together, as they said, but I knew that they

+wanted to tell each other of what had occurred to each during the day.

+I could see from Jonathan's manner that he had something important to

+communicate.  I was not so sleepy as I should have been, so before

+they went I asked Dr. Seward to give me a little opiate of some kind,

+as I had not slept well the night before.  He very kindly made me up a

+sleeping draught, which he gave to me, telling me that it would do me

+no harm, as it was very mild . . . I have taken it, and am waiting for

+sleep, which still keeps aloof.  I hope I have not done wrong, for as

+sleep begins to flirt with me, a new fear comes: that I may have been

+foolish in thus depriving myself of the power of waking.  I might want

+it.  Here comes sleep.  Goodnight.

+

+

+

+

+CHAPTER 20

+

+

+JONATHAN HARKER'S JOURNAL

+

+1 October, evening.--I found Thomas Snelling in his house at Bethnal

+Green, but unhappily he was not in a condition to remember anything.

+The very prospect of beer which my expected coming had opened to him

+had proved too much, and he had begun too early on his expected

+debauch.  I learned, however, from his wife, who seemed a decent, poor

+soul, that he was only the assistant of Smollet, who of the two mates

+was the responsible person.  So off I drove to Walworth, and found Mr.

+Joseph Smollet at home and in his shirtsleeves, taking a late tea out

+of a saucer.  He is a decent, intelligent fellow, distinctly a good,

+reliable type of workman, and with a headpiece of his own.  He

+remembered all about the incident of the boxes, and from a wonderful

+dog-eared notebook, which he produced from some mysterious receptacle

+about the seat of his trousers, and which had hieroglyphical entries

+in thick, half-obliterated pencil, he gave me the destinations of the

+boxes.  There were, he said, six in the cartload which he took from

+Carfax and left at 197 Chicksand Street, Mile End New Town, and

+another six which he deposited at Jamaica Lane, Bermondsey.  If then

+the Count meant to scatter these ghastly refuges of his over London,

+these places were chosen as the first of delivery, so that later he

+might distribute more fully.  The systematic manner in which this was

+done made me think that he could not mean to confine himself to two

+sides of London.  He was now fixed on the far east on the northern

+shore, on the east of the southern shore, and on the south.  The north

+and west were surely never meant to be left out of his diabolical

+scheme, let alone the City itself and the very heart of fashionable

+London in the south-west and west.  I went back to Smollet, and asked

+him if he could tell us if any other boxes had been taken from Carfax.

+

+He replied, "Well guv'nor, you've treated me very 'an'some", I had

+given him half a sovereign, "an I'll tell yer all I know.  I heard a

+man by the name of Bloxam say four nights ago in the 'Are an' 'Ounds,

+in Pincher's Alley, as 'ow he an' his mate 'ad 'ad a rare dusty job in

+a old 'ouse at Purfleet.  There ain't a many such jobs as this 'ere,

+an' I'm thinkin' that maybe Sam Bloxam could tell ye summut."

+

+I asked if he could tell me where to find him.  I told him that if he

+could get me the address it would be worth another half sovereign to

+him.  So he gulped down the rest of his tea and stood up, saying that

+he was going to begin the search then and there.

+

+At the door he stopped, and said, "Look 'ere, guv'nor, there ain't no

+sense in me a keepin' you 'ere.  I may find Sam soon, or I mayn't, but

+anyhow he ain't like to be in a way to tell ye much tonight.  Sam is a

+rare one when he starts on the booze.  If you can give me a envelope

+with a stamp on it, and put yer address on it, I'll find out where Sam

+is to be found and post it ye tonight.  But ye'd better be up arter

+'im soon in the mornin', never mind the booze the night afore."

+

+This was all practical, so one of the children went off with a penny

+to buy an envelope and a sheet of paper, and to keep the change.  When

+she came back, I addressed the envelope and stamped it, and when

+Smollet had again faithfully promised to post the address when found,

+I took my way to home.  We're on the track anyhow.  I am tired

+tonight, and I want to sleep.  Mina is fast asleep, and looks a little

+too pale.  Her eyes look as though she had been crying.  Poor dear,

+I've no doubt it frets her to be kept in the dark, and it may make her

+doubly anxious about me and the others.  But it is best as it is.  It

+is better to be disappointed and worried in such a way now than to

+have her nerve broken.  The doctors were quite right to insist on her

+being kept out of this dreadful business.  I must be firm, for on me

+this particular burden of silence must rest.  I shall not ever enter

+on the subject with her under any circumstances.  Indeed, It may not

+be a hard task, after all, for she herself has become reticent on the

+subject, and has not spoken of the Count or his doings ever since we

+told her of our decision.

+

+

+2 October, evening--A long and trying and exciting day.  By the first

+post I got my directed envelope with a dirty scrap of paper enclosed,

+on which was written with a carpenter's pencil in a sprawling hand,

+"Sam Bloxam, Korkrans, 4 Poters Cort, Bartel Street, Walworth.  Arsk

+for the depite."

+

+I got the letter in bed, and rose without waking Mina.  She looked

+heavy and sleepy and pale, and far from well.  I determined not to

+wake her, but that when I should return from this new search, I would

+arrange for her going back to Exeter.  I think she would be happier in

+our own home, with her daily tasks to interest her, than in being here

+amongst us and in ignorance.  I only saw Dr. Seward for a moment, and

+told him where I was off to, promising to come back and tell the rest

+so soon as I should have found out anything.  I drove to Walworth and

+found, with some difficulty, Potter's Court.  Mr. Smollet's spelling

+misled me, as I asked for Poter's Court instead of Potter's Court.

+However, when I had found the court, I had no difficulty in

+discovering Corcoran's lodging house.

+

+When I asked the man who came to the door for the "depite," he shook

+his head, and said, "I dunno 'im.  There ain't no such a person 'ere.

+I never 'eard of 'im in all my bloomin' days.  Don't believe there

+ain't nobody of that kind livin' 'ere or anywheres."

+

+I took out Smollet's letter, and as I read it it seemed to me that the

+lesson of the spelling of the name of the court might guide me.  "What

+are you?" I asked.

+

+"I'm the depity," he answered.

+

+I saw at once that I was on the right track.  Phonetic spelling had

+again misled me.  A half crown tip put the deputy's knowledge at my

+disposal, and I learned that Mr. Bloxam, who had slept off the remains

+of his beer on the previous night at Corcoran's, had left for his work

+at Poplar at five o'clock that morning.  He could not tell me where

+the place of work was situated, but he had a vague idea that it was

+some kind of a "new-fangled ware'us," and with this slender clue I had

+to start for Poplar.  It was twelve o'clock before I got any

+satisfactory hint of such a building, and this I got at a coffee shop,

+where some workmen were having their dinner.  One of them suggested

+that there was being erected at Cross Angel Street a new "cold

+storage" building, and as this suited the condition of a "new-fangled

+ware'us," I at once drove to it.  An interview with a surly gatekeeper

+and a surlier foreman, both of whom were appeased with the coin of the

+realm, put me on the track of Bloxam.  He was sent for on my

+suggestion that I was willing to pay his days wages to his foreman for

+the privilege of asking him a few questions on a private matter.  He

+was a smart enough fellow, though rough of speech and bearing.  When I

+had promised to pay for his information and given him an earnest, he

+told me that he had made two journeys between Carfax and a house in

+Piccadilly, and had taken from this house to the latter nine great

+boxes, "main heavy ones," with a horse and cart hired by him for this

+purpose.

+

+I asked him if he could tell me the number of the house in Piccadilly,

+to which he replied, "Well, guv'nor, I forgits the number, but it was

+only a few door from a big white church, or somethink of the kind, not

+long built.  It was a dusty old 'ouse, too, though nothin' to the

+dustiness of the 'ouse we tooked the bloomin' boxes from."

+

+"How did you get in if both houses were empty?"

+

+"There was the old party what engaged me a waitin' in the 'ouse at

+Purfleet.  He 'elped me to lift the boxes and put them in the dray.

+Curse me, but he was the strongest chap I ever struck, an' him a old

+feller, with a white moustache, one that thin you would think he

+couldn't throw a shadder."

+

+How this phrase thrilled through me!

+

+"Why, 'e took up 'is end o' the boxes like they was pounds of tea, and

+me a puffin' an' a blowin' afore I could upend mine anyhow, an' I'm no

+chicken, neither."

+

+"How did you get into the house in Piccadilly?" I asked.

+

+"He was there too.  He must 'a started off and got there afore me, for

+when I rung of the bell he kem an' opened the door 'isself an' 'elped

+me carry the boxes into the 'all."

+

+"The whole nine?" I asked.

+

+"Yus, there was five in the first load an' four in the second.  It was

+main dry work, an' I don't so well remember 'ow I got 'ome."

+

+I interrupted him, "Were the boxes left in the hall?"

+

+"Yus, it was a big 'all, an' there was nothin' else in it."

+

+I made one more attempt to further matters.  "You didn't have any

+key?"

+

+"Never used no key nor nothink.  The old gent, he opened the door

+'isself an' shut it again when I druv off.  I don't remember the last

+time, but that was the beer."

+

+"And you can't remember the number of the house?"

+

+"No, sir.  But ye needn't have no difficulty about that.  It's a 'igh

+'un with a stone front with a bow on it, an' 'igh steps up to the

+door.  I know them steps, 'avin' 'ad to carry the boxes up with three

+loafers what come round to earn a copper.  The old gent give them

+shillin's, an' they seein' they got so much, they wanted more.  But 'e

+took one of them by the shoulder and was like to throw 'im down the

+steps, till the lot of them went away cussin'."

+

+I thought that with this description I could find the house, so having

+paid my friend for his information, I started off for Piccadilly.  I

+had gained a new painful experience.  The Count could, it was evident,

+handle the earth boxes himself.  If so, time was precious, for now

+that he had achieved a certain amount of distribution, he could, by

+choosing his own time, complete the task unobserved.  At Piccadilly

+Circus I discharged my cab, and walked westward.  Beyond the Junior

+Constitutional I came across the house described and was satisfied

+that this was the next of the lairs arranged by Dracula.  The house

+looked as though it had been long untenanted.  The windows were

+encrusted with dust, and the shutters were up.  All the framework was

+black with time, and from the iron the paint had mostly scaled away.

+It was evident that up to lately there had been a large notice board

+in front of the balcony.  It had, however, been roughly torn away, the

+uprights which had supported it still remaining.  Behind the rails of

+the balcony I saw there were some loose boards, whose raw edges looked

+white.  I would have given a good deal to have been able to see the

+notice board intact, as it would, perhaps, have given some clue to the

+ownership of the house.  I remembered my experience of the investigation

+and purchase of Carfax, and I could not but feel that if I could find

+the former owner there might be some means discovered of gaining access

+to the house.

+

+There was at present nothing to be learned from the Piccadilly side,

+and nothing could be done, so I went around to the back to see if

+anything could be gathered from this quarter.  The mews were active,

+the Piccadilly houses being mostly in occupation.  I asked one or two

+of the grooms and helpers whom I saw around if they could tell me

+anything about the empty house.  One of them said that he heard it had

+lately been taken, but he couldn't say from whom.  He told me,

+however, that up to very lately there had been a notice board of "For

+Sale" up, and that perhaps Mitchell, Sons, & Candy the house agents

+could tell me something, as he thought he remembered seeing the name

+of that firm on the board.  I did not wish to seem too eager, or to

+let my informant know or guess too much, so thanking him in the usual

+manner, I strolled away.  It was now growing dusk, and the autumn

+night was closing in, so I did not lose any time.  Having learned the

+address of Mitchell, Sons, & Candy from a directory at the Berkeley, I

+was soon at their office in Sackville Street.

+

+The gentleman who saw me was particularly suave in manner, but

+uncommunicative in equal proportion.  Having once told me that the

+Piccadilly house, which throughout our interview he called a

+"mansion," was sold, he considered my business as concluded.  When I

+asked who had purchased it, he opened his eyes a thought wider, and

+paused a few seconds before replying, "It is sold, sir."

+

+"Pardon me," I said, with equal politeness, "but I have a special

+reason for wishing to know who purchased it."

+

+Again he paused longer, and raised his eyebrows still more.  "It is

+sold, sir," was again his laconic reply.

+

+"Surely," I said, "you do not mind letting me know so much."

+

+"But I do mind," he answered.  "The affairs of their clients are

+absolutely safe in the hands of Mitchell, Sons, & Candy."

+

+This was manifestly a prig of the first water, and there was no use

+arguing with him.  I thought I had best meet him on his own ground, so

+I said, "Your clients, sir, are happy in having so resolute a guardian

+of their confidence.  I am myself a professional man."

+

+Here I handed him my card.  "In this instance I am not prompted by

+curiosity, I act on the part of Lord Godalming, who wishes to know

+something of the property which was, he understood, lately for sale."

+

+These words put a different complexion on affairs.  He said, "I would

+like to oblige you if I could, Mr. Harker, and especially would I like

+to oblige his lordship.  We once carried out a small matter of renting

+some chambers for him when he was the honourable Arthur Holmwood.  If

+you will let me have his lordship's address I will consult the House

+on the subject, and will, in any case, communicate with his lordship

+by tonight's post.  It will be a pleasure if we can so far deviate

+from our rules as to give the required information to his lordship."

+

+I wanted to secure a friend, and not to make an enemy, so I thanked

+him, gave the address at Dr. Seward's and came away.  It was now dark,

+and I was tired and hungry.  I got a cup of tea at the Aerated Bread

+Company and came down to Purfleet by the next train.

+

+I found all the others at home.  Mina was looking tired and pale, but

+she made a gallant effort to be bright and cheerful.  It wrung my

+heart to think that I had had to keep anything from her and so caused

+her inquietude.  Thank God, this will be the last night of her looking

+on at our conferences, and feeling the sting of our not showing our

+confidence.  It took all my courage to hold to the wise resolution of

+keeping her out of our grim task.  She seems somehow more reconciled,

+or else the very subject seems to have become repugnant to her, for

+when any accidental allusion is made she actually shudders.  I am glad

+we made our resolution in time, as with such a feeling as this, our

+growing knowledge would be torture to her.

+

+I could not tell the others of the day's discovery till we were alone,

+so after dinner, followed by a little music to save appearances even

+amongst ourselves, I took Mina to her room and left her to go to bed.

+The dear girl was more affectionate with me than ever, and clung to me

+as though she would detain me, but there was much to be talked of and

+I came away.  Thank God, the ceasing of telling things has made no

+difference between us.

+

+When I came down again I found the others all gathered round the fire

+in the study.  In the train I had written my diary so far, and simply

+read it off to them as the best means of letting them get abreast of

+my own information.

+

+When I had finished Van Helsing said, "This has been a great day's

+work, friend Jonathan.  Doubtless we are on the track of the missing

+boxes.  If we find them all in that house, then our work is near the

+end.  But if there be some missing, we must search until we find them.

+Then shall we make our final coup, and hunt the wretch to his real

+death."

+

+We all sat silent awhile and all at once Mr. Morris spoke, "Say!  How

+are we going to get into that house?"

+

+"We got into the other," answered Lord Godalming quickly.

+

+"But, Art, this is different.  We broke house at Carfax, but we had

+night and a walled park to protect us.  It will be a mighty different

+thing to commit burglary in Piccadilly, either by day or night.  I

+confess I don't see how we are going to get in unless that agency duck

+can find us a key of some sort."

+

+Lord Godalming's brows contracted, and he stood up and walked about the

+room.  By-and-by he stopped and said, turning from one to another of

+us, "Quincey's head is level.  This burglary business is getting

+serious.  We got off once all right, but we have now a rare job on

+hand.  Unless we can find the Count's key basket."

+

+As nothing could well be done before morning, and as it would be at

+least advisable to wait till Lord Godalming should hear from

+Mitchell's, we decided not to take any active step before breakfast

+time.  For a good while we sat and smoked, discussing the matter in

+its various lights and bearings.  I took the opportunity of bringing

+this diary right up to the moment.  I am very sleepy and shall go to

+bed . . .

+

+Just a line.  Mina sleeps soundly and her breathing is regular.  Her

+forehead is puckered up into little wrinkles, as though she thinks

+even in her sleep.  She is still too pale, but does not look so

+haggard as she did this morning.  Tomorrow will, I hope, mend all

+this.  She will be herself at home in Exeter.  Oh, but I am sleepy!

+

+

+

+

+DR. SEWARD'S DIARY

+

+1 October.--I am puzzled afresh about Renfield.  His moods change so

+rapidly that I find it difficult to keep touch of them, and as they

+always mean something more than his own well-being, they form a more

+than interesting study.  This morning, when I went to see him after

+his repulse of Van Helsing, his manner was that of a man commanding

+destiny.  He was, in fact, commanding destiny, subjectively.  He did

+not really care for any of the things of mere earth, he was in the

+clouds and looked down on all the weaknesses and wants of us poor

+mortals.

+

+I thought I would improve the occasion and learn something, so I asked

+him, "What about the flies these times?"

+

+He smiled on me in quite a superior sort of way, such a smile as would

+have become the face of Malvolio, as he answered me, "The fly, my dear

+sir, has one striking feature.  It's wings are typical of the aerial

+powers of the psychic faculties.  The ancients did well when they

+typified the soul as a butterfly!"

+

+I thought I would push his analogy to its utmost logically, so I said

+quickly, "Oh, it is a soul you are after now, is it?"

+

+His madness foiled his reason, and a puzzled look spread over his face

+as, shaking his head with a decision which I had but seldom seen in

+him.

+

+He said, "Oh, no, oh no!  I want no souls.  Life is all I want."  Here

+he brightened up.  "I am pretty indifferent about it at present.  Life

+is all right.  I have all I want.  You must get a new patient, doctor,

+if you wish to study zoophagy!"

+

+This puzzled me a little, so I drew him on.  "Then you command life.

+You are a god, I suppose?"

+

+He smiled with an ineffably benign superiority.  "Oh no!  Far be it

+from me to arrogate to myself the attributes of the Deity.  I am not

+even concerned in His especially spiritual doings.  If I may state my

+intellectual position I am, so far as concerns things purely

+terrestrial, somewhat in the position which Enoch occupied

+spiritually!"

+

+This was a poser to me.  I could not at the moment recall Enoch's

+appositeness, so I had to ask a simple question, though I felt that by

+so doing I was lowering myself in the eyes of the lunatic.  "And why

+with Enoch?"

+

+"Because he walked with God."

+

+I could not see the analogy, but did not like to admit it, so I harked

+back to what he had denied.  "So you don't care about life and you

+don't want souls.  Why not?"  I put my question quickly and somewhat

+sternly, on purpose to disconcert him.

+

+The effort succeeded, for an instant he unconsciously relapsed into

+his old servile manner, bent low before me, and actually fawned upon

+me as he replied.  "I don't want any souls, indeed, indeed!  I don't.

+I couldn't use them if I had them.  They would be no manner of use to

+me.  I couldn't eat them or . . ."

+

+He suddenly stopped and the old cunning look spread over his face,

+like a wind sweep on the surface of the water.

+

+"And doctor, as to life, what is it after all?  When you've got all

+you require, and you know that you will never want, that is all.  I

+have friends, good friends, like you, Dr. Seward."  This was said with

+a leer of inexpressible cunning.  "I know that I shall never lack the

+means of life!"

+

+I think that through the cloudiness of his insanity he saw some

+antagonism in me, for he at once fell back on the last refuge of such

+as he, a dogged silence.  After a short time I saw that for the

+present it was useless to speak to him.  He was sulky, and so I came

+away.

+

+Later in the day he sent for me.  Ordinarily I would not have come

+without special reason, but just at present I am so interested in him

+that I would gladly make an effort.  Besides, I am glad to have

+anything to help pass the time.  Harker is out, following up clues,

+and so are Lord Godalming and Quincey.  Van Helsing sits in my study

+poring over the record prepared by the Harkers.  He seems to think

+that by accurate knowledge of all details he will light up on some

+clue.  He does not wish to be disturbed in the work, without cause.  I

+would have taken him with me to see the patient, only I thought that

+after his last repulse he might not care to go again.  There was also

+another reason.  Renfield might not speak so freely before a third

+person as when he and I were alone.

+

+I found him sitting in the middle of the floor on his stool, a pose

+which is generally indicative of some mental energy on his part.  When

+I came in, he said at once, as though the question had been waiting on

+his lips.  "What about souls?"

+

+It was evident then that my surmise had been correct.  Unconscious

+cerebration was doing its work, even with the lunatic.  I determined

+to have the matter out.

+

+"What about them yourself?" I asked.

+

+He did not reply for a moment but looked all around him, and up and

+down, as though he expected to find some inspiration for an answer.

+

+"I don't want any souls!" he said in a feeble, apologetic way.  The

+matter seemed preying on his mind, and so I determined to use it, to

+"be cruel only to be kind."  So I said, "You like life, and you want

+life?"

+

+"Oh yes!  But that is all right.  You needn't worry about that!"

+

+"But," I asked, "how are we to get the life without getting the soul

+also?"

+

+This seemed to puzzle him, so I followed it up, "A nice time you'll

+have some time when you're flying out here, with the souls of

+thousands of flies and spiders and birds and cats buzzing and

+twittering and moaning all around you.  You've got their lives, you

+know, and you must put up with their souls!"

+

+Something seemed to affect his imagination, for he put his fingers to

+his ears and shut his eyes, screwing them up tightly just as a small

+boy does when his face is being soaped.  There was something pathetic

+in it that touched me.  It also gave me a lesson, for it seemed that

+before me was a child, only a child, though the features were worn,

+and the stubble on the jaws was white.  It was evident that he was

+undergoing some process of mental disturbance, and knowing how his

+past moods had interpreted things seemingly foreign to himself, I

+thought I would enter into his mind as well as I could and go with him.

+

+The first step was to restore confidence, so I asked him, speaking

+pretty loud so that he would hear me through his closed ears, "Would

+you like some sugar to get your flies around again?"

+

+He seemed to wake up all at once, and shook his head.  With a laugh he

+replied, "Not much!  Flies are poor things, after all!"  After a pause

+he added, "But I don't want their souls buzzing round me, all the

+same."

+

+"Or spiders?" I went on.

+

+"Blow spiders!  What's the use of spiders?  There isn't anything in

+them to eat or . . ."  He stopped suddenly as though reminded of a

+forbidden topic.

+

+"So, so!" I thought to myself, "this is the second time he has

+suddenly stopped at the word 'drink'.  What does it mean?"

+

+Renfield seemed himself aware of having made a lapse, for he hurried

+on, as though to distract my attention from it, "I don't take any

+stock at all in such matters.  'Rats and mice and such small deer,' as

+Shakespeare has it, 'chicken feed of the larder' they might be called.

+I'm past all that sort of nonsense.  You might as well ask a man to

+eat molecules with a pair of chopsticks, as to try to interest me

+about the less carnivora, when I know of what is before me."

+

+"I see," I said.  "You want big things that you can make your teeth

+meet in?  How would you like to breakfast on an elephant?"

+

+"What ridiculous nonsense you are talking?"  He was getting too wide

+awake, so I thought I would press him hard.

+

+"I wonder," I said reflectively, "what an elephant's soul is like!"

+

+The effect I desired was obtained, for he at once fell from his

+high-horse and became a child again.

+

+"I don't want an elephant's soul, or any soul at all!" he said.  For a

+few moments he sat despondently.  Suddenly he jumped to his feet, with

+his eyes blazing and all the signs of intense cerebral excitement.

+"To hell with you and your souls!" he shouted.  "Why do you plague me

+about souls?  Haven't I got enough to worry, and pain, to distract me

+already, without thinking of souls?"

+

+He looked so hostile that I thought he was in for another homicidal

+fit, so I blew my whistle.

+

+The instant, however, that I did so he became calm, and said

+apologetically, "Forgive me, Doctor.  I forgot myself.  You do not

+need any help.  I am so worried in my mind that I am apt to be

+irritable.  If you only knew the problem I have to face, and that I am

+working out, you would pity, and tolerate, and pardon me.  Pray do not

+put me in a strait waistcoat.  I want to think and I cannot think

+freely when my body is confined.  I am sure you will understand!"

+

+He had evidently self-control, so when the attendants came I told them

+not to mind, and they withdrew.  Renfield watched them go.  When the

+door was closed he said with considerable dignity and sweetness, "Dr.

+Seward, you have been very considerate towards me.  Believe me that I

+am very, very grateful to you!"

+

+I thought it well to leave him in this mood, and so I came away.

+There is certainly something to ponder over in this man's state.

+Several points seem to make what the American interviewer calls "a

+story," if one could only get them in proper order.  Here they are:

+

+    Will not mention "drinking."

+

+    Fears the thought of being burdened with the "soul" of anything.

+

+    Has no dread of wanting "life" in the future.

+

+    Despises the meaner forms of life altogether, though he dreads

+    being haunted by their souls.

+

+    Logically all these things point one way!  He has assurance of

+    some kind that he will acquire some higher life.

+

+    He dreads the consequence, the burden of a soul.  Then it is a

+    human life he looks to!

+

+    And the assurance . . .?

+

+Merciful God!  The Count has been to him, and there is some new scheme

+of terror afoot!

+

+

+Later.--I went after my round to Van Helsing and told him my

+suspicion.  He grew very grave, and after thinking the matter over for

+a while asked me to take him to Renfield.  I did so.  As we came to

+the door we heard the lunatic within singing gaily, as he used to do

+in the time which now seems so long ago.

+

+When we entered we saw with amazement that he had spread out his sugar

+as of old.  The flies, lethargic with the autumn, were beginning to

+buzz into the room.  We tried to make him talk of the subject of our

+previous conversation, but he would not attend.  He went on with his

+singing, just as though we had not been present.  He had got a scrap

+of paper and was folding it into a notebook.  We had to come away as

+ignorant as we went in.

+

+His is a curious case indeed.  We must watch him tonight.

+

+

+

+

+

+LETTER, MITCHELL, SONS & CANDY TO LORD GODALMING.

+

+"1 October.

+

+"My Lord,

+

+"We are at all times only too happy to meet your wishes.  We beg,

+with regard to the desire of your Lordship, expressed by Mr.

+Harker on your behalf, to supply the following information

+concerning the sale and purchase of No. 347, Piccadilly.  The

+original vendors are the executors of the late Mr. Archibald

+Winter-Suffield.  The purchaser is a foreign nobleman, Count de

+Ville, who effected the purchase himself paying the purchase

+money in notes 'over the counter,' if your Lordship will pardon

+us using so vulgar an expression.  Beyond this we know nothing

+whatever of him.

+

+"We are, my Lord,

+

+"Your Lordship's humble servants,

+

+"MITCHELL, SONS & CANDY."

+

+

+

+

+DR. SEWARD'S DIARY

+

+2 October.--I placed a man in the corridor last night, and told him to

+make an accurate note of any sound he might hear from Renfield's room,

+and gave him instructions that if there should be anything strange he

+was to call me.  After dinner, when we had all gathered round the fire

+in the study, Mrs. Harker having gone to bed, we discussed the

+attempts and discoveries of the day.  Harker was the only one who had

+any result, and we are in great hopes that his clue may be an

+important one.

+

+Before going to bed I went round to the patient's room and looked in

+through the observation trap.  He was sleeping soundly, his heart rose

+and fell with regular respiration.

+

+This morning the man on duty reported to me that a little after

+midnight he was restless and kept saying his prayers somewhat loudly.

+I asked him if that was all.  He replied that it was all he heard.

+There was something about his manner, so suspicious that I asked him

+point blank if he had been asleep.  He denied sleep, but admitted to

+having "dozed" for a while.  It is too bad that men cannot be trusted

+unless they are watched.

+

+Today Harker is out following up his clue, and Art and Quincey are

+looking after horses.  Godalming thinks that it will be well to have

+horses always in readiness, for when we get the information which we

+seek there will be no time to lose.  We must sterilize all the

+imported earth between sunrise and sunset.  We shall thus catch the

+Count at his weakest, and without a refuge to fly to.  Van Helsing is

+off to the British Museum looking up some authorities on ancient

+medicine.  The old physicians took account of things which their

+followers do not accept, and the Professor is searching for witch and

+demon cures which may be useful to us later.

+

+I sometimes think we must be all mad and that we shall wake to sanity

+in strait waistcoats.

+

+Later.--We have met again.  We seem at last to be on the track, and

+our work of tomorrow may be the beginning of the end.  I wonder if

+Renfield's quiet has anything to do with this.  His moods have so

+followed the doings of the Count, that the coming destruction of the

+monster may be carried to him some subtle way.  If we could only get

+some hint as to what passed in his mind, between the time of my

+argument with him today and his resumption of fly-catching, it might

+afford us a valuable clue.  He is now seemingly quiet for a spell . . .

+Is he?  That wild yell seemed to come from his room . . .

+

+The attendant came bursting into my room and told me that Renfield had

+somehow met with some accident.  He had heard him yell, and when he

+went to him found him lying on his face on the floor, all covered with

+blood.  I must go at once . . .

+

+

+

+

+CHAPTER 21

+

+

+DR. SEWARD'S DIARY

+

+3 October.--Let me put down with exactness all that happened, as well

+as I can remember, since last I made an entry.  Not a detail that I

+can recall must be forgotten.  In all calmness I must proceed.

+

+When I came to Renfield's room I found him lying on the floor on his

+left side in a glittering pool of blood.  When I went to move him, it

+became at once apparent that he had received some terrible injuries.

+There seemed none of the unity of purpose between the parts of the

+body which marks even lethargic sanity.  As the face was exposed I

+could see that it was horribly bruised, as though it had been beaten

+against the floor.  Indeed it was from the face wounds that the pool

+of blood originated.

+

+The attendant who was kneeling beside the body said to me as we turned

+him over, "I think, sir, his back is broken.  See, both his right arm

+and leg and the whole side of his face are paralysed."  How such a

+thing could have happened puzzled the attendant beyond measure.  He

+seemed quite bewildered, and his brows were gathered in as he said, "I

+can't understand the two things.  He could mark his face like that by

+beating his own head on the floor.  I saw a young woman do it once at

+the Eversfield Asylum before anyone could lay hands on her.  And I

+suppose he might have broken his neck by falling out of bed, if he got

+in an awkward kink.  But for the life of me I can't imagine how the

+two things occurred.  If his back was broke, he couldn't beat his

+head, and if his face was like that before the fall out of bed, there

+would be marks of it."

+

+I said to him, "Go to Dr. Van Helsing, and ask him to kindly come here

+at once.  I want him without an instant's delay."

+

+The man ran off, and within a few minutes the Professor, in his

+dressing gown and slippers, appeared.  When he saw Renfield on the

+ground, he looked keenly at him a moment, and then turned to me.  I

+think he recognized my thought in my eyes, for he said very quietly,

+manifestly for the ears of the attendant, "Ah, a sad accident!  He

+will need very careful watching, and much attention.  I shall stay

+with you myself, but I shall first dress myself.  If you will remain I

+shall in a few minutes join you."

+

+The patient was now breathing stertorously and it was easy to see that

+he had suffered some terrible injury.

+

+Van Helsing returned with extraordinary celerity, bearing with him a

+surgical case.  He had evidently been thinking and had his mind made

+up, for almost before he looked at the patient, he whispered to me,

+"Send the attendant away.  We must be alone with him when he becomes

+conscious, after the operation."

+

+I said, "I think that will do now, Simmons.  We have done all that we

+can at present.  You had better go your round, and Dr. Van Helsing

+will operate.  Let me know instantly if there be anything unusual

+anywhere."

+

+The man withdrew, and we went into a strict examination of the

+patient.  The wounds of the face were superficial.  The real injury

+was a depressed fracture of the skull, extending right up through the

+motor area.

+

+The Professor thought a moment and said, "We must reduce the pressure

+and get back to normal conditions, as far as can be.  The rapidity of

+the suffusion shows the terrible nature of his injury.  The whole

+motor area seems affected.  The suffusion of the brain will increase

+quickly, so we must trephine at once or it may be too late."

+

+As he was speaking there was a soft tapping at the door.  I went over

+and opened it and found in the corridor without, Arthur and Quincey in

+pajamas and slippers; the former spoke, "I heard your man call up Dr.

+Van Helsing and tell him of an accident.  So I woke Quincey or rather

+called for him as he was not asleep.  Things are moving too quickly

+and too strangely for sound sleep for any of us these times.  I've

+been thinking that tomorrow night will not see things as they have

+been.  We'll have to look back, and forward a little more than we have

+done.  May we come in?"

+

+I nodded, and held the door open till they had entered, then I closed

+it again.  When Quincey saw the attitude and state of the patient, and

+noted the horrible pool on the floor, he said softly, "My God!  What

+has happened to him?  Poor, poor devil!"

+

+I told him briefly, and added that we expected he would recover

+consciousness after the operation, for a short time, at all events.

+He went at once and sat down on the edge of the bed, with Godalming

+beside him.  We all watched in patience.

+

+"We shall wait," said Van Helsing, "just long enough to fix the best

+spot for trephining, so that we may most quickly and perfectly remove

+the blood clot, for it is evident that the haemorrhage is increasing."

+

+The minutes during which we waited passed with fearful slowness.  I

+had a horrible sinking in my heart, and from Van Helsing's face I

+gathered that he felt some fear or apprehension as to what was to

+come.  I dreaded the words Renfield might speak.  I was positively

+afraid to think.  But the conviction of what was coming was on me, as

+I have read of men who have heard the death watch.  The poor man's

+breathing came in uncertain gasps.  Each instant he seemed as though

+he would open his eyes and speak, but then would follow a prolonged

+stertorous breath, and he would relapse into a more fixed

+insensibility.  Inured as I was to sick beds and death, this suspense

+grew and grew upon me.  I could almost hear the beating of my own

+heart, and the blood surging through my temples sounded like blows

+from a hammer.  The silence finally became agonizing.  I looked at my

+companions, one after another, and saw from their flushed faces and

+damp brows that they were enduring equal torture.  There was a nervous

+suspense over us all, as though overhead some dread bell would peal

+out powerfully when we should least expect it.

+

+At last there came a time when it was evident that the patient was

+sinking fast.  He might die at any moment.  I looked up at the

+Professor and caught his eyes fixed on mine.  His face was sternly set

+as he spoke, "There is no time to lose.  His words may be worth many

+lives.  I have been thinking so, as I stood here.  It may be there is

+a soul at stake!  We shall operate just above the ear."

+

+Without another word he made the operation.  For a few moments the

+breathing continued to be stertorous.  Then there came a breath so

+prolonged that it seemed as though it would tear open his chest.

+Suddenly his eyes opened, and became fixed in a wild, helpless stare.

+This was continued for a few moments, then it was softened into a glad

+surprise, and from his lips came a sigh of relief.  He moved

+convulsively, and as he did so, said, "I'll be quiet, Doctor.  Tell

+them to take off the strait waistcoat.  I have had a terrible dream,

+and it has left me so weak that I cannot move.  What's wrong with my

+face?  It feels all swollen, and it smarts dreadfully."

+

+He tried to turn his head, but even with the effort his eyes seemed to

+grow glassy again so I gently put it back.  Then Van Helsing said in a

+quiet grave tone, "Tell us your dream, Mr. Renfield."

+

+As he heard the voice his face brightened, through its mutilation, and

+he said, "That is Dr. Van Helsing.  How good it is of you to be here.

+Give me some water, my lips are dry, and I shall try to tell you.  I

+dreamed . . ."

+

+He stopped and seemed fainting.  I called quietly to Quincey, "The

+brandy, it is in my study, quick!"  He flew and returned with a glass,

+the decanter of brandy and a carafe of water.  We moistened the

+parched lips, and the patient quickly revived.

+

+It seemed, however, that his poor injured brain had been working in

+the interval, for when he was quite conscious, he looked at me

+piercingly with an agonized confusion which I shall never forget, and

+said, "I must not deceive myself.  It was no dream, but all a grim

+reality."  Then his eyes roved round the room.  As they caught sight

+of the two figures sitting patiently on the edge of the bed he went

+on, "If I were not sure already, I would know from them."

+

+For an instant his eyes closed, not with pain or sleep but

+voluntarily, as though he were bringing all his faculties to bear.

+When he opened them he said, hurriedly, and with more energy than he

+had yet displayed, "Quick, Doctor, quick, I am dying!  I feel that I

+have but a few minutes, and then I must go back to death, or worse!

+Wet my lips with brandy again.  I have something that I must say

+before I die.  Or before my poor crushed brain dies anyhow.  Thank

+you!  It was that night after you left me, when I implored you to let

+me go away.  I couldn't speak then, for I felt my tongue was tied.

+But I was as sane then, except in that way, as I am now.  I was in an

+agony of despair for a long time after you left me, it seemed hours.

+Then there came a sudden peace to me.  My brain seemed to become cool

+again, and I realized where I was.  I heard the dogs bark behind our

+house, but not where He was!"

+

+As he spoke, Van Helsing's eyes never blinked, but his hand came out

+and met mine and gripped it hard.  He did not, however, betray

+himself.  He nodded slightly and said, "Go on," in a low voice.

+

+Renfield proceeded.  "He came up to the window in the mist, as I had

+seen him often before, but he was solid then, not a ghost, and his

+eyes were fierce like a man's when angry.  He was laughing with his

+red mouth, the sharp white teeth glinted in the moonlight when he

+turned to look back over the belt of trees, to where the dogs were

+barking.  I wouldn't ask him to come in at first, though I knew he

+wanted to, just as he had wanted all along.  Then he began promising

+me things, not in words but by doing them."

+

+He was interrupted by a word from the Professor, "How?"

+

+"By making them happen.  Just as he used to send in the flies when the

+sun was shining.  Great big fat ones with steel and sapphire on their

+wings.  And big moths, in the night, with skull and cross-bones on

+their backs."

+

+Van Helsing nodded to him as he whispered to me unconsciously, "The

+Acherontia Atropos of the Sphinges, what you call the 'Death's-head

+Moth'?"

+

+The patient went on without stopping, "Then he began to whisper.  'Rats,

+rats, rats!  Hundreds, thousands, millions of them, and every one a

+life.  And dogs to eat them, and cats too.  All lives!  All red blood,

+with years of life in it, and not merely buzzing flies!'  I laughed at

+him, for I wanted to see what he could do.  Then the dogs howled, away

+beyond the dark trees in His house.  He beckoned me to the window.  I

+got up and looked out, and He raised his hands, and seemed to call out

+without using any words.  A dark mass spread over the grass, coming on

+like the shape of a flame of fire.  And then He moved the mist to the

+right and left, and I could see that there were thousands of rats with

+their eyes blazing red, like His only smaller.  He held up his hand,

+and they all stopped, and I thought he seemed to be saying, 'All these

+lives will I give you, ay, and many more and greater, through

+countless ages, if you will fall down and worship me!'  And then a red

+cloud, like the colour of blood, seemed to close over my eyes, and

+before I knew what I was doing, I found myself opening the sash and

+saying to Him, 'Come in, Lord and Master!'  The rats were all gone, but

+He slid into the room through the sash, though it was only open an

+inch wide, just as the Moon herself has often come in through the

+tiniest crack and has stood before me in all her size and splendour."

+

+His voice was weaker, so I moistened his lips with the brandy again,

+and he continued, but it seemed as though his memory had gone on

+working in the interval for his story was further advanced.  I was

+about to call him back to the point, but Van Helsing whispered to me,

+"Let him go on.  Do not interrupt him.  He cannot go back, and maybe

+could not proceed at all if once he lost the thread of his thought."

+

+He proceeded, "All day I waited to hear from him, but he did not send

+me anything, not even a blowfly, and when the moon got up I was pretty

+angry with him.  When he did slide in through the window, though it

+was shut, and did not even knock, I got mad with him.  He sneered at

+me, and his white face looked out of the mist with his red eyes

+gleaming, and he went on as though he owned the whole place, and I was

+no one.  He didn't even smell the same as he went by me.  I couldn't

+hold him.  I thought that, somehow, Mrs. Harker had come into the

+room."

+

+The two men sitting on the bed stood up and came over, standing behind

+him so that he could not see them, but where they could hear better.

+They were both silent, but the Professor started and quivered.  His

+face, however, grew grimmer and sterner still.  Renfield went on

+without noticing, "When Mrs. Harker came in to see me this afternoon

+she wasn't the same.  It was like tea after the teapot has been

+watered."  Here we all moved, but no one said a word.

+

+He went on, "I didn't know that she was here till she spoke, and she

+didn't look the same.  I don't care for the pale people.  I like them

+with lots of blood in them, and hers all seemed to have run out.  I

+didn't think of it at the time, but when she went away I began to

+think, and it made me mad to know that He had been taking the life out

+of her."  I could feel that the rest quivered, as I did; but we

+remained otherwise still.  "So when He came tonight I was ready for

+Him.  I saw the mist stealing in, and I grabbed it tight.  I had heard

+that madmen have unnatural strength.  And as I knew I was a madman, at

+times anyhow, I resolved to use my power.  Ay, and He felt it too, for

+He had to come out of the mist to struggle with me.  I held tight, and

+I thought I was going to win, for I didn't mean Him to take any more

+of her life, till I saw His eyes.  They burned into me, and my

+strength became like water.  He slipped through it, and when I tried

+to cling to Him, He raised me up and flung me down.  There was a red

+cloud before me, and a noise like thunder, and the mist seemed to

+steal away under the door."

+

+His voice was becoming fainter and his breath more stertorous.  Van

+Helsing stood up instinctively.

+

+"We know the worst now," he said.  "He is here, and we know his

+purpose.  It may not be too late.  Let us be armed, the same as we

+were the other night, but lose no time, there is not an instant to

+spare."

+

+There was no need to put our fear, nay our conviction, into words, we

+shared them in common.  We all hurried and took from our rooms the

+same things that we had when we entered the Count's house.  The

+Professor had his ready, and as we met in the corridor he pointed to

+them significantly as he said, "They never leave me, and they shall

+not till this unhappy business is over.  Be wise also, my friends.  It

+is no common enemy that we deal with Alas!  Alas!  That dear Madam

+Mina should suffer!"  He stopped, his voice was breaking, and I do not

+know if rage or terror predominated in my own heart.

+

+Outside the Harkers' door we paused.  Art and Quincey held back, and

+the latter said, "Should we disturb her?"

+

+"We must," said Van Helsing grimly.  "If the door be locked, I shall

+break it in."

+

+"May it not frighten her terribly?  It is unusual to break into a

+lady's room!"

+

+Van Helsing said solemnly, "You are always right.  But this is life

+and death.  All chambers are alike to the doctor.  And even were they

+not they are all as one to me tonight.  Friend John, when I turn the

+handle, if the door does not open, do you put your shoulder down and

+shove; and you too, my friends.  Now!"

+

+He turned the handle as he spoke, but the door did not yield.  We

+threw ourselves against it.  With a crash it burst open, and we almost

+fell headlong into the room.  The Professor did actually fall, and I

+saw across him as he gathered himself up from hands and knees.  What I

+saw appalled me.  I felt my hair rise like bristles on the back of my

+neck, and my heart seemed to stand still.

+

+The moonlight was so bright that through the thick yellow blind the

+room was light enough to see.  On the bed beside the window lay

+Jonathan Harker, his face flushed and breathing heavily as though in a

+stupor.  Kneeling on the near edge of the bed facing outwards was the

+white-clad figure of his wife.  By her side stood a tall, thin man,

+clad in black.  His face was turned from us, but the instant we saw we

+all recognized the Count, in every way, even to the scar on his

+forehead.  With his left hand he held both Mrs. Harker's hands,

+keeping them away with her arms at full tension.  His right hand

+gripped her by the back of the neck, forcing her face down on his

+bosom.  Her white nightdress was smeared with blood, and a thin stream

+trickled down the man's bare chest which was shown by his torn-open

+dress.  The attitude of the two had a terrible resemblance to a child

+forcing a kitten's nose into a saucer of milk to compel it to drink.

+As we burst into the room, the Count turned his face, and the hellish

+look that I had heard described seemed to leap into it.  His eyes

+flamed red with devilish passion.  The great nostrils of the white

+aquiline nose opened wide and quivered at the edge, and the white

+sharp teeth, behind the full lips of the blood dripping mouth, clamped

+together like those of a wild beast.  With a wrench, which threw his

+victim back upon the bed as though hurled from a height, he turned and

+sprang at us.  But by this time the Professor had gained his feet, and

+was holding towards him the envelope which contained the Sacred Wafer.

+The Count suddenly stopped, just as poor Lucy had done outside the

+tomb, and cowered back.  Further and further back he cowered, as we,

+lifting our crucifixes, advanced.  The moonlight suddenly failed, as a

+great black cloud sailed across the sky.  And when the gaslight sprang

+up under Quincey's match, we saw nothing but a faint vapour.  This, as

+we looked, trailed under the door, which with the recoil from its

+bursting open, had swung back to its old position.  Van Helsing, Art,

+and I moved forward to Mrs. Harker, who by this time had drawn her

+breath and with it had given a scream so wild, so ear-piercing, so

+despairing that it seems to me now that it will ring in my ears till

+my dying day.  For a few seconds she lay in her helpless attitude and

+disarray.  Her face was ghastly, with a pallor which was accentuated

+by the blood which smeared her lips and cheeks and chin.  From her

+throat trickled a thin stream of blood.  Her eyes were mad with

+terror.  Then she put before her face her poor crushed hands, which

+bore on their whiteness the red mark of the Count's terrible grip, and

+from behind them came a low desolate wail which made the terrible

+scream seem only the quick expression of an endless grief.  Van

+Helsing stepped forward and drew the coverlet gently over her body,

+whilst Art, after looking at her face for an instant despairingly, ran

+out of the room.

+

+Van Helsing whispered to me, "Jonathan is in a stupor such as we know

+the Vampire can produce.  We can do nothing with poor Madam Mina for a

+few moments till she recovers herself.  I must wake him!"

+

+He dipped the end of a towel in cold water and with it began to flick

+him on the face, his wife all the while holding her face between her

+hands and sobbing in a way that was heart breaking to hear.  I raised

+the blind, and looked out of the window.  There was much moonshine,

+and as I looked I could see Quincey Morris run across the lawn and

+hide himself in the shadow of a great yew tree.  It puzzled me to

+think why he was doing this.  But at the instant I heard Harker's

+quick exclamation as he woke to partial consciousness, and turned to

+the bed.  On his face, as there might well be, was a look of wild

+amazement.  He seemed dazed for a few seconds, and then full

+consciousness seemed to burst upon him all at once, and he started up.

+

+His wife was aroused by the quick movement, and turned to him with her

+arms stretched out, as though to embrace him.  Instantly, however, she

+drew them in again, and putting her elbows together, held her hands

+before her face, and shuddered till the bed beneath her shook.

+

+"In God's name what does this mean?" Harker cried out.  "Dr. Seward,

+Dr. Van Helsing, what is it?  What has happened?  What is wrong?  Mina,

+dear what is it?  What does that blood mean?  My God, my God!  Has it

+come to this!"  And, raising himself to his knees, he beat his hands

+wildly together.  "Good God help us!  Help her!  Oh, help her!"

+

+With a quick movement he jumped from bed, and began to pull on his

+clothes, all the man in him awake at the need for instant exertion.

+"What has happened?  Tell me all about it!" he cried without pausing.

+"Dr. Van Helsing, you love Mina, I know.  Oh, do something to save her.

+It cannot have gone too far yet.  Guard her while I look for him!"

+

+His wife, through her terror and horror and distress, saw some sure

+danger to him.  Instantly forgetting her own grief, she seized hold of

+him and cried out.

+

+"No!  No!  Jonathan, you must not leave me.  I have suffered enough

+tonight, God knows, without the dread of his harming you.  You must

+stay with me.  Stay with these friends who will watch over you!"  Her

+expression became frantic as she spoke.  And, he yielding to her, she

+pulled him down sitting on the bedside, and clung to him fiercely.

+

+Van Helsing and I tried to calm them both.  The Professor held up his

+golden crucifix, and said with wonderful calmness, "Do not fear, my

+dear.  We are here, and whilst this is close to you no foul thing can

+approach.  You are safe for tonight, and we must be calm and take

+counsel together."

+

+She shuddered and was silent, holding down her head on her husband's

+breast.  When she raised it, his white nightrobe was stained with

+blood where her lips had touched, and where the thin open wound in the

+neck had sent forth drops.  The instant she saw it she drew back, with

+a low wail, and whispered, amidst choking sobs.

+

+"Unclean, unclean!  I must touch him or kiss him no more.  Oh, that it

+should be that it is I who am now his worst enemy, and whom he may

+have most cause to fear."

+

+To this he spoke out resolutely, "Nonsense, Mina.  It is a shame to me

+to hear such a word.  I would not hear it of you.  And I shall not

+hear it from you.  May God judge me by my deserts, and punish me with

+more bitter suffering than even this hour, if by any act or will of

+mine anything ever come between us!"

+

+He put out his arms and folded her to his breast.  And for a while she

+lay there sobbing.  He looked at us over her bowed head, with eyes

+that blinked damply above his quivering nostrils.  His mouth was set

+as steel.

+

+After a while her sobs became less frequent and more faint, and then

+he said to me, speaking with a studied calmness which I felt tried his

+nervous power to the utmost.

+

+"And now, Dr. Seward, tell me all about it.  Too well I know the broad

+fact.  Tell me all that has been."

+

+I told him exactly what had happened and he listened with seeming

+impassiveness, but his nostrils twitched and his eyes blazed as I told

+how the ruthless hands of the Count had held his wife in that terrible

+and horrid position, with her mouth to the open wound in his breast.

+It interested me, even at that moment, to see that whilst the face of

+white set passion worked convulsively over the bowed head, the hands

+tenderly and lovingly stroked the ruffled hair.  Just as I had

+finished, Quincey and Godalming knocked at the door.  They entered in

+obedience to our summons.  Van Helsing looked at me questioningly.  I

+understood him to mean if we were to take advantage of their coming to

+divert if possible the thoughts of the unhappy husband and wife from

+each other and from themselves.  So on nodding acquiescence to him he

+asked them what they had seen or done.  To which Lord Godalming

+answered.

+

+"I could not see him anywhere in the passage, or in any of our rooms.

+I looked in the study but, though he had been there, he had gone.  He

+had, however . . ."  He stopped suddenly, looking at the poor drooping

+figure on the bed.

+

+Van Helsing said gravely, "Go on, friend Arthur.  We want here no more

+concealments.  Our hope now is in knowing all.  Tell freely!"

+

+So Art went on, "He had been there, and though it could only have been

+for a few seconds, he made rare hay of the place.  All the manuscript

+had been burned, and the blue flames were flickering amongst the white

+ashes.  The cylinders of your phonograph too were thrown on the fire,

+and the wax had helped the flames."

+

+Here I interrupted.  "Thank God there is the other copy in the safe!"

+

+His face lit for a moment, but fell again as he went on.  "I ran

+downstairs then, but could see no sign of him.  I looked into

+Renfield's room, but there was no trace there except . . ."  Again he

+paused.

+

+"Go on," said Harker hoarsely.  So he bowed his head and moistening his

+lips with his tongue, added, "except that the poor fellow is dead."

+

+Mrs. Harker raised her head, looking from one to the other of us she

+said solemnly, "God's will be done!"

+

+I could not but feel that Art was keeping back something.  But, as I

+took it that it was with a purpose, I said nothing.

+

+Van Helsing turned to Morris and asked, "And you, friend Quincey, have

+you any to tell?"

+

+"A little," he answered.  "It may be much eventually, but at present I

+can't say.  I thought it well to know if possible where the Count

+would go when he left the house.  I did not see him, but I saw a bat

+rise from Renfield's window, and flap westward.  I expected to see him

+in some shape go back to Carfax, but he evidently sought some other

+lair.  He will not be back tonight, for the sky is reddening in the

+east, and the dawn is close.  We must work tomorrow!"

+

+He said the latter words through his shut teeth.  For a space of

+perhaps a couple of minutes there was silence, and I could fancy that

+I could hear the sound of our hearts beating.

+

+Then Van Helsing said, placing his hand tenderly on Mrs. Harker's

+head, "And now, Madam Mina, poor dear, dear, Madam Mina, tell us

+exactly what happened.  God knows that I do not want that you be

+pained, but it is need that we know all.  For now more than ever has

+all work to be done quick and sharp, and in deadly earnest.  The day

+is close to us that must end all, if it may be so, and now is the

+chance that we may live and learn."

+

+The poor dear lady shivered, and I could see the tension of her nerves

+as she clasped her husband closer to her and bent her head lower and

+lower still on his breast.  Then she raised her head proudly, and held

+out one hand to Van Helsing who took it in his, and after stooping and

+kissing it reverently, held it fast.  The other hand was locked in

+that of her husband, who held his other arm thrown round her

+protectingly.  After a pause in which she was evidently ordering her

+thoughts, she began.

+

+"I took the sleeping draught which you had so kindly given me, but for

+a long time it did not act.  I seemed to become more wakeful, and

+myriads of horrible fancies began to crowd in upon my mind.  All of

+them connected with death, and vampires, with blood, and pain, and

+trouble."  Her husband involuntarily groaned as she turned to him and

+said lovingly, "Do not fret, dear.  You must be brave and strong, and

+help me through the horrible task.  If you only knew what an effort it

+is to me to tell of this fearful thing at all, you would understand

+how much I need your help.  Well, I saw I must try to help the

+medicine to its work with my will, if it was to do me any good, so I

+resolutely set myself to sleep.  Sure enough sleep must soon have come

+to me, for I remember no more.  Jonathan coming in had not waked me,

+for he lay by my side when next I remember.  There was in the room the

+same thin white mist that I had before noticed.  But I forget now if

+you know of this.  You will find it in my diary which I shall show you

+later.  I felt the same vague terror which had come to me before and

+the same sense of some presence.  I turned to wake Jonathan, but found

+that he slept so soundly that it seemed as if it was he who had taken

+the sleeping draught, and not I.  I tried, but I could not wake him.

+This caused me a great fear, and I looked around terrified.  Then

+indeed, my heart sank within me.  Beside the bed, as if he had stepped

+out of the mist, or rather as if the mist had turned into his figure,

+for it had entirely disappeared, stood a tall, thin man, all in

+black.  I knew him at once from the description of the others.  The

+waxen face, the high aquiline nose, on which the light fell in a thin

+white line, the parted red lips, with the sharp white teeth showing

+between, and the red eyes that I had seemed to see in the sunset on

+the windows of St. Mary's Church at Whitby.  I knew, too, the red scar

+on his forehead where Jonathan had struck him.  For an instant my

+heart stood still, and I would have screamed out, only that I was

+paralyzed.  In the pause he spoke in a sort of keen, cutting whisper,

+pointing as he spoke to Jonathan.

+

+"'Silence!  If you make a sound I shall take him and dash his brains

+out before your very eyes.'  I was appalled and was too bewildered to

+do or say anything.  With a mocking smile, he placed one hand upon my

+shoulder and, holding me tight, bared my throat with the other, saying

+as he did so, 'First, a little refreshment to reward my exertions.

+You may as well be quiet.  It is not the first time, or the second,

+that your veins have appeased my thirst!'  I was bewildered, and

+strangely enough, I did not want to hinder him.  I suppose it is a

+part of the horrible curse that such is, when his touch is on his

+victim.  And oh, my God, my God, pity me!  He placed his reeking lips

+upon my throat!"  Her husband groaned again.  She clasped his hand

+harder, and looked at him pityingly, as if he were the injured one,

+and went on.

+

+"I felt my strength fading away, and I was in a half swoon.  How long

+this horrible thing lasted I know not, but it seemed that a long time

+must have passed before he took his foul, awful, sneering mouth away.

+I saw it drip with the fresh blood!"  The remembrance seemed for a while

+to overpower her, and she drooped and would have sunk down but for her

+husband's sustaining arm.  With a great effort she recovered herself

+and went on.

+

+"Then he spoke to me mockingly, 'And so you, like the others, would

+play your brains against mine.  You would help these men to hunt me

+and frustrate me in my design!  You know now, and they know in part

+already, and will know in full before long, what it is to cross my

+path.  They should have kept their energies for use closer to home.

+Whilst they played wits against me, against me who commanded nations,

+and intrigued for them, and fought for them, hundreds of years before

+they were born, I was countermining them.  And you, their best beloved

+one, are now to me, flesh of my flesh, blood of my blood, kin of my

+kin, my bountiful wine-press for a while, and shall be later on my

+companion and my helper.  You shall be avenged in turn, for not one of

+them but shall minister to your needs.  But as yet you are to be

+punished for what you have done.  You have aided in thwarting me.  Now

+you shall come to my call.  When my brain says "Come!" to you, you

+shall cross land or sea to do my bidding.  And to that end this!'

+

+"With that he pulled open his shirt, and with his long sharp nails

+opened a vein in his breast.  When the blood began to spurt out, he

+took my hands in one of his, holding them tight, and with the other

+seized my neck and pressed my mouth to the wound, so that I must

+either suffocate or swallow some to the . . . Oh, my God!  My God!

+What have I done?  What have I done to deserve such a fate, I who have

+tried to walk in meekness and righteousness all my days.  God pity

+me!  Look down on a poor soul in worse than mortal peril.  And in

+mercy pity those to whom she is dear!"  Then she began to rub her lips

+as though to cleanse them from pollution.

+

+As she was telling her terrible story, the eastern sky began to

+quicken, and everything became more and more clear.  Harker was still

+and quiet; but over his face, as the awful narrative went on, came a

+grey look which deepened and deepened in the morning light, till when

+the first red streak of the coming dawn shot up, the flesh stood

+darkly out against the whitening hair.

+

+We have arranged that one of us is to stay within call of the unhappy

+pair till we can meet together and arrange about taking action.

+

+Of this I am sure.  The sun rises today on no more miserable house in

+all the great round of its daily course.

+

+

+

+

+CHAPTER 22

+

+

+JONATHAN HARKER'S JOURNAL

+

+3 October.--As I must do something or go mad, I write this diary.  It

+is now six o'clock, and we are to meet in the study in half an hour

+and take something to eat, for Dr. Van Helsing and Dr. Seward are

+agreed that if we do not eat we cannot work our best.  Our best will

+be, God knows, required today.  I must keep writing at every chance,

+for I dare not stop to think.  All, big and little, must go down.

+Perhaps at the end the little things may teach us most.  The teaching,

+big or little, could not have landed Mina or me anywhere worse than we

+are today.  However, we must trust and hope.  Poor Mina told me just

+now, with the tears running down her dear cheeks, that it is in

+trouble and trial that our faith is tested.  That we must keep on

+trusting, and that God will aid us up to the end.  The end!  Oh my

+God!  What end? . . . To work!  To work!

+

+When Dr. Van Helsing and Dr. Seward had come back from seeing poor

+Renfield, we went gravely into what was to be done.  First, Dr. Seward

+told us that when he and Dr. Van Helsing had gone down to the room

+below they had found Renfield lying on the floor, all in a heap.  His

+face was all bruised and crushed in, and the bones of the neck were

+broken.

+

+Dr. Seward asked the attendant who was on duty in the passage if he

+had heard anything.  He said that he had been sitting down, he

+confessed to half dozing, when he heard loud voices in the room, and

+then Renfield had called out loudly several times, "God!  God!  God!"

+After that there was a sound of falling, and when he entered the room

+he found him lying on the floor, face down, just as the doctors had

+seen him.  Van Helsing asked if he had heard "voices" or "a voice,"

+and he said he could not say.  That at first it had seemed to him as

+if there were two, but as there was no one in the room it could have

+been only one.  He could swear to it, if required, that the word "God"

+was spoken by the patient.

+

+Dr. Seward said to us, when we were alone, that he did not wish to go

+into the matter.  The question of an inquest had to be considered, and

+it would never do to put forward the truth, as no one would believe

+it.  As it was, he thought that on the attendant's evidence he could

+give a certificate of death by misadventure in falling from bed.  In

+case the coroner should demand it, there would be a formal inquest,

+necessarily to the same result.

+

+When the question began to be discussed as to what should be our next

+step, the very first thing we decided was that Mina should be in full

+confidence.  That nothing of any sort, no matter how painful, should

+be kept from her.  She herself agreed as to its wisdom, and it was

+pitiful to see her so brave and yet so sorrowful, and in such a depth

+of despair.

+

+"There must be no concealment," she said.  "Alas!  We have had too

+much already.  And besides there is nothing in all the world that can

+give me more pain than I have already endured, than I suffer now!

+Whatever may happen, it must be of new hope or of new courage to me!"

+

+Van Helsing was looking at her fixedly as she spoke, and said,

+suddenly but quietly, "But dear Madam Mina, are you not afraid.  Not

+for yourself, but for others from yourself, after what has happened?"

+

+Her face grew set in its lines, but her eyes shone with the devotion

+of a martyr as she answered, "Ah no!  For my mind is made up!"

+

+"To what?" he asked gently, whilst we were all very still, for each in

+our own way we had a sort of vague idea of what she meant.

+

+Her answer came with direct simplicity, as though she was simply

+stating a fact, "Because if I find in myself, and I shall watch keenly

+for it, a sign of harm to any that I love, I shall die!"

+

+"You would not kill yourself?" he asked, hoarsely.

+

+"I would.  If there were no friend who loved me, who would save me

+such a pain, and so desperate an effort!"  She looked at him meaningly

+as she spoke.

+

+He was sitting down, but now he rose and came close to her and put his

+hand on her head as he said solemnly.  "My child, there is such an one

+if it were for your good.  For myself I could hold it in my account

+with God to find such an euthanasia for you, even at this moment if it

+were best.  Nay, were it safe!  But my child . . ."

+

+For a moment he seemed choked, and a great sob rose in his throat.  He

+gulped it down and went on, "There are here some who would stand

+between you and death.  You must not die.  You must not die by any

+hand, but least of all your own.  Until the other, who has fouled your

+sweet life, is true dead you must not die.  For if he is still with

+the quick Undead, your death would make you even as he is.  No, you

+must live!  You must struggle and strive to live, though death would

+seem a boon unspeakable.  You must fight Death himself, though he come

+to you in pain or in joy.  By the day, or the night, in safety or in

+peril!  On your living soul I charge you that you do not die.  Nay,

+nor think of death, till this great evil be past."

+

+The poor dear grew white as death, and shook and shivered, as I have

+seen a quicksand shake and shiver at the incoming of the tide.  We

+were all silent.  We could do nothing.  At length she grew more calm

+and turning to him said sweetly, but oh so sorrowfully, as she held

+out her hand, "I promise you, my dear friend, that if God will let me

+live, I shall strive to do so.  Till, if it may be in His good time,

+this horror may have passed away from me."

+

+She was so good and brave that we all felt that our hearts were

+strengthened to work and endure for her, and we began to discuss what

+we were to do.  I told her that she was to have all the papers in the

+safe, and all the papers or diaries and phonographs we might hereafter

+use, and was to keep the record as she had done before.  She was

+pleased with the prospect of anything to do, if "pleased" could be

+used in connection with so grim an interest.

+

+As usual Van Helsing had thought ahead of everyone else, and was

+prepared with an exact ordering of our work.

+

+"It is perhaps well," he said, "that at our meeting after our visit to

+Carfax we decided not to do anything with the earth boxes that lay

+there.  Had we done so, the Count must have guessed our purpose, and

+would doubtless have taken measures in advance to frustrate such an

+effort with regard to the others.  But now he does not know our

+intentions.  Nay, more, in all probability, he does not know that such

+a power exists to us as can sterilize his lairs, so that he cannot use

+them as of old.

+

+"We are now so much further advanced in our knowledge as to their

+disposition that, when we have examined the house in Piccadilly, we may

+track the very last of them.  Today then, is ours, and in it rests our

+hope.  The sun that rose on our sorrow this morning guards us in its

+course.  Until it sets tonight, that monster must retain whatever form

+he now has.  He is confined within the limitations of his earthly

+envelope.  He cannot melt into thin air nor disappear through cracks

+or chinks or crannies.  If he go through a doorway, he must open the

+door like a mortal.  And so we have this day to hunt out all his lairs

+and sterilize them.  So we shall, if we have not yet catch him and

+destroy him, drive him to bay in some place where the catching and the

+destroying shall be, in time, sure."

+

+Here I started up for I could not contain myself at the thought that

+the minutes and seconds so preciously laden with Mina's life and

+happiness were flying from us, since whilst we talked action was

+impossible.  But Van Helsing held up his hand warningly.

+

+"Nay, friend Jonathan," he said, "in this, the quickest way home is

+the longest way, so your proverb say.  We shall all act and act with

+desperate quick, when the time has come.  But think, in all probable

+the key of the situation is in that house in Piccadilly.  The Count

+may have many houses which he has bought.  Of them he will have deeds

+of purchase, keys and other things.  He will have paper that he write

+on.  He will have his book of cheques.  There are many belongings that

+he must have somewhere.  Why not in this place so central, so quiet,

+where he come and go by the front or the back at all hours, when in

+the very vast of the traffic there is none to notice.  We shall go

+there and search that house.  And when we learn what it holds, then we

+do what our friend Arthur call, in his phrases of hunt 'stop the

+earths' and so we run down our old fox, so?  Is it not?"

+

+"Then let us come at once," I cried, "we are wasting the precious,

+precious time!"

+

+The Professor did not move, but simply said, "And how are we to get

+into that house in Piccadilly?"

+

+"Any way!" I cried.  "We shall break in if need be."

+

+"And your police?  Where will they be, and what will they say?"

+

+I was staggered, but I knew that if he wished to delay he had a good

+reason for it.  So I said, as quietly as I could, "Don't wait more

+than need be.  You know, I am sure, what torture I am in."

+

+"Ah, my child, that I do.  And indeed there is no wish of me to add to

+your anguish.  But just think, what can we do, until all the world be

+at movement.  Then will come our time.  I have thought and thought,

+and it seems to me that the simplest way is the best of all.  Now we

+wish to get into the house, but we have no key.  Is it not so?"  I

+nodded.

+

+"Now suppose that you were, in truth, the owner of that house, and

+could not still get in.  And think there was to you no conscience of

+the housebreaker, what would you do?"

+

+"I should get a respectable locksmith, and set him to work to pick the

+lock for me."

+

+"And your police, they would interfere, would they not?"

+

+"Oh no!  Not if they knew the man was properly employed."

+

+"Then," he looked at me as keenly as he spoke, "all that is in doubt

+is the conscience of the employer, and the belief of your policemen as

+to whether or not that employer has a good conscience or a bad one.

+Your police must indeed be zealous men and clever, oh so clever, in

+reading the heart, that they trouble themselves in such matter.  No,

+no, my friend Jonathan, you go take the lock off a hundred empty

+houses in this your London, or of any city in the world, and if you do

+it as such things are rightly done, and at the time such things are

+rightly done, no one will interfere.  I have read of a gentleman who

+owned a so fine house in London, and when he went for months of summer

+to Switzerland and lock up his house, some burglar come and broke

+window at back and got in.  Then he went and made open the shutters in

+front and walk out and in through the door, before the very eyes of

+the police.  Then he have an auction in that house, and advertise it,

+and put up big notice.  And when the day come he sell off by a great

+auctioneer all the goods of that other man who own them.  Then he go

+to a builder, and he sell him that house, making an agreement that he

+pull it down and take all away within a certain time.  And your police

+and other authority help him all they can.  And when that owner come

+back from his holiday in Switzerland he find only an empty hole where

+his house had been.  This was all done en regle, and in our work we

+shall be en regle too.  We shall not go so early that the policemen

+who have then little to think of, shall deem it strange.  But we shall

+go after ten o'clock, when there are many about, and such things would

+be done were we indeed owners of the house."

+

+I could not but see how right he was and the terrible despair of

+Mina's face became relaxed in thought.  There was hope in such good

+counsel.

+

+Van Helsing went on, "When once within that house we may find more

+clues.  At any rate some of us can remain there whilst the rest find

+the other places where there be more earth boxes, at Bermondsey and

+Mile End."

+

+Lord Godalming stood up.  "I can be of some use here," he said.  "I

+shall wire to my people to have horses and carriages where they will

+be most convenient."

+

+"Look here, old fellow," said Morris, "it is a capital idea to have

+all ready in case we want to go horse backing, but don't you think

+that one of your snappy carriages with its heraldic adornments in a

+byway of Walworth or Mile End would attract too much attention for our

+purpose?  It seems to me that we ought to take cabs when we go south

+or east.  And even leave them somewhere near the neighbourhood we are

+going to."

+

+"Friend Quincey is right!" said the Professor.  "His head is what you

+call in plane with the horizon.  It is a difficult thing that we go to

+do, and we do not want no peoples to watch us if so it may."

+

+Mina took a growing interest in everything and I was rejoiced to see

+that the exigency of affairs was helping her to forget for a time the

+terrible experience of the night.  She was very, very pale, almost

+ghastly, and so thin that her lips were drawn away, showing her teeth

+in somewhat of prominence.  I did not mention this last, lest it

+should give her needless pain, but it made my blood run cold in my

+veins to think of what had occurred with poor Lucy when the Count had

+sucked her blood.  As yet there was no sign of the teeth growing

+sharper, but the time as yet was short, and there was time for fear.

+

+When we came to the discussion of the sequence of our efforts and of

+the disposition of our forces, there were new sources of doubt.  It

+was finally agreed that before starting for Piccadilly we should

+destroy the Count's lair close at hand.  In case he should find it out

+too soon, we should thus be still ahead of him in our work of

+destruction.  And his presence in his purely material shape, and at

+his weakest, might give us some new clue.

+

+As to the disposal of forces, it was suggested by the Professor that,

+after our visit to Carfax, we should all enter the house in

+Piccadilly.  That the two doctors and I should remain there, whilst

+Lord Godalming and Quincey found the lairs at Walworth and Mile End

+and destroyed them.  It was possible, if not likely, the Professor

+urged, that the Count might appear in Piccadilly during the day, and

+that if so we might be able to cope with him then and there.  At any

+rate, we might be able to follow him in force.  To this plan I

+strenuously objected, and so far as my going was concerned, for I said

+that I intended to stay and protect Mina.  I thought that my mind was

+made up on the subject, but Mina would not listen to my objection.  She

+said that there might be some law matter in which I could be useful.

+That amongst the Count's papers might be some clue which I could

+understand out of my experience in Transylvania.  And that, as it was,

+all the strength we could muster was required to cope with the Count's

+extraordinary power.  I had to give in, for Mina's resolution was

+fixed.  She said that it was the last hope for her that we should all

+work together.

+

+"As for me," she said, "I have no fear.  Things have been as bad as

+they can be.  And whatever may happen must have in it some element of

+hope or comfort.  Go, my husband!  God can, if He wishes it, guard me

+as well alone as with any one present."

+

+So I started up crying out, "Then in God's name let us come at once,

+for we are losing time.  The Count may come to Piccadilly earlier than

+we think."

+

+"Not so!" said Van Helsing, holding up his hand.

+

+"But why?" I asked.

+

+"Do you forget," he said, with actually a smile, "that last night he

+banqueted heavily, and will sleep late?"

+

+Did I forget!  Shall I ever . . . can I ever!  Can any of us ever

+forget that terrible scene!  Mina struggled hard to keep her brave

+countenance, but the pain overmastered her and she put her hands

+before her face, and shuddered whilst she moaned.  Van Helsing had not

+intended to recall her frightful experience.  He had simply lost sight

+of her and her part in the affair in his intellectual effort.

+

+When it struck him what he said, he was horrified at his

+thoughtlessness and tried to comfort her.

+

+"Oh, Madam Mina," he said, "dear, dear, Madam Mina, alas!  That I of

+all who so reverence you should have said anything so forgetful.  These

+stupid old lips of mine and this stupid old head do not deserve so,

+but you will forget it, will you not?"  He bent low beside her as he

+spoke.

+

+She took his hand, and looking at him through her tears, said

+hoarsely, "No, I shall not forget, for it is well that I remember.

+And with it I have so much in memory of you that is sweet, that I take

+it all together.  Now, you must all be going soon.  Breakfast is

+ready, and we must all eat that we may be strong."

+

+Breakfast was a strange meal to us all.  We tried to be cheerful and

+encourage each other, and Mina was the brightest and most cheerful of

+us.  When it was over, Van Helsing stood up and said, "Now, my dear

+friends, we go forth to our terrible enterprise.  Are we all armed, as

+we were on that night when first we visited our enemy's lair.  Armed

+against ghostly as well as carnal attack?"

+

+We all assured him.

+

+"Then it is well.  Now, Madam Mina, you are in any case quite safe

+here until the sunset.  And before then we shall return . . . if . . .

+We shall return!  But before we go let me see you armed against personal

+attack.  I have myself, since you came down, prepared your chamber by

+the placing of things of which we know, so that He may not enter.  Now

+let me guard yourself.  On your forehead I touch this piece of Sacred

+Wafer in the name of the Father, the Son, and . . ."

+

+There was a fearful scream which almost froze our hearts to hear.  As

+he had placed the Wafer on Mina's forehead, it had seared it . . . had

+burned into the flesh as though it had been a piece of white-hot metal.

+My poor darling's brain had told her the significance of the fact as

+quickly as her nerves received the pain of it, and the two so

+overwhelmed her that her overwrought nature had its voice in that

+dreadful scream.

+

+But the words to her thought came quickly.  The echo of the scream had

+not ceased to ring on the air when there came the reaction, and she

+sank on her knees on the floor in an agony of abasement.  Pulling her

+beautiful hair over her face, as the leper of old his mantle, she

+wailed out.

+

+"Unclean!  Unclean!  Even the Almighty shuns my polluted flesh!  I

+must bear this mark of shame upon my forehead until the Judgement

+Day."

+

+They all paused.  I had thrown myself beside her in an agony of

+helpless grief, and putting my arms around held her tight.  For a few

+minutes our sorrowful hearts beat together, whilst the friends around

+us turned away their eyes that ran tears silently.  Then Van Helsing

+turned and said gravely.  So gravely that I could not help feeling

+that he was in some way inspired, and was stating things outside

+himself.

+

+"It may be that you may have to bear that mark till God himself see

+fit, as He most surely shall, on the Judgement Day, to redress all

+wrongs of the earth and of His children that He has placed thereon.

+And oh, Madam Mina, my dear, my dear, may we who love you be there to

+see, when that red scar, the sign of God's knowledge of what has been,

+shall pass away, and leave your forehead as pure as the heart we know.

+For so surely as we live, that scar shall pass away when God sees

+right to lift the burden that is hard upon us.  Till then we bear our

+Cross, as His Son did in obedience to His Will.  It may be that we are

+chosen instruments of His good pleasure, and that we ascend to His

+bidding as that other through stripes and shame.  Through tears and

+blood.  Through doubts and fear, and all that makes the difference

+between God and man."

+

+There was hope in his words, and comfort.  And they made for

+resignation.  Mina and I both felt so, and simultaneously we each took

+one of the old man's hands and bent over and kissed it.  Then without

+a word we all knelt down together, and all holding hands, swore to be

+true to each other.  We men pledged ourselves to raise the veil of

+sorrow from the head of her whom, each in his own way, we loved.  And

+we prayed for help and guidance in the terrible task which lay before

+us.  It was then time to start.  So I said farewell to Mina, a parting

+which neither of us shall forget to our dying day, and we set out.

+

+To one thing I have made up my mind.  If we find out that Mina must be

+a vampire in the end, then she shall not go into that unknown and

+terrible land alone.  I suppose it is thus that in old times one

+vampire meant many.  Just as their hideous bodies could only rest in

+sacred earth, so the holiest love was the recruiting sergeant for

+their ghastly ranks.

+

+We entered Carfax without trouble and found all things the same as on

+the first occasion.  It was hard to believe that amongst so prosaic

+surroundings of neglect and dust and decay there was any ground for

+such fear as already we knew.  Had not our minds been made up, and had

+there not been terrible memories to spur us on, we could hardly have

+proceeded with our task.  We found no papers, or any sign of use in

+the house.  And in the old chapel the great boxes looked just as we

+had seen them last.

+

+Dr. Van Helsing said to us solemnly as we stood before him, "And now,

+my friends, we have a duty here to do.  We must sterilize this earth,

+so sacred of holy memories, that he has brought from a far distant

+land for such fell use.  He has chosen this earth because it has been

+holy.  Thus we defeat him with his own weapon, for we make it more

+holy still.  It was sanctified to such use of man, now we sanctify it

+to God."

+

+As he spoke he took from his bag a screwdriver and a wrench, and very

+soon the top of one of the cases was thrown open.  The earth smelled

+musty and close, but we did not somehow seem to mind, for our

+attention was concentrated on the Professor.  Taking from his box a

+piece of the Sacred Wafer he laid it reverently on the earth, and then

+shutting down the lid began to screw it home, we aiding him as he

+worked.

+

+One by one we treated in the same way each of the great boxes, and

+left them as we had found them to all appearance.  But in each was a

+portion of the Host.  When we closed the door behind us, the Professor

+said solemnly, "So much is already done.  It may be that with all the

+others we can be so successful, then the sunset of this evening may

+shine of Madam Mina's forehead all white as ivory and with no stain!"

+

+As we passed across the lawn on our way to the station to catch our

+train we could see the front of the asylum.  I looked eagerly, and in

+the window of my own room saw Mina.  I waved my hand to her, and

+nodded to tell that our work there was successfully accomplished.  She

+nodded in reply to show that she understood.  The last I saw, she was

+waving her hand in farewell.  It was with a heavy heart that we sought

+the station and just caught the train, which was steaming in as we

+reached the platform.  I have written this in the train.

+

+

+Piccadilly, 12:30 o'clock.--Just before we reached Fenchurch Street

+Lord Godalming said to me, "Quincey and I will find a locksmith.  You

+had better not come with us in case there should be any difficulty.

+For under the circumstances it wouldn't seem so bad for us to break

+into an empty house.  But you are a solicitor and the Incorporated Law

+Society might tell you that you should have known better."

+

+I demurred as to my not sharing any danger even of odium, but he went

+on, "Besides, it will attract less attention if there are not too many

+of us.  My title will make it all right with the locksmith, and with

+any policeman that may come along.  You had better go with Jack and

+the Professor and stay in the Green Park.  Somewhere in sight of the

+house, and when you see the door opened and the smith has gone away,

+do you all come across.  We shall be on the lookout for you, and shall

+let you in."

+

+"The advice is good!" said Van Helsing, so we said no more.  Godalming

+and Morris hurried off in a cab, we following in another.  At the

+corner of Arlington Street our contingent got out and strolled into

+the Green Park.  My heart beat as I saw the house on which so much of

+our hope was centred, looming up grim and silent in its deserted

+condition amongst its more lively and spruce-looking neighbours.  We

+sat down on a bench within good view, and began to smoke cigars so as

+to attract as little attention as possible.  The minutes seemed to

+pass with leaden feet as we waited for the coming of the others.

+

+At length we saw a four-wheeler drive up.  Out of it, in leisurely

+fashion, got Lord Godalming and Morris.  And down from the box

+descended a thick-set working man with his rush-woven basket of tools.

+Morris paid the cabman, who touched his hat and drove away.  Together

+the two ascended the steps, and Lord Godalming pointed out what he

+wanted done.  The workman took off his coat leisurely and hung it on

+one of the spikes of the rail, saying something to a policeman who

+just then sauntered along.  The policeman nodded acquiescence, and the

+man kneeling down placed his bag beside him.  After searching through

+it, he took out a selection of tools which he proceeded to lay beside

+him in orderly fashion.  Then he stood up, looked in the keyhole, blew

+into it, and turning to his employers, made some remark.  Lord

+Godalming smiled, and the man lifted a good sized bunch of keys.

+Selecting one of them, he began to probe the lock, as if feeling his

+way with it.  After fumbling about for a bit he tried a second, and

+then a third.  All at once the door opened under a slight push from

+him, and he and the two others entered the hall.  We sat still.  My

+own cigar burnt furiously, but Van Helsing's went cold altogether.  We

+waited patiently as we saw the workman come out and bring his bag.

+Then he held the door partly open, steadying it with his knees, whilst

+he fitted a key to the lock.  This he finally handed to Lord

+Godalming, who took out his purse and gave him something.  The man

+touched his hat, took his bag, put on his coat and departed.  Not a

+soul took the slightest notice of the whole transaction.

+

+When the man had fairly gone, we three crossed the street and knocked

+at the door.  It was immediately opened by Quincey Morris, beside whom

+stood Lord Godalming lighting a cigar.

+

+"The place smells so vilely," said the latter as we came in.  It did

+indeed smell vilely.  Like the old chapel at Carfax.  And with our

+previous experience it was plain to us that the Count had been using

+the place pretty freely.  We moved to explore the house, all keeping

+together in case of attack, for we knew we had a strong and wily enemy

+to deal with, and as yet we did not know whether the Count might not

+be in the house.

+

+In the dining room, which lay at the back of the hall, we found eight

+boxes of earth.  Eight boxes only out of the nine which we sought!

+Our work was not over, and would never be until we should have found

+the missing box.

+

+First we opened the shutters of the window which looked out across a

+narrow stone flagged yard at the blank face of a stable, pointed to

+look like the front of a miniature house.  There were no windows in

+it, so we were not afraid of being overlooked.  We did not lose any

+time in examining the chests.  With the tools which we had brought

+with us we opened them, one by one, and treated them as we had treated

+those others in the old chapel.  It was evident to us that the Count

+was not at present in the house, and we proceeded to search for any of

+his effects.

+

+After a cursory glance at the rest of the rooms, from basement to

+attic, we came to the conclusion that the dining room contained any

+effects which might belong to the Count.  And so we proceeded to

+minutely examine them.  They lay in a sort of orderly disorder on the

+great dining room table.

+

+There were title deeds of the Piccadilly house in a great bundle,

+deeds of the purchase of the houses at Mile End and Bermondsey,

+notepaper, envelopes, and pens and ink.  All were covered up in thin

+wrapping paper to keep them from the dust.  There were also a clothes

+brush, a brush and comb, and a jug and basin.  The latter containing

+dirty water which was reddened as if with blood.  Last of all was a

+little heap of keys of all sorts and sizes, probably those belonging

+to the other houses.

+

+When we had examined this last find, Lord Godalming and Quincey Morris

+taking accurate notes of the various addresses of the houses in the

+East and the South, took with them the keys in a great bunch, and set

+out to destroy the boxes in these places.  The rest of us are, with

+what patience we can, waiting their return, or the coming of the

+Count.

+

+

+

+

+CHAPTER 23

+

+

+DR. SEWARD'S DIARY

+

+3 October.--The time seemed terribly long whilst we were waiting for

+the coming of Godalming and Quincey Morris.  The Professor tried to

+keep our minds active by using them all the time.  I could see his

+beneficent purpose, by the side glances which he threw from time to

+time at Harker.  The poor fellow is overwhelmed in a misery that is

+appalling to see.  Last night he was a frank, happy-looking man, with

+strong, youthful face, full of energy, and with dark brown hair.

+Today he is a drawn, haggard old man, whose white hair matches well

+with the hollow burning eyes and grief-written lines of his face.  His

+energy is still intact.  In fact, he is like a living flame.  This may

+yet be his salvation, for if all go well, it will tide him over the

+despairing period.  He will then, in a kind of way, wake again to the

+realities of life.  Poor fellow, I thought my own trouble was bad

+enough, but his . . . !

+

+The Professor knows this well enough, and is doing his best to keep

+his mind active.  What he has been saying was, under the

+circumstances, of absorbing interest.  So well as I can remember, here

+it is:

+

+"I have studied, over and over again since they came into my hands,

+all the papers relating to this monster, and the more I have studied,

+the greater seems the necessity to utterly stamp him out.  All through

+there are signs of his advance.  Not only of his power, but of his

+knowledge of it.  As I learned from the researches of my friend

+Arminius of Buda-Pesth, he was in life a most wonderful man.  Soldier,

+statesman, and alchemist--which latter was the highest development of

+the science knowledge of his time.  He had a mighty brain, a learning

+beyond compare, and a heart that knew no fear and no remorse.  He

+dared even to attend the Scholomance, and there was no branch of

+knowledge of his time that he did not essay.

+

+"Well, in him the brain powers survived the physical death.  Though it

+would seem that memory was not all complete.  In some faculties of

+mind he has been, and is, only a child.  But he is growing, and some

+things that were childish at the first are now of man's stature.  He

+is experimenting, and doing it well.  And if it had not been that we

+have crossed his path he would be yet, he may be yet if we fail, the

+father or furtherer of a new order of beings, whose road must lead

+through Death, not Life."

+

+Harker groaned and said, "And this is all arrayed against my darling!

+But how is he experimenting?  The knowledge may help us to defeat

+him!"

+

+"He has all along, since his coming, been trying his power, slowly but

+surely.  That big child-brain of his is working.  Well for us, it is

+as yet a child-brain.  For had he dared, at the first, to attempt

+certain things he would long ago have been beyond our power.  However,

+he means to succeed, and a man who has centuries before him can afford

+to wait and to go slow.  Festina lente may well be his motto."

+

+"I fail to understand," said Harker wearily.  "Oh, do be more plain to

+me!  Perhaps grief and trouble are dulling my brain."

+

+The Professor laid his hand tenderly on his shoulder as he spoke, "Ah,

+my child, I will be plain.  Do you not see how, of late, this monster

+has been creeping into knowledge experimentally.  How he has been

+making use of the zoophagous patient to effect his entry into friend

+John's home.  For your Vampire, though in all afterwards he can come

+when and how he will, must at the first make entry only when asked

+thereto by an inmate.  But these are not his most important

+experiments.  Do we not see how at the first all these so great boxes

+were moved by others.  He knew not then but that must be so.  But all

+the time that so great child-brain of his was growing, and he began to

+consider whether he might not himself move the box.  So he began to

+help.  And then, when he found that this be all right, he try to move

+them all alone.  And so he progress, and he scatter these graves of

+him.  And none but he know where they are hidden.

+

+"He may have intend to bury them deep in the ground.  So that only he

+use them in the night, or at such time as he can change his form, they

+do him equal well, and none may know these are his hiding place!  But,

+my child, do not despair, this knowledge came to him just too late!

+Already all of his lairs but one be sterilize as for him.  And before

+the sunset this shall be so.  Then he have no place where he can move

+and hide.  I delayed this morning that so we might be sure.  Is there

+not more at stake for us than for him?  Then why not be more careful

+than him?  By my clock it is one hour and already, if all be well,

+friend Arthur and Quincey are on their way to us.  Today is our day,

+and we must go sure, if slow, and lose no chance.  See!  There are

+five of us when those absent ones return."

+

+Whilst we were speaking we were startled by a knock at the hall door,

+the double postman's knock of the telegraph boy.  We all moved out to

+the hall with one impulse, and Van Helsing, holding up his hand to us

+to keep silence, stepped to the door and opened it.  The boy handed in

+a dispatch.  The Professor closed the door again, and after looking at

+the direction, opened it and read aloud.

+

+"Look out for D.  He has just now, 12:45, come from Carfax

+hurriedly and hastened towards the South.  He seems to be

+going the round and may want to see you:  Mina."

+

+There was a pause, broken by Jonathan Harker's voice, "Now, God be

+thanked, we shall soon meet!"

+

+Van Helsing turned to him quickly and said, "God will act in His own

+way and time.  Do not fear, and do not rejoice as yet.  For what we

+wish for at the moment may be our own undoings."

+

+"I care for nothing now," he answered hotly, "except to wipe out this

+brute from the face of creation.  I would sell my soul to do it!"

+

+"Oh, hush, hush, my child!" said Van Helsing.  "God does not purchase

+souls in this wise, and the Devil, though he may purchase, does not

+keep faith.  But God is merciful and just, and knows your pain and

+your devotion to that dear Madam Mina.  Think you, how her pain would

+be doubled, did she but hear your wild words.  Do not fear any of us,

+we are all devoted to this cause, and today shall see the end.  The

+time is coming for action.  Today this Vampire is limit to the powers

+of man, and till sunset he may not change.  It will take him time to

+arrive here, see it is twenty minutes past one, and there are yet some

+times before he can hither come, be he never so quick.  What we must

+hope for is that my Lord Arthur and Quincey arrive first."

+

+About half an hour after we had received Mrs. Harker's telegram, there

+came a quiet, resolute knock at the hall door.  It was just an

+ordinary knock, such as is given hourly by thousands of gentlemen, but

+it made the Professor's heart and mine beat loudly.  We looked at each

+other, and together moved out into the hall.  We each held ready to

+use our various armaments, the spiritual in the left hand, the mortal

+in the right.  Van Helsing pulled back the latch, and holding the door

+half open, stood back, having both hands ready for action.  The

+gladness of our hearts must have shown upon our faces when on the

+step, close to the door, we saw Lord Godalming and Quincey Morris.

+They came quickly in and closed the door behind them, the former

+saying, as they moved along the hall:

+

+"It is all right.  We found both places.  Six boxes in each and we

+destroyed them all."

+

+"Destroyed?" asked the Professor.

+

+"For him!"  We were silent for a minute, and then Quincey said,

+"There's nothing to do but to wait here.  If, however, he doesn't turn

+up by five o'clock, we must start off.  For it won't do to leave Mrs.

+Harker alone after sunset."

+

+"He will be here before long now," said Van Helsing, who had been

+consulting his pocketbook.  "Nota bene, in Madam's telegram he went

+south from Carfax.  That means he went to cross the river, and he

+could only do so at slack of tide, which should be something before

+one o'clock.  That he went south has a meaning for us.  He is as yet

+only suspicious, and he went from Carfax first to the place where he

+would suspect interference least.  You must have been at Bermondsey

+only a short time before him.  That he is not here already shows that

+he went to Mile End next.  This took him some time, for he would then

+have to be carried over the river in some way.  Believe me, my

+friends, we shall not have long to wait now.  We should have ready

+some plan of attack, so that we may throw away no chance.  Hush, there

+is no time now.  Have all your arms!  Be ready!"  He held up a warning

+hand as he spoke, for we all could hear a key softly inserted in the

+lock of the hall door.

+

+I could not but admire, even at such a moment, the way in which a

+dominant spirit asserted itself.  In all our hunting parties and

+adventures in different parts of the world, Quincey Morris had always

+been the one to arrange the plan of action, and Arthur and I had been

+accustomed to obey him implicitly.  Now, the old habit seemed to be

+renewed instinctively.  With a swift glance around the room, he at

+once laid out our plan of attack, and without speaking a word, with a

+gesture, placed us each in position.  Van Helsing, Harker, and I were

+just behind the door, so that when it was opened the Professor could

+guard it whilst we two stepped between the incomer and the door.

+Godalming behind and Quincey in front stood just out of sight ready to

+move in front of the window.  We waited in a suspense that made the

+seconds pass with nightmare slowness.  The slow, careful steps came

+along the hall.  The Count was evidently prepared for some surprise,

+at least he feared it.

+

+Suddenly with a single bound he leaped into the room.  Winning a way

+past us before any of us could raise a hand to stay him.  There was

+something so pantherlike in the movement, something so unhuman, that

+it seemed to sober us all from the shock of his coming.  The first to

+act was Harker, who with a quick movement, threw himself before the

+door leading into the room in the front of the house.  As the Count

+saw us, a horrible sort of snarl passed over his face, showing the

+eyeteeth long and pointed.  But the evil smile as quickly passed into

+a cold stare of lion-like disdain.  His expression again changed as,

+with a single impulse, we all advanced upon him.  It was a pity that

+we had not some better organized plan of attack, for even at the

+moment I wondered what we were to do.  I did not myself know whether

+our lethal weapons would avail us anything.

+

+Harker evidently meant to try the matter, for he had ready his great

+Kukri knife and made a fierce and sudden cut at him.  The blow was a

+powerful one; only the diabolical quickness of the Count's leap back

+saved him.  A second less and the trenchant blade had shorn through

+his heart.  As it was, the point just cut the cloth of his coat,

+making a wide gap whence a bundle of bank notes and a stream

+of gold fell out.  The expression of the Count's face was so hellish,

+that for a moment I feared for Harker, though I saw him throw the

+terrible knife aloft again for another stroke.  Instinctively I moved

+forward with a protective impulse, holding the Crucifix and Wafer in

+my left hand.  I felt a mighty power fly along my arm, and it was

+without surprise that I saw the monster cower back before a similar

+movement made spontaneously by each one of us.  It would be impossible

+to describe the expression of hate and baffled malignity, of anger and

+hellish rage, which came over the Count's face.  His waxen hue became

+greenish-yellow by the contrast of his burning eyes, and the red scar

+on the forehead showed on the pallid skin like a palpitating wound.

+The next instant, with a sinuous dive he swept under Harker's arm, ere

+his blow could fall, and grasping a handful of the money from the

+floor, dashed across the room, threw himself at the window.  Amid the

+crash and glitter of the falling glass, he tumbled into the flagged

+area below.  Through the sound of the shivering glass I could hear the

+"ting" of the gold, as some of the sovereigns fell on the flagging.

+

+We ran over and saw him spring unhurt from the ground.  He, rushing up

+the steps, crossed the flagged yard, and pushed open the stable door.

+There he turned and spoke to us.

+

+"You think to baffle me, you with your pale faces all in a row, like

+sheep in a butcher's.  You shall be sorry yet, each one of you!  You

+think you have left me without a place to rest, but I have more.  My

+revenge is just begun!  I spread it over centuries, and time is on my

+side.  Your girls that you all love are mine already.  And through

+them you and others shall yet be mine, my creatures, to do my bidding

+and to be my jackals when I want to feed.  Bah!"

+

+With a contemptuous sneer, he passed quickly through the door, and we

+heard the rusty bolt creak as he fastened it behind him.  A door

+beyond opened and shut.  The first of us to speak was the Professor.

+Realizing the difficulty of following him through the stable, we moved

+toward the hall.

+

+"We have learnt something . . . much!  Notwithstanding his brave words,

+he fears us.  He fears time, he fears want!  For if not, why he hurry

+so?  His very tone betray him, or my ears deceive.  Why take that

+money?  You follow quick.  You are hunters of the wild beast, and

+understand it so.  For me, I make sure that nothing here may be of use

+to him, if so that he returns."

+

+As he spoke he put the money remaining in his pocket, took the title

+deeds in the bundle as Harker had left them, and swept the remaining

+things into the open fireplace, where he set fire to them with a

+match.

+

+Godalming and Morris had rushed out into the yard, and Harker had

+lowered himself from the window to follow the Count.  He had, however,

+bolted the stable door, and by the time they had forced it open there

+was no sign of him.  Van Helsing and I tried to make inquiry at the

+back of the house.  But the mews was deserted and no one had seen him

+depart.

+

+It was now late in the afternoon, and sunset was not far off.  We had

+to recognize that our game was up.  With heavy hearts we agreed with

+the Professor when he said, "Let us go back to Madam Mina.  Poor, poor

+dear Madam Mina.  All we can do just now is done, and we can there, at

+least, protect her.  But we need not despair.  There is but one more

+earth box, and we must try to find it.  When that is done all may yet

+be well."

+

+I could see that he spoke as bravely as he could to comfort Harker.

+The poor fellow was quite broken down, now and again he gave a low

+groan which he could not suppress.  He was thinking of his wife.

+

+With sad hearts we came back to my house, where we found Mrs. Harker

+waiting us, with an appearance of cheerfulness which did honour to her

+bravery and unselfishness.  When she saw our faces, her own became as

+pale as death.  For a second or two her eyes were closed as if she

+were in secret prayer.

+

+And then she said cheerfully, "I can never thank you all enough.  Oh,

+my poor darling!"

+

+As she spoke, she took her husband's grey head in her hands and kissed

+it.

+

+"Lay your poor head here and rest it.  All will yet be well, dear!  God

+will protect us if He so will it in His good intent."  The poor fellow

+groaned.  There was no place for words in his sublime misery.

+

+We had a sort of perfunctory supper together, and I think it cheered

+us all up somewhat.  It was, perhaps, the mere animal heat of food to

+hungry people, for none of us had eaten anything since breakfast, or

+the sense of companionship may have helped us, but anyhow we were all

+less miserable, and saw the morrow as not altogether without hope.

+

+True to our promise, we told Mrs. Harker everything which had passed.

+And although she grew snowy white at times when danger had seemed to

+threaten her husband, and red at others when his devotion to her was

+manifested, she listened bravely and with calmness.  When we came to

+the part where Harker had rushed at the Count so recklessly, she clung

+to her husband's arm, and held it tight as though her clinging could

+protect him from any harm that might come.  She said nothing, however,

+till the narration was all done, and matters had been brought up to

+the present time.

+

+Then without letting go her husband's hand she stood up amongst us and

+spoke.  Oh, that I could give any idea of the scene.  Of that sweet,

+sweet, good, good woman in all the radiant beauty of her youth and

+animation, with the red scar on her forehead, of which she was

+conscious, and which we saw with grinding of our teeth, remembering

+whence and how it came.  Her loving kindness against our grim hate.

+Her tender faith against all our fears and doubting.  And we, knowing

+that so far as symbols went, she with all her goodness and purity and

+faith, was outcast from God.

+

+"Jonathan," she said, and the word sounded like music on her lips it

+was so full of love and tenderness, "Jonathan dear, and you all my

+true, true friends, I want you to bear something in mind through all

+this dreadful time.  I know that you must fight.  That you must

+destroy even as you destroyed the false Lucy so that the true Lucy

+might live hereafter.  But it is not a work of hate.  That poor soul

+who has wrought all this misery is the saddest case of all.  Just

+think what will be his joy when he, too, is destroyed in his worser

+part that his better part may have spiritual immortality.  You must be

+pitiful to him, too, though it may not hold your hands from his

+destruction."

+

+As she spoke I could see her husband's face darken and draw together,

+as though the passion in him were shriveling his being to its core.

+Instinctively the clasp on his wife's hand grew closer, till his

+knuckles looked white.  She did not flinch from the pain which I knew

+she must have suffered, but looked at him with eyes that were more

+appealing than ever.

+

+As she stopped speaking he leaped to his feet, almost tearing his hand

+from hers as he spoke.

+

+"May God give him into my hand just for long enough to destroy that

+earthly life of him which we are aiming at.  If beyond it I could send

+his soul forever and ever to burning hell I would do it!"

+

+"Oh, hush!  Oh, hush in the name of the good God.  Don't say such

+things, Jonathan, my husband, or you will crush me with fear and

+horror.  Just think, my dear . . . I have been thinking all this long,

+long day of it . . . that . . . perhaps . . . some day . . . I, too, may

+need such pity, and that some other like you, and with equal cause for

+anger, may deny it to me!  Oh, my husband!  My husband, indeed I would

+have spared you such a thought had there been another way.  But I pray

+that God may not have treasured your wild words, except as the

+heart-broken wail of a very loving and sorely stricken man.  Oh, God,

+let these poor white hairs go in evidence of what he has suffered, who

+all his life has done no wrong, and on whom so many sorrows have

+come."

+

+We men were all in tears now.  There was no resisting them, and we

+wept openly.  She wept, too, to see that her sweeter counsels had

+prevailed.  Her husband flung himself on his knees beside her, and

+putting his arms round her, hid his face in the folds of her dress.

+Van Helsing beckoned to us and we stole out of the room, leaving the

+two loving hearts alone with their God.

+

+Before they retired the Professor fixed up the room against any coming

+of the Vampire, and assured Mrs. Harker that she might rest in peace.

+She tried to school herself to the belief, and manifestly for her

+husband's sake, tried to seem content.  It was a brave struggle, and

+was, I think and believe, not without its reward.  Van Helsing had

+placed at hand a bell which either of them was to sound in case of any

+emergency.  When they had retired, Quincey, Godalming, and I arranged

+that we should sit up, dividing the night between us, and watch over

+the safety of the poor stricken lady.  The first watch falls to

+Quincey, so the rest of us shall be off to bed as soon as we can.

+

+Godalming has already turned in, for his is the second watch.  Now

+that my work is done I, too, shall go to bed.

+

+

+

+JONATHAN HARKER'S JOURNAL

+

+3-4 October, close to midnight.--I thought yesterday would never end.

+There was over me a yearning for sleep, in some sort of blind belief

+that to wake would be to find things changed, and that any change must

+now be for the better.  Before we parted, we discussed what our next

+step was to be, but we could arrive at no result.  All we knew was

+that one earth box remained, and that the Count alone knew where it

+was.  If he chooses to lie hidden, he may baffle us for years.  And in

+the meantime, the thought is too horrible, I dare not think of it even

+now.  This I know, that if ever there was a woman who was all

+perfection, that one is my poor wronged darling.  I loved her a

+thousand times more for her sweet pity of last night, a pity that made

+my own hate of the monster seem despicable.  Surely God will not

+permit the world to be the poorer by the loss of such a creature.  This

+is hope to me.  We are all drifting reefwards now, and faith is our

+only anchor.  Thank God!  Mina is sleeping, and sleeping without

+dreams.  I fear what her dreams might be like, with such terrible

+memories to ground them in.  She has not been so calm, within my

+seeing, since the sunset.  Then, for a while, there came over her face

+a repose which was like spring after the blasts of March.  I thought

+at the time that it was the softness of the red sunset on her face,

+but somehow now I think it has a deeper meaning.  I am not sleepy

+myself, though I am weary . . . weary to death.  However, I must try

+to sleep.  For there is tomorrow to think of, and there is no rest for

+me until . . .

+

+

+Later--I must have fallen asleep, for I was awakened by Mina, who was

+sitting up in bed, with a startled look on her face.  I could see

+easily, for we did not leave the room in darkness.  She had placed a

+warning hand over my mouth, and now she whispered in my ear, "Hush!

+There is someone in the corridor!"  I got up softly, and crossing the

+room, gently opened the door.

+

+Just outside, stretched on a mattress, lay Mr. Morris, wide awake.  He

+raised a warning hand for silence as he whispered to me, "Hush!  Go

+back to bed.  It is all right.  One of us will be here all night.  We

+don't mean to take any chances!"

+

+His look and gesture forbade discussion, so I came back and told Mina.

+She sighed and positively a shadow of a smile stole over her poor,

+pale face as she put her arms round me and said softly, "Oh, thank God

+for good brave men!"  With a sigh she sank back again to sleep.  I

+write this now as I am not sleepy, though I must try again.

+

+

+4 October, morning.--Once again during the night I was wakened by

+Mina.  This time we had all had a good sleep, for the grey of the

+coming dawn was making the windows into sharp oblongs, and the gas

+flame was like a speck rather than a disc of light.

+

+She said to me hurriedly, "Go, call the Professor.  I want to see him

+at once."

+

+"Why?" I asked.

+

+"I have an idea.  I suppose it must have come in the night, and

+matured without my knowing it.  He must hypnotize me before the dawn,

+and then I shall be able to speak.  Go quick, dearest, the time is

+getting close."

+

+I went to the door.  Dr. Seward was resting on the mattress, and

+seeing me, he sprang to his feet.

+

+"Is anything wrong?" he asked, in alarm.

+

+"No," I replied.  "But Mina wants to see Dr. Van Helsing at once."

+

+"I will go," he said, and hurried into the Professor's room.

+

+Two or three minutes later Van Helsing was in the room in his dressing

+gown, and Mr. Morris and Lord Godalming were with Dr. Seward at the

+door asking questions.  When the Professor saw Mina a smile, a

+positive smile ousted the anxiety of his face.

+

+He rubbed his hands as he said, "Oh, my dear Madam Mina, this is

+indeed a change.  See!  Friend Jonathan, we have got our dear Madam

+Mina, as of old, back to us today!"  Then turning to her, he said

+cheerfully, "And what am I to do for you?  For at this hour you do not

+want me for nothing."

+

+"I want you to hypnotize me!" she said.  "Do it before the dawn, for I

+feel that then I can speak, and speak freely.  Be quick, for the time

+is short!"  Without a word he motioned her to sit up in bed.

+

+Looking fixedly at her, he commenced to make passes in front of her,

+from over the top of her head downward, with each hand in turn.  Mina

+gazed at him fixedly for a few minutes, during which my own heart beat

+like a trip hammer, for I felt that some crisis was at hand.

+Gradually her eyes closed, and she sat, stock still.  Only by the

+gentle heaving of her bosom could one know that she was alive.  The

+Professor made a few more passes and then stopped, and I could see

+that his forehead was covered with great beads of perspiration.  Mina

+opened her eyes, but she did not seem the same woman.  There was a

+far-away look in her eyes, and her voice had a sad dreaminess which

+was new to me.  Raising his hand to impose silence, the Professor

+motioned to me to bring the others in.  They came on tiptoe, closing

+the door behind them, and stood at the foot of the bed, looking on.

+Mina appeared not to see them.  The stillness was broken by Van

+Helsing's voice speaking in a low level tone which would not break the

+current of her thoughts.

+

+"Where are you?"  The answer came in a neutral way.

+

+"I do not know.  Sleep has no place it can call its own."  For several

+minutes there was silence.  Mina sat rigid, and the Professor stood

+staring at her fixedly.

+

+The rest of us hardly dared to breathe.  The room was growing lighter.

+Without taking his eyes from Mina's face, Dr. Van Helsing motioned me

+to pull up the blind.  I did so, and the day seemed just upon us.  A

+red streak shot up, and a rosy light seemed to diffuse itself through

+the room.  On the instant the Professor spoke again.

+

+"Where are you now?"

+

+The answer came dreamily, but with intention.  It were as though she

+were interpreting something.  I have heard her use the same tone when

+reading her shorthand notes.

+

+"I do not know.  It is all strange to me!"

+

+"What do you see?"

+

+"I can see nothing.  It is all dark."

+

+"What do you hear?"  I could detect the strain in the Professor's

+patient voice.

+

+"The lapping of water.  It is gurgling by, and little waves leap.  I

+can hear them on the outside."

+

+"Then you are on a ship?'"

+

+We all looked at each other, trying to glean something each from the

+other.  We were afraid to think.

+

+The answer came quick, "Oh, yes!"

+

+"What else do you hear?"

+

+"The sound of men stamping overhead as they run about.  There is the

+creaking of a chain, and the loud tinkle as the check of the capstan

+falls into the ratchet."

+

+"What are you doing?"

+

+"I am still, oh so still.  It is like death!"  The voice faded away

+into a deep breath as of one sleeping, and the open eyes closed again.

+

+By this time the sun had risen, and we were all in the full light of

+day.  Dr. Van Helsing placed his hands on Mina's shoulders, and laid

+her head down softly on her pillow.  She lay like a sleeping child for

+a few moments, and then, with a long sigh, awoke and stared in wonder

+to see us all around her.

+

+"Have I been talking in my sleep?" was all she said.  She seemed,

+however, to know the situation without telling, though she was eager

+to know what she had told.  The Professor repeated the conversation,

+and she said, "Then there is not a moment to lose.  It may not be yet

+too late!"

+

+Mr. Morris and Lord Godalming started for the door but the Professor's

+calm voice called them back.

+

+"Stay, my friends.  That ship, wherever it was, was weighing anchor at

+the moment in your so great Port of London.  Which of them is it that

+you seek?  God be thanked that we have once again a clue, though

+whither it may lead us we know not.  We have been blind somewhat.

+Blind after the manner of men, since we can look back we see what we

+might have seen looking forward if we had been able to see what we

+might have seen!  Alas, but that sentence is a puddle, is it not?  We

+can know now what was in the Count's mind, when he seize that money,

+though Jonathan's so fierce knife put him in the danger that even he

+dread.  He meant escape.  Hear me, ESCAPE!  He saw that with but one

+earth box left, and a pack of men following like dogs after a fox,

+this London was no place for him.  He have take his last earth box on

+board a ship, and he leave the land.  He think to escape, but no!  We

+follow him.  Tally Ho!  As friend Arthur would say when he put on his

+red frock!  Our old fox is wily.  Oh!  So wily, and we must follow

+with wile.  I, too, am wily and I think his mind in a little while.

+In meantime we may rest and in peace, for there are between us which

+he do not want to pass, and which he could not if he would.  Unless

+the ship were to touch the land, and then only at full or slack tide.

+See, and the sun is just rose, and all day to sunset is us.  Let us

+take bath, and dress, and have breakfast which we all need, and which

+we can eat comfortably since he be not in the same land with us."

+

+Mina looked at him appealingly as she asked, "But why need we seek him

+further, when he is gone away from us?"

+

+He took her hand and patted it as he replied, "Ask me nothing as yet.

+When we have breakfast, then I answer all questions."  He would say no

+more, and we separated to dress.

+

+After breakfast Mina repeated her question.  He looked at her gravely

+for a minute and then said sorrowfully, "Because my dear, dear Madam

+Mina, now more than ever must we find him even if we have to follow

+him to the jaws of Hell!"

+

+She grew paler as she asked faintly, "Why?"

+

+"Because," he answered solemnly, "he can live for centuries, and you

+are but mortal woman.  Time is now to be dreaded, since once he put

+that mark upon your throat."

+

+I was just in time to catch her as she fell forward in a faint.

+

+

+

+

+CHAPTER 24

+

+

+DR. SEWARD'S PHONOGRAPH DIARY

+

+SPOKEN BY VAN HELSING

+

+This to Jonathan Harker.

+

+You are to stay with your dear Madam Mina.  We shall go to make our

+search, if I can call it so, for it is not search but knowing, and we

+seek confirmation only.  But do you stay and take care of her today.

+This is your best and most holiest office.  This day nothing can find

+him here.

+

+Let me tell you that so you will know what we four know already, for I

+have tell them.  He, our enemy, have gone away.  He have gone back to

+his Castle in Transylvania.  I know it so well, as if a great hand of

+fire wrote it on the wall.  He have prepare for this in some way, and

+that last earth box was ready to ship somewheres.  For this he took

+the money.  For this he hurry at the last, lest we catch him before

+the sun go down.  It was his last hope, save that he might hide in the

+tomb that he think poor Miss Lucy, being as he thought like him, keep

+open to him.  But there was not of time.  When that fail he make

+straight for his last resource, his last earth-work I might say did I

+wish double entente.  He is clever, oh so clever!  He know that his

+game here was finish.  And so he decide he go back home.  He find ship

+going by the route he came, and he go in it.

+

+We go off now to find what ship, and whither bound.  When we have

+discover that, we come back and tell you all.  Then we will comfort

+you and poor Madam Mina with new hope.  For it will be hope when you

+think it over, that all is not lost.  This very creature that we

+pursue, he take hundreds of years to get so far as London.  And yet in

+one day, when we know of the disposal of him we drive him out.  He is

+finite, though he is powerful to do much harm and suffers not as we

+do.  But we are strong, each in our purpose, and we are all more

+strong together.  Take heart afresh, dear husband of Madam Mina.  This

+battle is but begun and in the end we shall win.  So sure as that God

+sits on high to watch over His children.  Therefore be of much comfort

+till we return.

+

+VAN HELSING.

+

+

+

+

+

+JONATHAN HARKER'S JOURNAL

+

+4 October.--When I read to Mina, Van Helsing's message in the

+phonograph, the poor girl brightened up considerably.  Already the

+certainty that the Count is out of the country has given her comfort.

+And comfort is strength to her.  For my own part, now that his

+horrible danger is not face to face with us, it seems almost

+impossible to believe in it.  Even my own terrible experiences in

+Castle Dracula seem like a long forgotten dream.  Here in the crisp

+autumn air in the bright sunlight.

+

+Alas!  How can I disbelieve!  In the midst of my thought my eye fell

+on the red scar on my poor darling's white forehead.  Whilst that

+lasts, there can be no disbelief.  Mina and I fear to be idle, so we

+have been over all the diaries again and again.  Somehow, although the

+reality seem greater each time, the pain and the fear seem less.  There

+is something of a guiding purpose manifest throughout, which is

+comforting.  Mina says that perhaps we are the instruments of ultimate

+good.  It may be!  I shall try to think as she does.  We have never

+spoken to each other yet of the future.  It is better to wait till we

+see the Professor and the others after their investigations.

+

+The day is running by more quickly than I ever thought a day could run

+for me again.  It is now three o'clock.

+

+

+

+

+

+MINA HARKER'S JOURNAL

+

+5 October, 5 P.M.--Our meeting for report.  Present:  Professor Van

+Helsing, Lord Godalming, Dr. Seward, Mr. Quincey Morris, Jonathan

+Harker, Mina Harker.

+

+Dr. Van Helsing described what steps were taken during the day to

+discover on what boat and whither bound Count Dracula made his escape.

+

+"As I knew that he wanted to get back to Transylvania, I felt sure

+that he must go by the Danube mouth, or by somewhere in the Black Sea,

+since by that way he come.  It was a dreary blank that was before us.

+Omme ignotum pro magnifico, and so with heavy hearts we start to find

+what ships leave for the Black Sea last night.  He was in sailing

+ship, since Madam Mina tell of sails being set.  These not so

+important as to go in your list of the shipping in the Times, and so

+we go, by suggestion of Lord Godalming, to your Lloyd's, where are

+note of all ships that sail, however so small.  There we find that

+only one Black Sea bound ship go out with the tide.  She is the

+Czarina Catherine, and she sail from Doolittle's Wharf for Varna, and

+thence to other ports and up the Danube.  'So!' said I, 'this is the

+ship whereon is the Count.'  So off we go to Doolittle's Wharf, and

+there we find a man in an office.  From him we inquire of the goings

+of the Czarina Catherine.  He swear much, and he red face and loud of

+voice, but he good fellow all the same.  And when Quincey give him

+something from his pocket which crackle as he roll it up, and put it

+in a so small bag which he have hid deep in his clothing, he still

+better fellow and humble servant to us.  He come with us, and ask many

+men who are rough and hot.  These be better fellows too when they have

+been no more thirsty.  They say much of blood and bloom, and of others

+which I comprehend not, though I guess what they mean.  But

+nevertheless they tell us all things which we want to know.

+

+"They make known to us among them, how last afternoon at about five

+o'clock comes a man so hurry.  A tall man, thin and pale, with high

+nose and teeth so white, and eyes that seem to be burning.  That he be

+all in black, except that he have a hat of straw which suit not him or

+the time.  That he scatter his money in making quick inquiry as to

+what ship sails for the Black Sea and for where.  Some took him to the

+office and then to the ship, where he will not go aboard but halt at

+shore end of gangplank, and ask that the captain come to him.  The

+captain come, when told that he will be pay well, and though he swear

+much at the first he agree to term.  Then the thin man go and some one

+tell him where horse and cart can be hired.  He go there and soon he

+come again, himself driving cart on which a great box.  This he

+himself lift down, though it take several to put it on truck for the

+ship.  He give much talk to captain as to how and where his box is to

+be place.  But the captain like it not and swear at him in many

+tongues, and tell him that if he like he can come and see where it

+shall be.  But he say 'no,' that he come not yet, for that he have

+much to do.  Whereupon the captain tell him that he had better be

+quick, with blood, for that his ship will leave the place, of blood,

+before the turn of the tide, with blood.  Then the thin man smile and

+say that of course he must go when he think fit, but he will be

+surprise if he go quite so soon.  The captain swear again, polyglot,

+and the thin man make him bow, and thank him, and say that he will so

+far intrude on his kindness as to come aboard before the sailing.

+Final the captain, more red than ever, and in more tongues, tell him

+that he doesn't want no Frenchmen, with bloom upon them and also with

+blood, in his ship, with blood on her also.  And so, after asking

+where he might purchase ship forms, he departed.

+

+"No one knew where he went 'or bloomin' well cared' as they said, for

+they had something else to think of, well with blood again.  For it

+soon became apparent to all that the Czarina Catherine would not sail

+as was expected.  A thin mist began to creep up from the river, and it

+grew, and grew.  Till soon a dense fog enveloped the ship and all

+around her.  The captain swore polyglot, very polyglot, polyglot with

+bloom and blood, but he could do nothing.  The water rose and rose,

+and he began to fear that he would lose the tide altogether.  He was

+in no friendly mood, when just at full tide, the thin man came up the

+gangplank again and asked to see where his box had been stowed.  Then

+the captain replied that he wished that he and his box, old and with

+much bloom and blood, were in hell.  But the thin man did not be

+offend, and went down with the mate and saw where it was place, and

+came up and stood awhile on deck in fog.  He must have come off by

+himself, for none notice him.  Indeed they thought not of him, for

+soon the fog begin to melt away, and all was clear again.  My friends

+of the thirst and the language that was of bloom and blood laughed, as

+they told how the captain's swears exceeded even his usual polyglot,

+and was more than ever full of picturesque, when on questioning other

+mariners who were on movement up and down the river that hour, he

+found that few of them had seen any of fog at all, except where it lay

+round the wharf.  However, the ship went out on the ebb tide, and was

+doubtless by morning far down the river mouth.  She was then, when

+they told us, well out to sea.

+

+"And so, my dear Madam Mina, it is that we have to rest for a time,

+for our enemy is on the sea, with the fog at his command, on his way

+to the Danube mouth.  To sail a ship takes time, go she never so

+quick.  And when we start to go on land more quick, and we meet him

+there.  Our best hope is to come on him when in the box between

+sunrise and sunset.  For then he can make no struggle, and we may deal

+with him as we should.  There are days for us, in which we can make

+ready our plan.  We know all about where he go.  For we have seen the

+owner of the ship, who have shown us invoices and all papers that can

+be.  The box we seek is to be landed in Varna, and to be given to an

+agent, one Ristics who will there present his credentials.  And so our

+merchant friend will have done his part.  When he ask if there be any

+wrong, for that so, he can telegraph and have inquiry made at Varna,

+we say 'no,' for what is to be done is not for police or of the

+customs.  It must be done by us alone and in our own way."

+

+When Dr. Van Helsing had done speaking, I asked him if he were certain

+that the Count had remained on board the ship.  He replied, "We have

+the best proof of that, your own evidence, when in the hypnotic trance

+this morning."

+

+I asked him again if it were really necessary that they should pursue

+the Count, for oh!  I dread Jonathan leaving me, and I know that he

+would surely go if the others went.  He answered in growing passion,

+at first quietly.  As he went on, however, he grew more angry and more

+forceful, till in the end we could not but see wherein was at least

+some of that personal dominance which made him so long a master

+amongst men.

+

+"Yes, it is necessary, necessary, necessary!  For your sake in the

+first, and then for the sake of humanity.  This monster has done much

+harm already, in the narrow scope where he find himself, and in the

+short time when as yet he was only as a body groping his so small

+measure in darkness and not knowing.  All this have I told these

+others.  You, my dear Madam Mina, will learn it in the phonograph of

+my friend John, or in that of your husband.  I have told them how the

+measure of leaving his own barren land, barren of peoples, and coming

+to a new land where life of man teems till they are like the multitude

+of standing corn, was the work of centuries.  Were another of the

+Undead, like him, to try to do what he has done, perhaps not all the

+centuries of the world that have been, or that will be, could aid him.

+With this one, all the forces of nature that are occult and deep and

+strong must have worked together in some wonderous way.  The very

+place, where he have been alive, Undead for all these centuries, is

+full of strangeness of the geologic and chemical world.  There are

+deep caverns and fissures that reach none know whither.  There have

+been volcanoes, some of whose openings still send out waters of

+strange properties, and gases that kill or make to vivify.  Doubtless,

+there is something magnetic or electric in some of these combinations

+of occult forces which work for physical life in strange way, and in

+himself were from the first some great qualities.  In a hard and

+warlike time he was celebrate that he have more iron nerve, more

+subtle brain, more braver heart, than any man.  In him some vital

+principle have in strange way found their utmost.  And as his body

+keep strong and grow and thrive, so his brain grow too.  All this

+without that diabolic aid which is surely to him.  For it have to

+yield to the powers that come from, and are, symbolic of good.  And

+now this is what he is to us.  He have infect you, oh forgive me, my

+dear, that I must say such, but it is for good of you that I speak.  He

+infect you in such wise, that even if he do no more, you have only to

+live, to live in your own old, sweet way, and so in time, death, which

+is of man's common lot and with God's sanction, shall make you like to

+him.  This must not be!  We have sworn together that it must not.

+Thus are we ministers of God's own wish.  That the world, and men for

+whom His Son die, will not be given over to monsters, whose very

+existence would defame Him.  He have allowed us to redeem one soul

+already, and we go out as the old knights of the Cross to redeem

+more.  Like them we shall travel towards the sunrise.  And like them,

+if we fall, we fall in good cause."

+

+He paused and I said, "But will not the Count take his rebuff wisely?

+Since he has been driven from England, will he not avoid it, as a

+tiger does the village from which he has been hunted?"

+

+"Aha!" he said, "your simile of the tiger good, for me, and I shall

+adopt him.  Your maneater, as they of India call the tiger who has

+once tasted blood of the human, care no more for the other prey, but

+prowl unceasing till he get him.  This that we hunt from our village

+is a tiger, too, a maneater, and he never cease to prowl.  Nay, in

+himself he is not one to retire and stay afar.  In his life, his

+living life, he go over the Turkey frontier and attack his enemy on

+his own ground.  He be beaten back, but did he stay?  No!  He come

+again, and again, and again.  Look at his persistence and endurance.

+With the child-brain that was to him he have long since conceive the

+idea of coming to a great city.  What does he do?  He find out the

+place of all the world most of promise for him.  Then he deliberately

+set himself down to prepare for the task.  He find in patience just

+how is his strength, and what are his powers.  He study new tongues.

+He learn new social life, new environment of old ways, the politics,

+the law, the finance, the science, the habit of a new land and a new

+people who have come to be since he was.  His glimpse that he have

+had, whet his appetite only and enkeen his desire.  Nay, it help him

+to grow as to his brain.  For it all prove to him how right he was at

+the first in his surmises.  He have done this alone, all alone!  From

+a ruin tomb in a forgotten land.  What more may he not do when the

+greater world of thought is open to him.  He that can smile at death,

+as we know him.  Who can flourish in the midst of diseases that kill

+off whole peoples.  Oh!  If such an one was to come from God, and not

+the Devil, what a force for good might he not be in this old world of

+ours.  But we are pledged to set the world free.  Our toil must be in

+silence, and our efforts all in secret.  For in this enlightened age,

+when men believe not even what they see, the doubting of wise men

+would be his greatest strength.  It would be at once his sheath and

+his armor, and his weapons to destroy us, his enemies, who are willing

+to peril even our own souls for the safety of one we love.  For the

+good of mankind, and for the honour and glory of God."

+

+After a general discussion it was determined that for tonight nothing

+be definitely settled.  That we should all sleep on the facts, and try

+to think out the proper conclusions.  Tomorrow, at breakfast, we are

+to meet again, and after making our conclusions known to one another,

+we shall decide on some definite cause of action . . .

+

+I feel a wonderful peace and rest tonight.  It is as if some haunting

+presence were removed from me.  Perhaps . . .

+

+My surmise was not finished, could not be, for I caught sight in the

+mirror of the red mark upon my forehead, and I knew that I was still

+unclean.

+

+

+

+

+DR. SEWARD'S DIARY

+

+5 October.--We all arose early, and I think that sleep did much for

+each and all of us.  When we met at early breakfast there was more

+general cheerfulness than any of us had ever expected to experience

+again.

+

+It is really wonderful how much resilience there is in human nature.

+Let any obstructing cause, no matter what, be removed in any way, even

+by death, and we fly back to first principles of hope and enjoyment.

+More than once as we sat around the table, my eyes opened in wonder

+whether the whole of the past days had not been a dream.  It was only

+when I caught sight of the red blotch on Mrs. Harker's forehead that I

+was brought back to reality.  Even now, when I am gravely revolving

+the matter, it is almost impossible to realize that the cause of all

+our trouble is still existent.  Even Mrs. Harker seems to lose sight

+of her trouble for whole spells.  It is only now and again, when

+something recalls it to her mind, that she thinks of her terrible

+scar.  We are to meet here in my study in half an hour and decide on

+our course of action.  I see only one immediate difficulty, I know it

+by instinct rather than reason.  We shall all have to speak frankly.

+And yet I fear that in some mysterious way poor Mrs. Harker's tongue

+is tied.  I know that she forms conclusions of her own, and from all

+that has been I can guess how brilliant and how true they must be.

+But she will not, or cannot, give them utterance.  I have mentioned

+this to Van Helsing, and he and I are to talk it over when we are

+alone.  I suppose it is some of that horrid poison which has got into

+her veins beginning to work.  The Count had his own purposes when he

+gave her what Van Helsing called "the Vampire's baptism of blood."

+Well, there may be a poison that distills itself out of good things.

+In an age when the existence of ptomaines is a mystery we should not

+wonder at anything!  One thing I know, that if my instinct be true

+regarding poor Mrs. Harker's silences, then there is a terrible

+difficulty, an unknown danger, in the work before us.  The same power

+that compels her silence may compel her speech.  I dare not think

+further, for so I should in my thoughts dishonour a noble woman!

+

+

+Later.--When the Professor came in, we talked over the state of

+things.  I could see that he had something on his mind, which he

+wanted to say, but felt some hesitancy about broaching the subject.

+After beating about the bush a little, he said, "Friend John, there is

+something that you and I must talk of alone, just at the first at any

+rate.  Later, we may have to take the others into our confidence."

+

+Then he stopped, so I waited.  He went on, "Madam Mina, our poor, dear

+Madam Mina is changing."

+

+A cold shiver ran through me to find my worst fears thus endorsed.

+Van Helsing continued.

+

+"With the sad experience of Miss Lucy, we must this time be warned

+before things go too far.  Our task is now in reality more difficult

+than ever, and this new trouble makes every hour of the direst

+importance.  I can see the characteristics of the vampire coming in

+her face.  It is now but very, very slight.  But it is to be seen if

+we have eyes to notice without prejudge.  Her teeth are sharper, and

+at times her eyes are more hard.  But these are not all, there is to

+her the silence now often, as so it was with Miss Lucy.  She did not

+speak, even when she wrote that which she wished to be known later.

+Now my fear is this.  If it be that she can, by our hypnotic trance,

+tell what the Count see and hear, is it not more true that he who have

+hypnotize her first, and who have drink of her very blood and make her

+drink of his, should if he will, compel her mind to disclose to him

+that which she know?"

+

+I nodded acquiescence.  He went on, "Then, what we must do is to

+prevent this.  We must keep her ignorant of our intent, and so she

+cannot tell what she know not.  This is a painful task!  Oh, so

+painful that it heartbreak me to think of it, but it must be.  When

+today we meet, I must tell her that for reason which we will not to

+speak she must not more be of our council, but be simply guarded by

+us."

+

+He wiped his forehead, which had broken out in profuse perspiration at

+the thought of the pain which he might have to inflict upon the poor

+soul already so tortured.  I knew that it would be some sort of

+comfort to him if I told him that I also had come to the same

+conclusion.  For at any rate it would take away the pain of doubt.  I

+told him, and the effect was as I expected.

+

+It is now close to the time of our general gathering.  Van Helsing has

+gone away to prepare for the meeting, and his painful part of it.  I

+really believe his purpose is to be able to pray alone.

+

+

+Later.--At the very outset of our meeting a great personal relief was

+experienced by both Van Helsing and myself.  Mrs. Harker had sent a

+message by her husband to say that she would not join us at present,

+as she thought it better that we should be free to discuss our

+movements without her presence to embarrass us.  The Professor and I

+looked at each other for an instant, and somehow we both seemed

+relieved.  For my own part, I thought that if Mrs. Harker realized the

+danger herself, it was much pain as well as much danger averted.

+Under the circumstances we agreed, by a questioning look and answer,

+with finger on lip, to preserve silence in our suspicions, until we

+should have been able to confer alone again.  We went at once into our

+Plan of Campaign.

+

+Van Helsing roughly put the facts before us first, "The Czarina

+Catherine left the Thames yesterday morning.  It will take her at the

+quickest speed she has ever made at least three weeks to reach Varna.

+But we can travel overland to the same place in three days.  Now, if

+we allow for two days less for the ship's voyage, owing to such

+weather influences as we know that the Count can bring to bear, and if

+we allow a whole day and night for any delays which may occur to us,

+then we have a margin of nearly two weeks.

+

+"Thus, in order to be quite safe, we must leave here on 17th at

+latest.  Then we shall at any rate be in Varna a day before the ship

+arrives, and able to make such preparations as may be necessary.  Of

+course we shall all go armed, armed against evil things, spiritual as

+well as physical."

+

+Here Quincey Morris added, "I understand that the Count comes from a

+wolf country, and it may be that he shall get there before us.  I

+propose that we add Winchesters to our armament.  I have a kind of

+belief in a Winchester when there is any trouble of that sort around.

+Do you remember, Art, when we had the pack after us at Tobolsk?  What

+wouldn't we have given then for a repeater apiece!"

+

+"Good!" said Van Helsing, "Winchesters it shall be.  Quincey's head is

+level at times, but most so when there is to hunt, metaphor be more

+dishonour to science than wolves be of danger to man.  In the meantime

+we can do nothing here.  And as I think that Varna is not familiar to

+any of us, why not go there more soon?  It is as long to wait here as

+there.  Tonight and tomorrow we can get ready, and then if all be

+well, we four can set out on our journey."

+

+"We four?" said Harker interrogatively, looking from one to another of

+us.

+

+"Of course!" answered the Professor quickly.  "You must remain to take

+care of your so sweet wife!"

+

+Harker was silent for awhile and then said in a hollow voice, "Let us

+talk of that part of it in the morning.  I want to consult with Mina."

+

+I thought that now was the time for Van Helsing to warn him not to

+disclose our plan to her, but he took no notice.  I looked at him

+significantly and coughed.  For answer he put his finger to his lips

+and turned away.

+

+

+

+JONATHAN HARKER'S JOURNAL

+

+5 October, afternoon.--For some time after our meeting this morning I

+could not think.  The new phases of things leave my mind in a state of

+wonder which allows no room for active thought.  Mina's determination

+not to take any part in the discussion set me thinking.  And as I

+could not argue the matter with her, I could only guess.  I am as far

+as ever from a solution now.  The way the others received it, too

+puzzled me.  The last time we talked of the subject we agreed that

+there was to be no more concealment of anything amongst us.  Mina is

+sleeping now, calmly and sweetly like a little child.  Her lips are

+curved and her face beams with happiness.  Thank God, there are such

+moments still for her.

+

+

+Later.--How strange it all is.  I sat watching Mina's happy sleep, and

+I came as near to being happy myself as I suppose I shall ever be.  As

+the evening drew on, and the earth took its shadows from the sun

+sinking lower, the silence of the room grew more and more solemn to

+me.

+

+All at once Mina opened her eyes, and looking at me tenderly said,

+"Jonathan, I want you to promise me something on your word of honour.

+A promise made to me, but made holily in God's hearing, and not to be

+broken though I should go down on my knees and implore you with bitter

+tears.  Quick, you must make it to me at once."

+

+"Mina," I said, "a promise like that, I cannot make at once.  I may

+have no right to make it."

+

+"But, dear one," she said, with such spiritual intensity that her eyes

+were like pole stars, "it is I who wish it.  And it is not for myself.

+You can ask Dr. Van Helsing if I am not right.  If he disagrees you

+may do as you will.  Nay, more if you all agree, later you are

+absolved from the promise."

+

+"I promise!" I said, and for a moment she looked supremely happy.

+Though to me all happiness for her was denied by the red scar on her

+forehead.

+

+She said, "Promise me that you will not tell me anything of the plans

+formed for the campaign against the Count.  Not by word, or inference,

+or implication, not at any time whilst this remains to me!"  And she

+solemnly pointed to the scar.  I saw that she was in earnest, and said

+solemnly, "I promise!" and as I said it I felt that from that instant

+a door had been shut between us.

+

+

+Later, midnight.--Mina has been bright and cheerful all the evening.

+So much so that all the rest seemed to take courage, as if infected

+somewhat with her gaiety.  As a result even I myself felt as if the

+pall of gloom which weighs us down were somewhat lifted.  We all

+retired early.  Mina is now sleeping like a little child.  It is

+wonderful thing that her faculty of sleep remains to her in the midst

+of her terrible trouble.  Thank God for it, for then at least she can

+forget her care.  Perhaps her example may affect me as her gaiety did

+tonight.  I shall try it.  Oh!  For a dreamless sleep.

+

+6 October, morning.--Another surprise.  Mina woke me early, about the

+same time as yesterday, and asked me to bring Dr. Van Helsing.  I

+thought that it was another occasion for hypnotism, and without

+question went for the Professor.  He had evidently expected some such

+call, for I found him dressed in his room.  His door was ajar, so that

+he could hear the opening of the door of our room.  He came at once.

+As he passed into the room, he asked Mina if the others might come,

+too.

+

+"No," she said quite simply, "it will not be necessary.  You can tell

+them just as well.  I must go with you on your journey."

+

+Dr. Van Helsing was as startled as I was.  After a moment's pause he

+asked, "But why?"

+

+"You must take me with you.  I am safer with you, and you shall be

+safer, too."

+

+"But why, dear Madam Mina?  You know that your safety is our solemnest

+duty.  We go into danger, to which you are, or may be, more liable

+than any of us from . . . from circumstances . . . things that have

+been."  He paused embarrassed.

+

+As she replied, she raised her finger and pointed to her forehead.  "I

+know.  That is why I must go.  I can tell you now, whilst the sun is

+coming up.  I may not be able again.  I know that when the Count wills

+me I must go.  I know that if he tells me to come in secret, I must by

+wile.  By any device to hoodwink, even Jonathan."  God saw the look

+that she turned on me as she spoke, and if there be indeed a Recording

+Angel that look is noted to her ever-lasting honour.  I could only

+clasp her hand.  I could not speak.  My emotion was too great for even

+the relief of tears.

+

+She went on.  "You men are brave and strong.  You are strong in your

+numbers, for you can defy that which would break down the human

+endurance of one who had to guard alone.  Besides, I may be of

+service, since you can hypnotize me and so learn that which even I

+myself do not know."

+

+Dr. Van Helsing said gravely, "Madam Mina, you are, as always, most

+wise.  You shall with us come.  And together we shall do that which we

+go forth to achieve."

+

+When he had spoken, Mina's long spell of silence made me look at her.

+She had fallen back on her pillow asleep.  She did not even wake when

+I had pulled up the blind and let in the sunlight which flooded the

+room.  Van Helsing motioned to me to come with him quietly.  We went

+to his room, and within a minute Lord Godalming, Dr. Seward, and Mr.

+Morris were with us also.

+

+He told them what Mina had said, and went on.  "In the morning we

+shall leave for Varna.  We have now to deal with a new factor, Madam

+Mina.  Oh, but her soul is true.  It is to her an agony to tell us so

+much as she has done.  But it is most right, and we are warned in

+time.  There must be no chance lost, and in Varna we must be ready to

+act the instant when that ship arrives."

+

+"What shall we do exactly?" asked Mr. Morris laconically.

+

+The Professor paused before replying, "We shall at the first board

+that ship.  Then, when we have identified the box, we shall place a

+branch of the wild rose on it.  This we shall fasten, for when it is

+there none can emerge, so that at least says the superstition.  And to

+superstition must we trust at the first.  It was man's faith in the

+early, and it have its root in faith still.  Then, when we get the

+opportunity that we seek, when none are near to see, we shall open the

+box, and . . . and all will be well."

+

+"I shall not wait for any opportunity," said Morris.  "When I see the

+box I shall open it and destroy the monster, though there were a

+thousand men looking on, and if I am to be wiped out for it the next

+moment!"  I grasped his hand instinctively and found it as firm as a

+piece of steel.  I think he understood my look.  I hope he did.

+

+"Good boy," said Dr. Van Helsing.  "Brave boy.  Quincey is all man.

+God bless him for it.  My child, believe me none of us shall lag

+behind or pause from any fear.  I do but say what we may do . . . what

+we must do.  But, indeed, indeed we cannot say what we may do.  There

+are so many things which may happen, and their ways and their ends are

+so various that until the moment we may not say.  We shall all be

+armed, in all ways.  And when the time for the end has come, our

+effort shall not be lack.  Now let us today put all our affairs in

+order.  Let all things which touch on others dear to us, and who on us

+depend, be complete.  For none of us can tell what, or when, or how,

+the end may be.  As for me, my own affairs are regulate, and as I have

+nothing else to do, I shall go make arrangements for the travel.  I

+shall have all tickets and so forth for our journey."

+

+There was nothing further to be said, and we parted.  I shall now

+settle up all my affairs of earth, and be ready for whatever may come.

+

+

+Later.--It is done.  My will is made, and all complete.  Mina if she

+survive is my sole heir.  If it should not be so, then the others who

+have been so good to us shall have remainder.

+

+It is now drawing towards the sunset.  Mina's uneasiness calls my

+attention to it.  I am sure that there is something on her mind which

+the time of exact sunset will reveal.  These occasions are becoming

+harrowing times for us all.  For each sunrise and sunset opens up some

+new danger, some new pain, which however, may in God's will be means

+to a good end.  I write all these things in the diary since my darling

+must not hear them now.  But if it may be that she can see them again,

+they shall be ready.  She is calling to me.

+

+

+

+

+CHAPTER 25

+

+

+DR. SEWARD'S DIARY

+

+11 October, Evening.--Jonathan Harker has asked me to note this, as he

+says he is hardly equal to the task, and he wants an exact record

+kept.

+

+I think that none of us were surprised when we were asked to see Mrs.

+Harker a little before the time of sunset.  We have of late come to

+understand that sunrise and sunset are to her times of peculiar

+freedom.  When her old self can be manifest without any controlling

+force subduing or restraining her, or inciting her to action.  This

+mood or condition begins some half hour or more before actual sunrise

+or sunset, and lasts till either the sun is high, or whilst the clouds

+are still aglow with the rays streaming above the horizon.  At first

+there is a sort of negative condition, as if some tie were loosened,

+and then the absolute freedom quickly follows.  When, however, the

+freedom ceases the change back or relapse comes quickly, preceded

+only by a spell of warning silence.

+

+Tonight, when we met, she was somewhat constrained, and bore all the

+signs of an internal struggle.  I put it down myself to her making a

+violent effort at the earliest instant she could do so.

+

+A very few minutes, however, gave her complete control of herself.

+Then, motioning her husband to sit beside her on the sofa where she

+was half reclining, she made the rest of us bring chairs up close.

+

+Taking her husband's hand in hers, she began, "We are all here

+together in freedom, for perhaps the last time!  I know that you will

+always be with me to the end."  This was to her husband whose hand had,

+as we could see, tightened upon her.  "In the morning we go out upon

+our task, and God alone knows what may be in store for any of us.  You

+are going to be so good to me to take me with you.  I know that all

+that brave earnest men can do for a poor weak woman, whose soul

+perhaps is lost, no, no, not yet, but is at any rate at stake, you

+will do.  But you must remember that I am not as you are.  There is a

+poison in my blood, in my soul, which may destroy me, which must

+destroy me, unless some relief comes to us.  Oh, my friends, you know

+as well as I do, that my soul is at stake.  And though I know there is

+one way out for me, you must not and I must not take it!"  She looked

+appealingly to us all in turn, beginning and ending with her husband.

+

+"What is that way?" asked Van Helsing in a hoarse voice.  "What is

+that way, which we must not, may not, take?"

+

+"That I may die now, either by my own hand or that of another, before

+the greater evil is entirely wrought.  I know, and you know, that were

+I once dead you could and would set free my immortal spirit, even as

+you did my poor Lucy's.  Were death, or the fear of death, the only

+thing that stood in the way I would not shrink to die here now, amidst

+the friends who love me.  But death is not all.  I cannot believe that

+to die in such a case, when there is hope before us and a bitter task

+to be done, is God's will.  Therefore, I on my part, give up here the

+certainty of eternal rest, and go out into the dark where may be the

+blackest things that the world or the nether world holds!"

+

+We were all silent, for we knew instinctively that this was only a

+prelude.  The faces of the others were set, and Harker's grew ashen

+grey.  Perhaps, he guessed better than any of us what was coming.

+

+She continued, "This is what I can give into the hotch-pot."  I could

+not but note the quaint legal phrase which she used in such a place,

+and with all seriousness.  "What will each of you give?  Your lives I

+know," she went on quickly, "that is easy for brave men.  Your lives

+are God's, and you can give them back to Him, but what will you give

+to me?"  She looked again questioningly, but this time avoided her

+husband's face.  Quincey seemed to understand, he nodded, and her face

+lit up.  "Then I shall tell you plainly what I want, for there must be

+no doubtful matter in this connection between us now.  You must

+promise me, one and all, even you, my beloved husband, that should the

+time come, you will kill me."

+

+"What is that time?"  The voice was Quincey's, but it was low and

+strained.

+

+"When you shall be convinced that I am so changed that it is better

+that I die that I may live.  When I am thus dead in the flesh, then

+you will, without a moment's delay, drive a stake through me and cut

+off my head, or do whatever else may be wanting to give me rest!"

+

+Quincey was the first to rise after the pause.  He knelt down before

+her and taking her hand in his said solemnly, "I'm only a rough

+fellow, who hasn't, perhaps, lived as a man should to win such a

+distinction, but I swear to you by all that I hold sacred and dear

+that, should the time ever come, I shall not flinch from the duty that

+you have set us.  And I promise you, too, that I shall make all

+certain, for if I am only doubtful I shall take it that the time has

+come!"

+

+"My true friend!" was all she could say amid her fast-falling tears,

+as bending over, she kissed his hand.

+

+"I swear the same, my dear Madam Mina!" said Van Helsing.  "And I!"

+said Lord Godalming, each of them in turn kneeling to her to take the

+oath.  I followed, myself.

+

+Then her husband turned to her wan-eyed and with a greenish pallor

+which subdued the snowy whiteness of his hair, and asked, "And must I,

+too, make such a promise, oh, my wife?"

+

+"You too, my dearest," she said, with infinite yearning of pity in her

+voice and eyes.  "You must not shrink.  You are nearest and dearest

+and all the world to me.  Our souls are knit into one, for all life

+and all time.  Think, dear, that there have been times when brave men

+have killed their wives and their womenkind, to keep them from falling

+into the hands of the enemy.  Their hands did not falter any the more

+because those that they loved implored them to slay them.  It is men's

+duty towards those whom they love, in such times of sore trial!  And

+oh, my dear, if it is to be that I must meet death at any hand, let it

+be at the hand of him that loves me best.  Dr. Van Helsing, I have not

+forgotten your mercy in poor Lucy's case to him who loved."  She

+stopped with a flying blush, and changed her phrase, "to him who had

+best right to give her peace.  If that time shall come again, I look

+to you to make it a happy memory of my husband's life that it was his

+loving hand which set me free from the awful thrall upon me."

+

+"Again I swear!" came the Professor's resonant voice.

+

+Mrs. Harker smiled, positively smiled, as with a sigh of relief she

+leaned back and said, "And now one word of warning, a warning which

+you must never forget.  This time, if it ever come, may come quickly

+and unexpectedly, and in such case you must lose no time in using your

+opportunity.  At such a time I myself might be . . . nay!  If the time

+ever come, shall be, leagued with your enemy against you.

+

+"One more request," she became very solemn as she said this, "it is

+not vital and necessary like the other, but I want you to do one thing

+for me, if you will."

+

+We all acquiesced, but no one spoke.  There was no need to speak.

+

+"I want you to read the Burial Service."  She was interrupted by a

+deep groan from her husband.  Taking his hand in hers, she held it

+over her heart, and continued.  "You must read it over me some day.

+Whatever may be the issue of all this fearful state of things, it will

+be a sweet thought to all or some of us.  You, my dearest, will I hope

+read it, for then it will be in your voice in my memory forever, come

+what may!"

+

+"But oh, my dear one," he pleaded, "death is afar off from you."

+

+"Nay," she said, holding up a warning hand.  "I am deeper in death at

+this moment than if the weight of an earthly grave lay heavy upon me!"

+

+"Oh, my wife, must I read it?" he said, before he began.

+

+"It would comfort me, my husband!" was all she said, and he began to

+read when she had got the book ready.

+

+How can I, how could anyone, tell of that strange scene, its

+solemnity, its gloom, its sadness, its horror, and withal, its

+sweetness.  Even a sceptic, who can see nothing but a travesty of

+bitter truth in anything holy or emotional, would have been melted to

+the heart had he seen that little group of loving and devoted friends

+kneeling round that stricken and sorrowing lady; or heard the tender

+passion of her husband's voice, as in tones so broken and emotional

+that often he had to pause, he read the simple and beautiful service

+from the Burial of the Dead.  I cannot go on . . . words . . . and

+v-voices . . . f-fail m-me!

+

+She was right in her instinct.  Strange as it was, bizarre as it may

+hereafter seem even to us who felt its potent influence at the time,

+it comforted us much.  And the silence, which showed Mrs. Harker's

+coming relapse from her freedom of soul, did not seem so full of

+despair to any of us as we had dreaded.

+

+

+

+

+

+JONATHAN HARKER'S JOURNAL

+

+15 October, Varna.--We left Charing Cross on the morning of the 12th,

+got to Paris the same night, and took the places secured for us in the

+Orient Express.  We traveled night and day, arriving here at about

+five o'clock.  Lord Godalming went to the Consulate to see if any

+telegram had arrived for him, whilst the rest of us came on to this

+hotel, "the Odessus."  The journey may have had incidents.  I was,

+however, too eager to get on, to care for them.  Until the Czarina

+Catherine comes into port there will be no interest for me in anything

+in the wide world.  Thank God!  Mina is well, and looks to be getting

+stronger.  Her colour is coming back.  She sleeps a great deal.

+Throughout the journey she slept nearly all the time.  Before sunrise

+and sunset, however, she is very wakeful and alert.  And it has become

+a habit for Van Helsing to hypnotize her at such times.  At first,

+some effort was needed, and he had to make many passes.  But now, she

+seems to yield at once, as if by habit, and scarcely any action is

+needed.  He seems to have power at these particular moments to simply

+will, and her thoughts obey him.  He always asks her what she can see

+and hear.

+

+She answers to the first, "Nothing, all is dark."

+

+And to the second, "I can hear the waves lapping against the ship, and

+the water rushing by.  Canvas and cordage strain and masts and yards

+creak.  The wind is high . . . I can hear it in the shrouds, and the

+bow throws back the foam."

+

+It is evident that the Czarina Catherine is still at sea, hastening on

+her way to Varna.  Lord Godalming has just returned.  He had four

+telegrams, one each day since we started, and all to the same effect.

+That the Czarina Catherine had not been reported to Lloyd's from

+anywhere.  He had arranged before leaving London that his agent should

+send him every day a telegram saying if the ship had been reported.

+He was to have a message even if she were not reported, so that he

+might be sure that there was a watch being kept at the other end of

+the wire.

+

+We had dinner and went to bed early.  Tomorrow we are to see the Vice

+Consul, and to arrange, if we can, about getting on board the ship as

+soon as she arrives.  Van Helsing says that our chance will be to get

+on the boat between sunrise and sunset.  The Count, even if he takes

+the form of a bat, cannot cross the running water of his own volition,

+and so cannot leave the ship.  As he dare not change to man's form

+without suspicion, which he evidently wishes to avoid, he must remain

+in the box.  If, then, we can come on board after sunrise, he is at

+our mercy, for we can open the box and make sure of him, as we did of

+poor Lucy, before he wakes.  What mercy he shall get from us all will

+not count for much.  We think that we shall not have much trouble with

+officials or the seamen.  Thank God!  This is the country where

+bribery can do anything, and we are well supplied with money.  We have

+only to make sure that the ship cannot come into port between sunset

+and sunrise without our being warned, and we shall be safe.  Judge

+Moneybag will settle this case, I think!

+

+

+16 October.--Mina's report still the same.  Lapping waves and rushing

+water, darkness and favouring winds.  We are evidently in good time,

+and when we hear of the Czarina Catherine we shall be ready.  As she

+must pass the Dardanelles we are sure to have some report.

+

+

+17 October.--Everything is pretty well fixed now, I think, to welcome

+the Count on his return from his tour.  Godalming told the shippers

+that he fancied that the box sent aboard might contain something

+stolen from a friend of his, and got a half consent that he might open

+it at his own risk.  The owner gave him a paper telling the Captain to

+give him every facility in doing whatever he chose on board the ship,

+and also a similar authorization to his agent at Varna.  We have seen

+the agent, who was much impressed with Godalming's kindly manner to

+him, and we are all satisfied that whatever he can do to aid our

+wishes will be done.

+

+We have already arranged what to do in case we get the box open.  If

+the Count is there, Van Helsing and Seward will cut off his head at

+once and drive a stake through his heart.  Morris and Godalming and I

+shall prevent interference, even if we have to use the arms which we

+shall have ready.  The Professor says that if we can so treat the

+Count's body, it will soon after fall into dust.  In such case there

+would be no evidence against us, in case any suspicion of murder were

+aroused.  But even if it were not, we should stand or fall by our act,

+and perhaps some day this very script may be evidence to come between

+some of us and a rope.  For myself, I should take the chance only too

+thankfully if it were to come.  We mean to leave no stone unturned to

+carry out our intent.  We have arranged with certain officials that

+the instant the Czarina Catherine is seen, we are to be informed by a

+special messenger.

+

+

+24 October.--A whole week of waiting.  Daily telegrams to Godalming,

+but only the same story.  "Not yet reported."  Mina's morning and

+evening hypnotic answer is unvaried.  Lapping waves, rushing water,

+and creaking masts.

+

+

+

+

+TELEGRAM, OCTOBER 24TH RUFUS SMITH, LLOYD'S, LONDON,

+TO LORD GODALMING, CARE OF H. B. M. VICE CONSUL, VARNA

+

+"Czarina Catherine reported this morning from Dardanelles."

+

+

+

+DR. SEWARD'S DIARY

+

+25 October.--How I miss my phonograph!  To write a diary with a pen is

+irksome to me!  But Van Helsing says I must.  We were all wild with

+excitement yesterday when Godalming got his telegram from Lloyd's.  I

+know now what men feel in battle when the call to action is heard.

+Mrs. Harker, alone of our party, did not show any signs of emotion.

+After all, it is not strange that she did not, for we took special

+care not to let her know anything about it, and we all tried not to

+show any excitement when we were in her presence.  In old days she

+would, I am sure, have noticed, no matter how we might have tried to

+conceal it.  But in this way she is greatly changed during the past

+three weeks.  The lethargy grows upon her, and though she seems strong

+and well, and is getting back some of her colour, Van Helsing and I are

+not satisfied.  We talk of her often.  We have not, however, said a

+word to the others.  It would break poor Harker's heart, certainly his

+nerve, if he knew that we had even a suspicion on the subject.  Van

+Helsing examines, he tells me, her teeth very carefully, whilst she is

+in the hypnotic condition, for he says that so long as they do not

+begin to sharpen there is no active danger of a change in her.  If

+this change should come, it would be necessary to take steps!  We both

+know what those steps would have to be, though we do not mention our

+thoughts to each other.  We should neither of us shrink from the task,

+awful though it be to contemplate.  "Euthanasia" is an excellent and a

+comforting word!  I am grateful to whoever invented it.

+

+It is only about 24 hours' sail from the Dardanelles to here, at the

+rate the Czarina Catherine has come from London.  She should therefore

+arrive some time in the morning, but as she cannot possibly get in

+before noon, we are all about to retire early.  We shall get up at one

+o'clock, so as to be ready.

+

+

+25 October, Noon.--No news yet of the ship's arrival.  Mrs. Harker's

+hypnotic report this morning was the same as usual, so it is possible

+that we may get news at any moment.  We men are all in a fever of

+excitement, except Harker, who is calm.  His hands are cold as ice,

+and an hour ago I found him whetting the edge of the great Ghoorka

+knife which he now always carries with him.  It will be a bad lookout

+for the Count if the edge of that "Kukri" ever touches his throat,

+driven by that stern, ice-cold hand!

+

+Van Helsing and I were a little alarmed about Mrs. Harker today.

+About noon she got into a sort of lethargy which we did not like.

+Although we kept silence to the others, we were neither of us happy

+about it.  She had been restless all the morning, so that we were at

+first glad to know that she was sleeping.  When, however, her husband

+mentioned casually that she was sleeping so soundly that he could not

+wake her, we went to her room to see for ourselves.  She was breathing

+naturally and looked so well and peaceful that we agreed that the

+sleep was better for her than anything else.  Poor girl, she has so

+much to forget that it is no wonder that sleep, if it brings oblivion

+to her, does her good.

+

+

+Later.--Our opinion was justified, for when after a refreshing sleep

+of some hours she woke up, she seemed brighter and better than she had

+been for days.  At sunset she made the usual hypnotic report.

+Wherever he may be in the Black Sea, the Count is hurrying to his

+destination.  To his doom, I trust!

+

+

+

+26 October.--Another day and no tidings of the Czarina Catherine.  She

+ought to be here by now.  That she is still journeying somewhere is

+apparent, for Mrs. Harker's hypnotic report at sunrise was still the

+same.  It is possible that the vessel may be lying by, at times, for

+fog.  Some of the steamers which came in last evening reported patches

+of fog both to north and south of the port.  We must continue our

+watching, as the ship may now be signalled any moment.

+

+

+27 October, Noon.--Most strange.  No news yet of the ship we wait for.

+Mrs. Harker reported last night and this morning as usual.  "Lapping

+waves and rushing water," though she added that "the waves were very

+faint."  The telegrams from London have been the same, "no further

+report."  Van Helsing is terribly anxious, and told me just now that he

+fears the Count is escaping us.

+

+He added significantly, "I did not like that lethargy of Madam Mina's.

+Souls and memories can do strange things during trance."  I was about

+to ask him more, but Harker just then came in, and he held up a

+warning hand.  We must try tonight at sunset to make her speak more

+fully when in her hypnotic state.

+

+

+28 October.--Telegram.  Rufus Smith, London, to Lord Godalming, care

+H. B. M. Vice Consul, Varna

+

+"Czarina Catherine reported entering Galatz at one o'clock today."

+

+

+

+

+DR. SEWARD'S DIARY

+

+28 October.--When the telegram came announcing the arrival in Galatz I

+do not think it was such a shock to any of us as might have been

+expected.  True, we did not know whence, or how, or when, the bolt

+would come.  But I think we all expected that something strange would

+happen.  The day of arrival at Varna made us individually satisfied

+that things would not be just as we had expected.  We only waited to

+learn where the change would occur.  None the less, however, it was a

+surprise.  I suppose that nature works on such a hopeful basis that we

+believe against ourselves that things will be as they ought to be, not

+as we should know that they will be.  Transcendentalism is a beacon to

+the angels, even if it be a will-o'-the-wisp to man.  Van Helsing

+raised his hand over his head for a moment, as though in remonstrance

+with the Almighty.  But he said not a word, and in a few seconds stood

+up with his face sternly set.

+

+Lord Godalming grew very pale, and sat breathing heavily.  I was

+myself half stunned and looked in wonder at one after another.

+Quincey Morris tightened his belt with that quick movement which I

+knew so well.  In our old wandering days it meant "action."  Mrs.

+Harker grew ghastly white, so that the scar on her forehead seemed to

+burn, but she folded her hands meekly and looked up in prayer.  Harker

+smiled, actually smiled, the dark, bitter smile of one who is without

+hope, but at the same time his action belied his words, for his hands

+instinctively sought the hilt of the great Kukri knife and rested

+there.

+

+"When does the next train start for Galatz?" said Van Helsing to us

+generally.

+

+"At 6:30 tomorrow morning!"  We all started, for the answer came from

+Mrs. Harker.

+

+"How on earth do you know?" said Art.

+

+"You forget, or perhaps you do not know, though Jonathan does and so

+does Dr. Van Helsing, that I am the train fiend.  At home in Exeter I

+always used to make up the time tables, so as to be helpful to my

+husband.  I found it so useful sometimes, that I always make a study

+of the time tables now.  I knew that if anything were to take us to

+Castle Dracula we should go by Galatz, or at any rate through

+Bucharest, so I learned the times very carefully.  Unhappily there are

+not many to learn, as the only train tomorrow leaves as I say."

+

+"Wonderful woman!" murmured the Professor.

+

+"Can't we get a special?" asked Lord Godalming.

+

+Van Helsing shook his head, "I fear not.  This land is very different

+from yours or mine.  Even if we did have a special, it would probably

+not arrive as soon as our regular train.  Moreover, we have something

+to prepare.  We must think.  Now let us organize.  You, friend Arthur,

+go to the train and get the tickets and arrange that all be ready for

+us to go in the morning.  Do you, friend Jonathan, go to the agent of

+the ship and get from him letters to the agent in Galatz, with

+authority to make a search of the ship just as it was here.  Quincey

+Morris, you see the Vice Consul, and get his aid with his fellow in

+Galatz and all he can do to make our way smooth, so that no times be

+lost when over the Danube.  John will stay with Madam Mina and me, and

+we shall consult.  For so if time be long you may be delayed.  And it

+will not matter when the sun set, since I am here with Madam to make

+report."

+

+"And I," said Mrs. Harker brightly, and more like her old self than

+she had been for many a long day, "shall try to be of use in all ways,

+and shall think and write for you as I used to do.  Something is

+shifting from me in some strange way, and I feel freer than I have

+been of late!"

+

+The three younger men looked happier at the moment as they seemed to

+realize the significance of her words.  But Van Helsing and I, turning

+to each other, met each a grave and troubled glance.  We said nothing

+at the time, however.

+

+When the three men had gone out to their tasks Van Helsing asked Mrs.

+Harker to look up the copy of the diaries and find him the part of

+Harker's journal at the Castle.  She went away to get it.

+

+When the door was shut upon her he said to me, "We mean the same!

+Speak out!"

+

+"Here is some change.  It is a hope that makes me sick, for it may

+deceive us."

+

+"Quite so.  Do you know why I asked her to get the manuscript?"

+

+"No!" said I, "unless it was to get an opportunity of seeing me

+alone."

+

+"You are in part right, friend John, but only in part.  I want to tell

+you something.  And oh, my friend, I am taking a great, a terrible,

+risk.  But I believe it is right.  In the moment when Madam Mina said

+those words that arrest both our understanding, an inspiration came to

+me.  In the trance of three days ago the Count sent her his spirit to

+read her mind.  Or more like he took her to see him in his earth box

+in the ship with water rushing, just as it go free at rise and set of

+sun.  He learn then that we are here, for she have more to tell in her

+open life with eyes to see ears to hear than he, shut as he is, in his

+coffin box.  Now he make his most effort to escape us.  At present he

+want her not.

+

+"He is sure with his so great knowledge that she will come at his

+call.  But he cut her off, take her, as he can do, out of his own

+power, that so she come not to him.  Ah!  There I have hope that our

+man brains that have been of man so long and that have not lost the

+grace of God, will come higher than his child-brain that lie in his

+tomb for centuries, that grow not yet to our stature, and that do only

+work selfish and therefore small.  Here comes Madam Mina.  Not a word

+to her of her trance!  She knows it not, and it would overwhelm her

+and make despair just when we want all her hope, all her courage, when

+most we want all her great brain which is trained like man's brain,

+but is of sweet woman and have a special power which the Count give

+her, and which he may not take away altogether, though he think not

+so.  Hush!  Let me speak, and you shall learn.  Oh, John, my friend,

+we are in awful straits.  I fear, as I never feared before.  We can

+only trust the good God.  Silence!  Here she comes!"

+

+I thought that the Professor was going to break down and have

+hysterics, just as he had when Lucy died, but with a great effort he

+controlled himself and was at perfect nervous poise when Mrs. Harker

+tripped into the room, bright and happy looking and, in the doing of

+work, seemingly forgetful of her misery.  As she came in, she handed a

+number of sheets of typewriting to Van Helsing.  He looked over them

+gravely, his face brightening up as he read.

+

+Then holding the pages between his finger and thumb he said, "Friend

+John, to you with so much experience already, and you too, dear Madam

+Mina, that are young, here is a lesson.  Do not fear ever to think.  A

+half thought has been buzzing often in my brain, but I fear to let him

+loose his wings.  Here now, with more knowledge, I go back to where

+that half thought come from and I find that he be no half thought at

+all.  That be a whole thought, though so young that he is not yet

+strong to use his little wings.  Nay, like the 'Ugly Duck' of my

+friend Hans Andersen, he be no duck thought at all, but a big swan

+thought that sail nobly on big wings, when the time come for him to

+try them.  See I read here what Jonathan have written.

+

+"That other of his race who, in a later age, again and again, brought

+his forces over The Great River into Turkey Land, who when he was

+beaten back, came again, and again, and again, though he had to come

+alone from the bloody field where his troops were being slaughtered,

+since he knew that he alone could ultimately triumph.

+

+"What does this tell us?  Not much?  No!  The Count's child thought

+see nothing, therefore he speak so free.  Your man thought see

+nothing.  My man thought see nothing, till just now.  No!  But there

+comes another word from some one who speak without thought because

+she, too, know not what it mean, what it might mean.  Just as there

+are elements which rest, yet when in nature's course they move on

+their way and they touch, the pouf!  And there comes a flash of light,

+heaven wide, that blind and kill and destroy some.  But that show up

+all earth below for leagues and leagues.  Is it not so?  Well, I shall

+explain.  To begin, have you ever study the philosophy of crime?

+'Yes' and 'No.'  You, John, yes, for it is a study of insanity.  You,

+no, Madam Mina, for crime touch you not, not but once.  Still, your

+mind works true, and argues not a particulari ad universale.  There is

+this peculiarity in criminals.  It is so constant, in all countries

+and at all times, that even police, who know not much from philosophy,

+come to know it empirically, that it is.  That is to be empiric.  The

+criminal always work at one crime, that is the true criminal who seems

+predestinate to crime, and who will of none other.  This criminal has

+not full man brain.  He is clever and cunning and resourceful, but he

+be not of man stature as to brain.  He be of child brain in much.  Now

+this criminal of ours is predestinate to crime also.  He, too, have

+child brain, and it is of the child to do what he have done.  The

+little bird, the little fish, the little animal learn not by

+principle, but empirically.  And when he learn to do, then there is to

+him the ground to start from to do more.  'Dos pou sto,' said

+Archimedes.  'Give me a fulcrum, and I shall move the world!'  To do

+once, is the fulcrum whereby child brain become man brain.  And until

+he have the purpose to do more, he continue to do the same again every

+time, just as he have done before!  Oh, my dear, I see that your eyes

+are opened, and that to you the lightning flash show all the leagues,"

+for Mrs. Harker began to clap her hands and her eyes sparkled.

+

+He went on, "Now you shall speak.  Tell us two dry men of science what

+you see with those so bright eyes."  He took her hand and held it

+whilst he spoke.  His finger and thumb closed on her pulse, as I

+thought instinctively and unconsciously, as she spoke.

+

+"The Count is a criminal and of criminal type.  Nordau and Lombroso

+would so classify him, and qua criminal he is of an imperfectly formed

+mind.  Thus, in a difficulty he has to seek resource in habit.  His

+past is a clue, and the one page of it that we know, and that from his

+own lips, tells that once before, when in what Mr. Morris would call

+a 'tight place,' he went back to his own country from the land he had

+tried to invade, and thence, without losing purpose, prepared himself

+for a new effort.  He came again better equipped for his work, and

+won.  So he came to London to invade a new land.  He was beaten, and

+when all hope of success was lost, and his existence in danger, he

+fled back over the sea to his home.  Just as formerly he had fled back

+over the Danube from Turkey Land."

+

+"Good, good!  Oh, you so clever lady!" said Van Helsing,

+enthusiastically, as he stooped and kissed her hand.  A moment later

+he said to me, as calmly as though we had been having a sick room

+consultation, "Seventy-two only, and in all this excitement.  I have

+hope."

+

+Turning to her again, he said with keen expectation, "But go on.  Go

+on!  There is more to tell if you will.  Be not afraid.  John and I

+know.  I do in any case, and shall tell you if you are right.  Speak,

+without fear!"

+

+"I will try to.  But you will forgive me if I seem too egotistical."

+

+"Nay!  Fear not, you must be egotist, for it is of you that we think."

+

+"Then, as he is criminal he is selfish.  And as his intellect is small

+and his action is based on selfishness, he confines himself to one

+purpose.  That purpose is remorseless.  As he fled back over the

+Danube, leaving his forces to be cut to pieces, so now he is intent on

+being safe, careless of all.  So his own selfishness frees my soul

+somewhat from the terrible power which he acquired over me on that

+dreadful night.  I felt it!  Oh, I felt it!  Thank God, for His great

+mercy!  My soul is freer than it has been since that awful hour.  And

+all that haunts me is a fear lest in some trance or dream he may have

+used my knowledge for his ends."

+

+The Professor stood up, "He has so used your mind, and by it he has

+left us here in Varna, whilst the ship that carried him rushed through

+enveloping fog up to Galatz, where, doubtless, he had made preparation

+for escaping from us.  But his child mind only saw so far.  And it may

+be that as ever is in God's Providence, the very thing that the evil

+doer most reckoned on for his selfish good, turns out to be his

+chiefest harm.  The hunter is taken in his own snare, as the great

+Psalmist says.  For now that he think he is free from every trace of

+us all, and that he has escaped us with so many hours to him, then his

+selfish child brain will whisper him to sleep.  He think, too, that as

+he cut himself off from knowing your mind, there can be no knowledge

+of him to you.  There is where he fail!  That terrible baptism of

+blood which he give you makes you free to go to him in spirit, as you

+have as yet done in your times of freedom, when the sun rise and set.

+At such times you go by my volition and not by his.  And this power to

+good of you and others, you have won from your suffering at his hands.

+This is now all more precious that he know it not, and to guard

+himself have even cut himself off from his knowledge of our where.

+We, however, are not selfish, and we believe that God is with us

+through all this blackness, and these many dark hours.  We shall

+follow him, and we shall not flinch, even if we peril ourselves that

+we become like him.  Friend John, this has been a great hour, and it

+have done much to advance us on our way.  You must be scribe and write

+him all down, so that when the others return from their work you can

+give it to them, then they shall know as we do."

+

+And so I have written it whilst we wait their return, and Mrs. Harker

+has written with the typewriter all since she brought the MS to us.

+

+

+

+

+CHAPTER 26

+

+

+DR. SEWARD'S DIARY

+

+29 October.--This is written in the train from Varna to Galatz.  Last

+night we all assembled a little before the time of sunset.  Each of us

+had done his work as well as he could, so far as thought, and

+endeavour, and opportunity go, we are prepared for the whole of our

+journey, and for our work when we get to Galatz.  When the usual time

+came round Mrs. Harker prepared herself for her hypnotic effort, and

+after a longer and more serious effort on the part of Van Helsing than

+has been usually necessary, she sank into the trance.  Usually she

+speaks on a hint, but this time the Professor had to ask her

+questions, and to ask them pretty resolutely, before we could learn

+anything.  At last her answer came.

+

+"I can see nothing.  We are still.  There are no waves lapping, but

+only a steady swirl of water softly running against the hawser.  I can

+hear men's voices calling, near and far, and the roll and creak of

+oars in the rowlocks.  A gun is fired somewhere, the echo of it seems

+far away.  There is tramping of feet overhead, and ropes and chains

+are dragged along.  What is this?  There is a gleam of light.  I can

+feel the air blowing upon me."

+

+Here she stopped.  She had risen, as if impulsively, from where she

+lay on the sofa, and raised both her hands, palms upwards, as if

+lifting a weight.  Van Helsing and I looked at each other with

+understanding.  Quincey raised his eyebrows slightly and looked at her

+intently, whilst Harker's hand instinctively closed round the hilt of

+his Kukri.  There was a long pause.  We all knew that the time when

+she could speak was passing, but we felt that it was useless to say

+anything.

+

+Suddenly she sat up, and as she opened her eyes said sweetly, "Would

+none of you like a cup of tea?  You must all be so tired!"

+

+We could only make her happy, and so acqueisced.  She bustled off to

+get tea.  When she had gone Van Helsing said, "You see, my friends.  He

+is close to land.  He has left his earth chest.  But he has yet to get

+on shore.  In the night he may lie hidden somewhere, but if he be not

+carried on shore, or if the ship do not touch it, he cannot achieve

+the land.  In such case he can, if it be in the night, change his form

+and jump or fly on shore, then, unless he be carried he cannot escape.

+And if he be carried, then the customs men may discover what the box

+contain.  Thus, in fine, if he escape not on shore tonight, or before

+dawn, there will be the whole day lost to him.  We may then arrive in

+time.  For if he escape not at night we shall come on him in daytime,

+boxed up and at our mercy.  For he dare not be his true self, awake

+and visible, lest he be discovered."

+

+There was no more to be said, so we waited in patience until the dawn,

+at which time we might learn more from Mrs. Harker.

+

+Early this morning we listened, with breathless anxiety, for her

+response in her trance.  The hypnotic stage was even longer in coming

+than before, and when it came the time remaining until full sunrise

+was so short that we began to despair.  Van Helsing seemed to throw

+his whole soul into the effort.  At last, in obedience to his will she

+made reply.

+

+"All is dark.  I hear lapping water, level with me, and some creaking

+as of wood on wood."  She paused, and the red sun shot up.  We must

+wait till tonight.

+

+And so it is that we are travelling towards Galatz in an agony of

+expectation.  We are due to arrive between two and three in the

+morning.  But already, at Bucharest, we are three hours late, so we

+cannot possibly get in till well after sunup.  Thus we shall have two

+more hypnotic messages from Mrs. Harker!  Either or both may possibly

+throw more light on what is happening.

+

+

+Later.--Sunset has come and gone.  Fortunately it came at a time when

+there was no distraction.  For had it occurred whilst we were at a

+station, we might not have secured the necessary calm and isolation.

+Mrs. Harker yielded to the hypnotic influence even less readily than

+this morning.  I am in fear that her power of reading the Count's

+sensations may die away, just when we want it most.  It seems to me

+that her imagination is beginning to work.  Whilst she has been in the

+trance hitherto she has confined herself to the simplest of facts.  If

+this goes on it may ultimately mislead us.  If I thought that the

+Count's power over her would die away equally with her power of

+knowledge it would be a happy thought.  But I am afraid that it may

+not be so.

+

+When she did speak, her words were enigmatical, "Something is going

+out.  I can feel it pass me like a cold wind.  I can hear, far off,

+confused sounds, as of men talking in strange tongues, fierce falling

+water, and the howling of wolves."  She stopped and a shudder ran

+through her, increasing in intensity for a few seconds, till at the

+end, she shook as though in a palsy.  She said no more, even in answer

+to the Professor's imperative questioning.  When she woke from the

+trance, she was cold, and exhausted, and languid, but her mind was all

+alert.  She could not remember anything, but asked what she had said.

+When she was told, she pondered over it deeply for a long time and in

+silence.

+

+

+30 October, 7 A.M.--We are near Galatz now, and I may not have time to

+write later.  Sunrise this morning was anxiously looked for by us all.

+Knowing of the increasing difficulty of procuring the hypnotic trance,

+Van Helsing began his passes earlier than usual.  They produced no

+effect, however, until the regular time, when she yielded with a still

+greater difficulty, only a minute before the sun rose.  The Professor

+lost no time in his questioning.

+

+Her answer came with equal quickness, "All is dark.  I hear water

+swirling by, level with my ears, and the creaking of wood on wood.

+Cattle low far off.  There is another sound, a queer one like . . ."

+She stopped and grew white, and whiter still.

+

+"Go on, go on!  Speak, I command you!" said Van Helsing in an agonized

+voice.  At the same time there was despair in his eyes, for the risen

+sun was reddening even Mrs. Harker's pale face.  She opened her eyes,

+and we all started as she said, sweetly and seemingly with the utmost

+unconcern.

+

+"Oh, Professor, why ask me to do what you know I can't?  I don't

+remember anything."  Then, seeing the look of amazement on our faces,

+she said, turning from one to the other with a troubled look, "What

+have I said?  What have I done?  I know nothing, only that I was lying

+here, half asleep, and heard you say 'go on! speak, I command you!'  It

+seemed so funny to hear you order me about, as if I were a bad child!"

+

+"Oh, Madam Mina," he said, sadly, "it is proof, if proof be needed, of

+how I love and honour you, when a word for your good, spoken more

+earnest than ever, can seem so strange because it is to order her whom

+I am proud to obey!"

+

+The whistles are sounding.  We are nearing Galatz.  We are on fire

+with anxiety and eagerness.

+

+

+

+MINA HARKER'S JOURNAL

+

+30 October.--Mr. Morris took me to the hotel where our rooms had been

+ordered by telegraph, he being the one who could best be spared, since

+he does not speak any foreign language.  The forces were distributed

+much as they had been at Varna, except that Lord Godalming went to the

+Vice Consul, as his rank might serve as an immediate guarantee of some

+sort to the official, we being in extreme hurry.  Jonathan and the two

+doctors went to the shipping agent to learn particulars of the arrival

+of the Czarina Catherine.

+

+

+Later.--Lord Godalming has returned.  The Consul is away, and the Vice

+Consul sick.  So the routine work has been attended to by a clerk.  He

+was very obliging, and offered to do anything in his power.

+

+

+

+JONATHAN HARKER'S JOURNAL

+

+30 October.--At nine o'clock Dr. Van Helsing, Dr. Seward, and I called

+on Messrs. Mackenzie & Steinkoff, the agents of the London firm of

+Hapgood.  They had received a wire from London, in answer to Lord

+Godalming's telegraphed request, asking them to show us any civility

+in their power.  They were more than kind and courteous, and took us

+at once on board the Czarina Catherine, which lay at anchor out in the

+river harbor.  There we saw the Captain, Donelson by name, who told us

+of his voyage.  He said that in all his life he had never had so

+favourable a run.

+

+"Man!" he said, "but it made us afeard, for we expect it that we

+should have to pay for it wi' some rare piece o' ill luck, so as to

+keep up the average.  It's no canny to run frae London to the Black

+Sea wi' a wind ahint ye, as though the Deil himself were blawin' on

+yer sail for his ain purpose.  An' a' the time we could no speer a

+thing.  Gin we were nigh a ship, or a port, or a headland, a fog fell

+on us and travelled wi' us, till when after it had lifted and we

+looked out, the deil a thing could we see.  We ran by Gibraltar wi'

+oot bein' able to signal.  An' til we came to the Dardanelles and had

+to wait to get our permit to pass, we never were within hail o'

+aught.  At first I inclined to slack off sail and beat about till the

+fog was lifted.  But whiles, I thocht that if the Deil was minded to

+get us into the Black Sea quick, he was like to do it whether we would

+or no.  If we had a quick voyage it would be no to our miscredit

+wi' the owners, or no hurt to our traffic, an' the Old Mon who had

+served his ain purpose wad be decently grateful to us for no hinderin'

+him."

+

+This mixture of simplicity and cunning, of superstition and commercial

+reasoning, aroused Van Helsing, who said, "Mine friend, that Devil is

+more clever than he is thought by some, and he know when he meet his

+match!"

+

+The skipper was not displeased with the compliment, and went on, "When

+we got past the Bosphorus the men began to grumble.  Some o' them, the

+Roumanians, came and asked me to heave overboard a big box which had

+been put on board by a queer lookin' old man just before we had

+started frae London.  I had seen them speer at the fellow, and put out

+their twa fingers when they saw him, to guard them against the evil

+eye.  Man! but the supersteetion of foreigners is pairfectly

+rideeculous!  I sent them aboot their business pretty quick, but as

+just after a fog closed in on us I felt a wee bit as they did anent

+something, though I wouldn't say it was again the big box.  Well, on

+we went, and as the fog didn't let up for five days I joost let the

+wind carry us, for if the Deil wanted to get somewheres, well, he

+would fetch it up a'reet.  An' if he didn't, well, we'd keep a sharp

+lookout anyhow.  Sure eneuch, we had a fair way and deep water all the

+time.  And two days ago, when the mornin' sun came through the fog, we

+found ourselves just in the river opposite Galatz.  The Roumanians

+were wild, and wanted me right or wrong to take out the box and fling

+it in the river.  I had to argy wi' them aboot it wi' a handspike.  An'

+when the last o' them rose off the deck wi' his head in his hand, I

+had convinced them that, evil eye or no evil eye, the property and the

+trust of my owners were better in my hands than in the river Danube.

+They had, mind ye, taken the box on the deck ready to fling in, and as

+it was marked Galatz via Varna, I thocht I'd let it lie till we

+discharged in the port an' get rid o't althegither.  We didn't do much

+clearin' that day, an' had to remain the nicht at anchor.  But in the

+mornin', braw an' airly, an hour before sunup, a man came aboard wi'

+an order, written to him from England, to receive a box marked for one

+Count Dracula.  Sure eneuch the matter was one ready to his hand.  He

+had his papers a' reet, an' glad I was to be rid o' the dam' thing,

+for I was beginnin' masel' to feel uneasy at it.  If the Deil did have

+any luggage aboord the ship, I'm thinkin' it was nane ither than that

+same!"

+

+"What was the name of the man who took it?" asked Dr. Van Helsing with

+restrained eagerness.

+

+"I'll be tellin' ye quick!" he answered, and stepping down to his

+cabin, produced a receipt signed "Immanuel Hildesheim."  Burgen-strasse

+16 was the address.  We found out that this was all the Captain knew,

+so with thanks we came away.

+

+We found Hildesheim in his office, a Hebrew of rather the Adelphi

+Theatre type, with a nose like a sheep, and a fez.  His arguments were

+pointed with specie, we doing the punctuation, and with a little

+bargaining he told us what he knew.  This turned out to be simple but

+important.  He had received a letter from Mr. de Ville of London,

+telling him to receive, if possible before sunrise so as to avoid

+customs, a box which would arrive at Galatz in the Czarina Catherine.

+This he was to give in charge to a certain Petrof Skinsky, who dealt

+with the Slovaks who traded down the river to the port.  He had been

+paid for his work by an English bank note, which had been duly cashed

+for gold at the Danube International Bank.  When Skinsky had come to

+him, he had taken him to the ship and handed over the box, so as to

+save porterage.  That was all he knew.

+

+We then sought for Skinsky, but were unable to find him.  One of his

+neighbors, who did not seem to bear him any affection, said that he

+had gone away two days before, no one knew whither.  This was

+corroborated by his landlord, who had received by messenger the key of

+the house together with the rent due, in English money.  This had been

+between ten and eleven o'clock last night.  We were at a standstill

+again.

+

+Whilst we were talking one came running and breathlessly gasped out

+that the body of Skinsky had been found inside the wall of the

+churchyard of St. Peter, and that the throat had been torn open as if

+by some wild animal.  Those we had been speaking with ran off to see

+the horror, the women crying out.  "This is the work of a Slovak!"  We

+hurried away lest we should have been in some way drawn into the

+affair, and so detained.

+

+As we came home we could arrive at no definite conclusion.  We were

+all convinced that the box was on its way, by water, to somewhere, but

+where that might be we would have to discover.  With heavy hearts we

+came home to the hotel to Mina.

+

+When we met together, the first thing was to consult as to taking Mina

+again into our confidence.  Things are getting desperate, and it is at

+least a chance, though a hazardous one.  As a preliminary step, I was

+released from my promise to her.

+

+

+

+

+

+MINA HARKER'S JOURNAL

+

+30 October, evening.--They were so tired and worn out and dispirited

+that there was nothing to be done till they had some rest, so I asked

+them all to lie down for half an hour whilst I should enter everything

+up to the moment.  I feel so grateful to the man who invented the

+"Traveller's" typewriter, and to Mr. Morris for getting this one for

+me.  I should have felt quite astray doing the work if I had to write

+with a pen . . .

+

+It is all done.  Poor dear, dear Jonathan, what he must have suffered,

+what he must be suffering now.  He lies on the sofa hardly seeming to

+breathe, and his whole body appears in collapse.  His brows are knit.

+His face is drawn with pain.  Poor fellow, maybe he is thinking, and I

+can see his face all wrinkled up with the concentration of his

+thoughts.  Oh! if I could only help at all.  I shall do what I can.

+

+I have asked Dr. Van Helsing, and he has got me all the papers that I

+have not yet seen.  Whilst they are resting, I shall go over all

+carefully, and perhaps I may arrive at some conclusion.  I shall try

+to follow the Professor's example, and think without prejudice on the

+facts before me . . .

+

+I do believe that under God's providence I have made a discovery.  I

+shall get the maps and look over them.

+

+I am more than ever sure that I am right.  My new conclusion is ready,

+so I shall get our party together and read it.  They can judge it.  It

+is well to be accurate, and every minute is precious.

+

+

+

+MINA HARKER'S MEMORANDUM

+

+(ENTERED IN HER JOURNAL)

+

+

+Ground of inquiry.--Count Dracula's problem is to get back

+to his own place.

+

+(a) He must be brought back by some one.  This is evident;

+for had he power to move himself as he wished he could go

+either as man, or wolf, or bat, or in some other way.  He

+evidently fears discovery or interference, in the state of

+helplessness in which he must be, confined as he is between

+dawn and sunset in his wooden box.

+

+(b) How is he to be taken?--Here a process of exclusions may

+help us.  By road, by rail, by water?

+

+1.  By Road.--There are endless difficulties, especially in

+leaving the city.

+

+(x) There are people.  And people are curious, and

+investigate.  A hint, a surmise, a doubt as to what might

+be in the box, would destroy him.

+

+(y) There are, or there may be, customs and octroi officers

+to pass.

+

+(z) His pursuers might follow.  This is his highest fear.

+And in order to prevent his being betrayed he has repelled,

+so far as he can, even his victim, me!

+

+2.  By Rail.--There is no one in charge of the box.  It

+would have to take its chance of being delayed, and delay

+would be fatal, with enemies on the track.  True, he might

+escape at night.  But what would he be, if left in a strange

+place with no refuge that he could fly to?  This is not what he

+intends, and he does not mean to risk it.

+

+3.  By Water.--Here is the safest way, in one respect, but

+with most danger in another.  On the water he is powerless

+except at night.  Even then he can only summon fog and storm and

+snow and his wolves.  But were he wrecked, the living water would

+engulf him, helpless, and he would indeed be lost.  He could have

+the vessel drive to land, but if it were unfriendly land, wherein

+he was not free to move, his position would still be desperate.

+

+We know from the record that he was on the water, so what

+we have to do is to ascertain what water.

+

+The first thing is to realize exactly what he has done as

+yet.  We may, then, get a light on what his task is to be.

+

+Firstly.--We must differentiate between what he did in

+London as part of his general plan of action, when he was

+pressed for moments and had to arrange as best he could.

+

+Secondly.--We must see, as well as we can surmise it from the

+facts we know of, what he has done here.

+

+As to the first, he evidently intended to arrive at Galatz,

+and sent invoice to Varna to deceive us lest we should ascertain

+his means of exit from England.  His immediate and sole purpose

+then was to escape.  The proof of this, is the letter of

+instructions sent to Immanuel Hildesheim to clear and take away

+the box before sunrise.  There is also the instruction to Petrof

+Skinsky.  These we must only guess at, but there must have been

+some letter or message, since Skinsky came to Hildesheim.

+

+That, so far, his plans were successful we know.  The Czarina

+Catherine made a phenomenally quick journey.  So much so that

+Captain Donelson's suspicions were aroused.  But his superstition

+united with his canniness played the Count's game for him, and he

+ran with his favouring wind through fogs and all till he brought

+up blindfold at Galatz.  That the Count's arrangements were well

+made, has been proved.  Hildesheim cleared the box, took it off,

+and gave it to Skinsky.  Skinsky took it, and here we lose the

+trail.  We only know that the box is somewhere on the water,

+moving along.  The customs and the octroi, if there be any, have

+been avoided.

+

+Now we come to what the Count must have done after his

+arrival, on land, at Galatz.

+

+The box was given to Skinsky before sunrise.  At sunrise

+the Count could appear in his own form.  Here, we ask why

+Skinsky was chosen at all to aid in the work?  In my husband's

+diary, Skinsky is mentioned as dealing with the Slovaks who trade

+down the river to the port.  And the man's remark, that the

+murder was the work of a Slovak, showed the general feeling

+against his class.  The Count wanted isolation.

+

+My surmise is this, that in London the Count decided to get

+back to his castle by water, as the most safe and secret

+way.  He was brought from the castle by Szgany, and probably they

+delivered their cargo to Slovaks who took the boxes to Varna, for

+there they were shipped to London.  Thus the Count had knowledge

+of the persons who could arrange this service.  When the box was

+on land, before sunrise or after sunset, he came out from his

+box, met Skinsky and instructed him what to do as to arranging

+the carriage of the box up some river.  When this was done, and

+he knew that all was in train, he blotted out his traces, as he

+thought, by murdering his agent.

+

+I have examined the map and find that the river most

+suitable for the Slovaks to have ascended is either the

+Pruth or the Sereth.  I read in the typescript that in my

+trance I heard cows low and water swirling level with my

+ears and the creaking of wood.  The Count in his box, then,

+was on a river in an open boat, propelled probably either

+by oars or poles, for the banks are near and it is working

+against stream.  There would be no such if floating down

+stream.

+

+Of course it may not be either the Sereth or the Pruth, but

+we may possibly investigate further.  Now of these two, the

+Pruth is the more easily navigated, but the Sereth is, at

+Fundu, joined by the Bistritza which runs up round the Borgo

+Pass.  The loop it makes is manifestly as close to Dracula's

+castle as can be got by water.

+

+

+

+MINA HARKER'S JOURNAL--CONTINUED

+

+When I had done reading, Jonathan took me in his arms and kissed me.

+The others kept shaking me by both hands, and Dr. Van Helsing said,

+"Our dear Madam Mina is once more our teacher.  Her eyes have been

+where we were blinded.  Now we are on the track once again, and this

+time we may succeed.  Our enemy is at his most helpless.  And if we

+can come on him by day, on the water, our task will be over.  He has a

+start, but he is powerless to hasten, as he may not leave this box

+lest those who carry him may suspect.  For them to suspect would be to

+prompt them to throw him in the stream where he perish.  This he

+knows, and will not.  Now men, to our Council of War, for here and

+now, we must plan what each and all shall do."

+

+"I shall get a steam launch and follow him," said Lord Godalming.

+

+"And I, horses to follow on the bank lest by chance he land," said Mr.

+Morris.

+

+"Good!" said the Professor, "both good.  But neither must go alone.

+There must be force to overcome force if need be.  The Slovak is

+strong and rough, and he carries rude arms."  All the men smiled, for

+amongst them they carried a small arsenal.

+

+Said Mr. Morris, "I have brought some Winchesters.  They are pretty

+handy in a crowd, and there may be wolves.  The Count, if you

+remember, took some other precautions.  He made some requisitions on

+others that Mrs. Harker could not quite hear or understand.  We must

+be ready at all points."

+

+Dr. Seward said, "I think I had better go with Quincey.  We have been

+accustomed to hunt together, and we two, well armed, will be a match

+for whatever may come along.  You must not be alone, Art.  It may be

+necessary to fight the Slovaks, and a chance thrust, for I don't

+suppose these fellows carry guns, would undo all our plans.  There

+must be no chances, this time.  We shall not rest until the Count's

+head and body have been separated, and we are sure that he cannot

+reincarnate."

+

+He looked at Jonathan as he spoke, and Jonathan looked at me.  I could

+see that the poor dear was torn about in his mind.  Of course he

+wanted to be with me.  But then the boat service would, most likely,

+be the one which would destroy the . . . the . . . Vampire.  (Why did

+I hesitate to write the word?)

+

+He was silent awhile, and during his silence Dr. Van Helsing spoke,

+"Friend Jonathan, this is to you for twice reasons.  First, because

+you are young and brave and can fight, and all energies may be needed

+at the last.  And again that it is your right to destroy him.  That,

+which has wrought such woe to you and yours.  Be not afraid for Madam

+Mina.  She will be my care, if I may.  I am old.  My legs are not so

+quick to run as once.  And I am not used to ride so long or to pursue

+as need be, or to fight with lethal weapons.  But I can be of other

+service.  I can fight in other way.  And I can die, if need be, as

+well as younger men.  Now let me say that what I would is this.  While

+you, my Lord Godalming and friend Jonathan go in your so swift little

+steamboat up the river, and whilst John and Quincey guard the bank

+where perchance he might be landed, I will take Madam Mina right into

+the heart of the enemy's country.  Whilst the old fox is tied in his

+box, floating on the running stream whence he cannot escape to land,

+where he dares not raise the lid of his coffin box lest his Slovak

+carriers should in fear leave him to perish, we shall go in the track

+where Jonathan went, from Bistritz over the Borgo, and find our way to

+the Castle of Dracula.  Here, Madam Mina's hypnotic power will surely

+help, and we shall find our way, all dark and unknown otherwise, after

+the first sunrise when we are near that fateful place.  There is much

+to be done, and other places to be made sanctify, so that that nest of

+vipers be obliterated."

+

+Here Jonathan interrupted him hotly, "Do you mean to say, Professor

+Van Helsing, that you would bring Mina, in her sad case and tainted as

+she is with that devil's illness, right into the jaws of his

+deathtrap?  Not for the world!  Not for Heaven or Hell!"

+

+He became almost speechless for a minute, and then went on, "Do you

+know what the place is?  Have you seen that awful den of hellish

+infamy, with the very moonlight alive with grisly shapes, and every

+speck of dust that whirls in the wind a devouring monster in embryo?

+Have you felt the Vampire's lips upon your throat?"

+

+Here he turned to me, and as his eyes lit on my forehead he threw up

+his arms with a cry, "Oh, my God, what have we done to have this

+terror upon us?" and he sank down on the sofa in a collapse of misery.

+

+The Professor's voice, as he spoke in clear, sweet tones, which seemed

+to vibrate in the air, calmed us all.

+

+"Oh, my friend, it is because I would save Madam Mina from that awful

+place that I would go.  God forbid that I should take her into that

+place.  There is work, wild work, to be done before that place can be

+purify.  Remember that we are in terrible straits.  If the Count

+escape us this time, and he is strong and subtle and cunning, he may

+choose to sleep him for a century, and then in time our dear one," he

+took my hand, "would come to him to keep him company, and would be as

+those others that you, Jonathan, saw.  You have told us of their

+gloating lips.  You heard their ribald laugh as they clutched the

+moving bag that the Count threw to them.  You shudder, and well may it

+be.  Forgive me that I make you so much pain, but it is necessary.  My

+friend, is it not a dire need for that which I am giving, possibly my

+life?  If it were that any one went into that place to stay, it is I

+who would have to go to keep them company."

+

+"Do as you will," said Jonathan, with a sob that shook him all over,

+"we are in the hands of God!"

+

+

+Later.--Oh, it did me good to see the way that these brave men worked.

+How can women help loving men when they are so earnest, and so true,

+and so brave!  And, too, it made me think of the wonderful power of

+money!  What can it not do when basely used.  I felt so thankful that

+Lord Godalming is rich, and both he and Mr. Morris, who also has

+plenty of money, are willing to spend it so freely.  For if they did

+not, our little expedition could not start, either so promptly or so

+well equipped, as it will within another hour.  It is not three hours

+since it was arranged what part each of us was to do.  And now Lord

+Godalming and Jonathan have a lovely steam launch, with steam up ready

+to start at a moment's notice.  Dr. Seward and Mr. Morris have half a

+dozen good horses, well appointed.  We have all the maps and

+appliances of various kinds that can be had.  Professor Van Helsing

+and I are to leave by the 11:40 train tonight for Veresti, where we

+are to get a carriage to drive to the Borgo Pass.  We are bringing a

+good deal of ready money, as we are to buy a carriage and horses.  We

+shall drive ourselves, for we have no one whom we can trust in the

+matter.  The Professor knows something of a great many languages, so

+we shall get on all right.  We have all got arms, even for me a large

+bore revolver.  Jonathan would not be happy unless I was armed like

+the rest.  Alas!  I cannot carry one arm that the rest do, the scar on

+my forehead forbids that.  Dear Dr. Van Helsing comforts me by telling

+me that I am fully armed as there may be wolves.  The weather is

+getting colder every hour, and there are snow flurries which come and

+go as warnings.

+

+

+Later.--It took all my courage to say goodbye to my darling.  We may

+never meet again.  Courage, Mina!  The Professor is looking at you

+keenly.  His look is a warning.  There must be no tears now, unless it

+may be that God will let them fall in gladness.

+

+

+

+JONATHAN HARKER'S JOURNAL

+

+30 October, night.--I am writing this in the light from the furnace

+door of the steam launch.  Lord Godalming is firing up.  He is an

+experienced hand at the work, as he has had for years a launch of his

+own on the Thames, and another on the Norfolk Broads.  Regarding our

+plans, we finally decided that Mina's guess was correct, and that if

+any waterway was chosen for the Count's escape back to his Castle, the

+Sereth and then the Bistritza at its junction, would be the one.  We

+took it, that somewhere about the 47th degree, north latitude, would

+be the place chosen for crossing the country between the river and the

+Carpathians.  We have no fear in running at good speed up the river at

+night.  There is plenty of water, and the banks are wide enough apart

+to make steaming, even in the dark, easy enough.  Lord Godalming tells

+me to sleep for a while, as it is enough for the present for one to be

+on watch.  But I cannot sleep, how can I with the terrible danger

+hanging over my darling, and her going out into that awful place . . .

+

+My only comfort is that we are in the hands of God.  Only for that

+faith it would be easier to die than to live, and so be quit of all

+the trouble.  Mr. Morris and Dr. Seward were off on their long ride

+before we started.  They are to keep up the right bank, far enough off

+to get on higher lands where they can see a good stretch of river and

+avoid the following of its curves.  They have, for the first stages,

+two men to ride and lead their spare horses, four in all, so as not to

+excite curiosity.  When they dismiss the men, which shall be shortly,

+they shall themselves look after the horses.  It may be necessary for

+us to join forces.  If so they can mount our whole party.  One of the

+saddles has a moveable horn, and can be easily adapted for Mina, if

+required.

+

+It is a wild adventure we are on.  Here, as we are rushing along

+through the darkness, with the cold from the river seeming to rise up

+and strike us, with all the mysterious voices of the night around us,

+it all comes home.  We seem to be drifting into unknown places and

+unknown ways.  Into a whole world of dark and dreadful things.

+Godalming is shutting the furnace door . . .

+

+

+31 October.--Still hurrying along.  The day has come, and Godalming is

+sleeping.  I am on watch.  The morning is bitterly cold, the furnace

+heat is grateful, though we have heavy fur coats.  As yet we have

+passed only a few open boats, but none of them had on board any box or

+package of anything like the size of the one we seek.  The men were

+scared every time we turned our electric lamp on them, and fell on

+their knees and prayed.

+

+

+1 November, evening.--No news all day.  We have found nothing of the

+kind we seek.  We have now passed into the Bistritza, and if we are

+wrong in our surmise our chance is gone.  We have overhauled every

+boat, big and little.  Early this morning, one crew took us for a

+Government boat, and treated us accordingly.  We saw in this a way of

+smoothing matters, so at Fundu, where the Bistritza runs into the

+Sereth, we got a Roumanian flag which we now fly conspicuously.  With

+every boat which we have overhauled since then this trick has

+succeeded.  We have had every deference shown to us, and not once any

+objection to whatever we chose to ask or do.  Some of the Slovaks tell

+us that a big boat passed them, going at more than usual speed as she

+had a double crew on board.  This was before they came to Fundu, so

+they could not tell us whether the boat turned into the Bistritza or

+continued on up the Sereth.  At Fundu we could not hear of any such

+boat, so she must have passed there in the night.  I am feeling very

+sleepy.  The cold is perhaps beginning to tell upon me, and nature

+must have rest some time.  Godalming insists that he shall keep the

+first watch.  God bless him for all his goodness to poor dear Mina and

+me.

+

+

+2 November, morning.--It is broad daylight.  That good fellow would

+not wake me.  He says it would have been a sin to, for I slept

+peacefully and was forgetting my trouble.  It seems brutally selfish

+to me to have slept so long, and let him watch all night, but he was

+quite right.  I am a new man this morning.  And, as I sit here and

+watch him sleeping, I can do all that is necessary both as to minding

+the engine, steering, and keeping watch.  I can feel that my strength

+and energy are coming back to me.  I wonder where Mina is now, and Van

+Helsing.  They should have got to Veresti about noon on Wednesday.  It

+would take them some time to get the carriage and horses.  So if they

+had started and travelled hard, they would be about now at the Borgo

+Pass.  God guide and help them!  I am afraid to think what may

+happen.  If we could only go faster.  But we cannot.  The engines are

+throbbing and doing their utmost.  I wonder how Dr. Seward and Mr.

+Morris are getting on.  There seem to be endless streams running down

+the mountains into this river, but as none of them are very large, at

+present, at all events, though they are doubtless terrible in winter

+and when the snow melts, the horsemen may not have met much

+obstruction.  I hope that before we get to Strasba we may see them.

+For if by that time we have not overtaken the Count, it may be

+necessary to take counsel together what to do next.

+

+

+

+

+

+DR. SEWARD'S DIARY

+

+2 November.--Three days on the road.  No news, and no time to write it

+if there had been, for every moment is precious.  We have had only the

+rest needful for the horses.  But we are both bearing it wonderfully.

+Those adventurous days of ours are turning up useful.  We must push

+on.  We shall never feel happy till we get the launch in sight again.

+

+

+3 November.--We heard at Fundu that the launch had gone up the

+Bistritza.  I wish it wasn't so cold.  There are signs of snow coming.

+And if it falls heavy it will stop us.  In such case we must get a

+sledge and go on, Russian fashion.

+

+4 November.--Today we heard of the launch having been detained by an

+accident when trying to force a way up the rapids.  The Slovak boats

+get up all right, by aid of a rope and steering with knowledge.  Some

+went up only a few hours before.  Godalming is an amateur fitter

+himself, and evidently it was he who put the launch in trim again.

+

+Finally, they got up the rapids all right, with local help, and are off

+on the chase afresh.  I fear that the boat is not any better for the

+accident, the peasantry tell us that after she got upon smooth water

+again, she kept stopping every now and again so long as she was in

+sight.  We must push on harder than ever.  Our help may be wanted

+soon.

+

+

+

+

+

+MINA HARKER'S JOURNAL

+

+31 October.--Arrived at Veresti at noon.  The Professor tells me that

+this morning at dawn he could hardly hypnotize me at all, and that all

+I could say was, "dark and quiet."  He is off now buying a carriage

+and horses.  He says that he will later on try to buy additional

+horses, so that we may be able to change them on the way.  We have

+something more than 70 miles before us.  The country is lovely, and

+most interesting.  If only we were under different conditions, how

+delightful it would be to see it all.  If Jonathan and I were driving

+through it alone what a pleasure it would be.  To stop and see people,

+and learn something of their life, and to fill our minds and memories

+with all the colour and picturesqueness of the whole wild, beautiful

+country and the quaint people!  But, alas!

+

+

+Later.--Dr. Van Helsing has returned.  He has got the carriage and

+horses.  We are to have some dinner, and to start in an hour.  The

+landlady is putting us up a huge basket of provisions.  It seems

+enough for a company of soldiers.  The Professor encourages her, and

+whispers to me that it may be a week before we can get any food again.

+He has been shopping too, and has sent home such a wonderful lot of

+fur coats and wraps, and all sorts of warm things.  There will not be

+any chance of our being cold.

+

+We shall soon be off.  I am afraid to think what may happen to us.  We

+are truly in the hands of God.  He alone knows what may be, and I pray

+Him, with all the strength of my sad and humble soul, that He will

+watch over my beloved husband.  That whatever may happen, Jonathan may

+know that I loved him and honoured him more than I can say, and that my

+latest and truest thought will be always for him.

+

+

+

+

+CHAPTER 27

+

+

+MINA HARKER'S JOURNAL

+

+1 November.--All day long we have travelled, and at a good speed.  The

+horses seem to know that they are being kindly treated, for they go

+willingly their full stage at best speed.  We have now had so many

+changes and find the same thing so constantly that we are encouraged

+to think that the journey will be an easy one.  Dr. Van Helsing is

+laconic, he tells the farmers that he is hurrying to Bistritz, and

+pays them well to make the exchange of horses.  We get hot soup, or

+coffee, or tea, and off we go.  It is a lovely country.  Full of

+beauties of all imaginable kinds, and the people are brave, and

+strong, and simple, and seem full of nice qualities.  They are very,

+very superstitious.  In the first house where we stopped, when the

+woman who served us saw the scar on my forehead, she crossed herself

+and put out two fingers towards me, to keep off the evil eye.  I

+believe they went to the trouble of putting an extra amount of garlic

+into our food, and I can't abide garlic.  Ever since then I have taken

+care not to take off my hat or veil, and so have escaped their

+suspicions.  We are travelling fast, and as we have no driver with us

+to carry tales, we go ahead of scandal.  But I daresay that fear of

+the evil eye will follow hard behind us all the way.  The Professor

+seems tireless.  All day he would not take any rest, though he made me

+sleep for a long spell.  At sunset time he hypnotized me, and he says

+I answered as usual, "darkness, lapping water and creaking wood."  So

+our enemy is still on the river.  I am afraid to think of Jonathan,

+but somehow I have now no fear for him, or for myself.  I write this

+whilst we wait in a farmhouse for the horses to be ready.  Dr. Van

+Helsing is sleeping.  Poor dear, he looks very tired and old and grey,

+but his mouth is set as firmly as a conqueror's.  Even in his sleep he

+is intense with resolution.  When we have well started I must make him

+rest whilst I drive.  I shall tell him that we have days before us,

+and he must not break down when most of all his strength will be

+needed . . . All is ready.  We are off shortly.

+

+

+2 November, morning.--I was successful, and we took turns driving all

+night.  Now the day is on us, bright though cold.  There is a strange

+heaviness in the air.  I say heaviness for want of a better word.  I

+mean that it oppresses us both.  It is very cold, and only our warm

+furs keep us comfortable.  At dawn Van Helsing hypnotized me.  He says

+I answered "darkness, creaking wood and roaring water," so the river

+is changing as they ascend.  I do hope that my darling will not run

+any chance of danger, more than need be, but we are in God's hands.

+

+

+2 November, night.--All day long driving.  The country gets wilder as

+we go, and the great spurs of the Carpathians, which at Veresti seemed

+so far from us and so low on the horizon, now seem to gather round us

+and tower in front.  We both seem in good spirits.  I think we make an

+effort each to cheer the other, in the doing so we cheer ourselves.

+Dr. Van Helsing says that by morning we shall reach the Borgo Pass.

+The houses are very few here now, and the Professor says that the last

+horse we got will have to go on with us, as we may not be able to

+change.  He got two in addition to the two we changed, so that now we

+have a rude four-in-hand.  The dear horses are patient and good, and

+they give us no trouble.  We are not worried with other travellers,

+and so even I can drive.  We shall get to the Pass in daylight.  We do

+not want to arrive before.  So we take it easy, and have each a long

+rest in turn.  Oh, what will tomorrow bring to us?  We go to seek the

+place where my poor darling suffered so much.  God grant that we may

+be guided aright, and that He will deign to watch over my husband and

+those dear to us both, and who are in such deadly peril.  As for me, I

+am not worthy in His sight.  Alas!  I am unclean to His eyes, and

+shall be until He may deign to let me stand forth in His sight as one

+of those who have not incurred His wrath.

+

+

+

+

+

+MEMORANDUM BY ABRAHAM VAN HELSING

+

+4 November.--This to my old and true friend John Seward, M.D.,

+of Purfleet, London, in case I may not see him.  It may

+explain.  It is morning, and I write by a fire which all

+the night I have kept alive, Madam Mina aiding me.  It is

+cold, cold.  So cold that the grey heavy sky is full of

+snow, which when it falls will settle for all winter as the

+ground is hardening to receive it.  It seems to have affected

+Madam Mina.  She has been so heavy of head all day that she was

+not like herself.  She sleeps, and sleeps, and sleeps!  She who

+is usual so alert, have done literally nothing all the day.  She

+even have lost her appetite.  She make no entry into her little

+diary, she who write so faithful at every pause.  Something

+whisper to me that all is not well.  However, tonight she is more

+_vif_.  Her long sleep all day have refresh and restore her, for

+now she is all sweet and bright as ever.  At sunset I try to

+hypnotize her, but alas! with no effect.  The power has grown

+less and less with each day, and tonight it fail me altogether.

+Well, God's will be done, whatever it may be, and whithersoever

+it may lead!

+

+Now to the historical, for as Madam Mina write not in her

+stenography, I must, in my cumbrous old fashion, that so

+each day of us may not go unrecorded.

+

+We got to the Borgo Pass just after sunrise yesterday

+morning.  When I saw the signs of the dawn I got ready for

+the hypnotism.  We stopped our carriage, and got down so

+that there might be no disturbance.  I made a couch with

+furs, and Madam Mina, lying down, yield herself as usual,

+but more slow and more short time than ever, to the hypnotic

+sleep.  As before, came the answer, "darkness and the swirling of

+water."  Then she woke, bright and radiant and we go on our way

+and soon reach the Pass.  At this time and place, she become all

+on fire with zeal.  Some new guiding power be in her manifested,

+for she point to a road and say, "This is the way."

+

+"How know you it?" I ask.

+

+"Of course I know it," she answer, and with a pause, add,

+"Have not my Jonathan travelled it and wrote of his travel?"

+

+At first I think somewhat strange, but soon I see that there be

+only one such byroad.  It is used but little, and very different

+from the coach road from the Bukovina to Bistritz, which is more

+wide and hard, and more of use.

+

+So we came down this road.  When we meet other ways, not

+always were we sure that they were roads at all, for they

+be neglect and light snow have fallen, the horses know and

+they only.  I give rein to them, and they go on so patient.  By

+and by we find all the things which Jonathan have note in that

+wonderful diary of him.  Then we go on for long, long hours and

+hours.  At the first, I tell Madam Mina to sleep.  She try, and

+she succeed.  She sleep all the time, till at the last, I feel

+myself to suspicious grow, and attempt to wake her.  But she

+sleep on, and I may not wake her though I try.  I do not wish to

+try too hard lest I harm her.  For I know that she have suffer

+much, and sleep at times be all-in-all to her.  I think I drowse

+myself, for all of sudden I feel guilt, as though I have done

+something.  I find myself bolt up, with the reins in my hand, and

+the good horses go along jog, jog, just as ever.  I look down and

+find Madam Mina still asleep.  It is now not far off sunset time,

+and over the snow the light of the sun flow in big yellow flood,

+so that we throw great long shadow on where the mountain rise so

+steep.  For we are going up, and up, and all is oh so wild and

+rocky, as though it were the end of the world.

+

+Then I arouse Madam Mina.  This time she wake with not much

+trouble, and then I try to put her to hypnotic sleep.  But

+she sleep not, being as though I were not.  Still I try and

+try, till all at once I find her and myself in dark, so I

+look round, and find that the sun have gone down.  Madam

+Mina laugh, and I turn and look at her.  She is now quite

+awake, and look so well as I never saw her since that night

+at Carfax when we first enter the Count's house.  I am amaze, and

+not at ease then.  But she is so bright and tender and thoughtful

+for me that I forget all fear.  I light a fire, for we have

+brought supply of wood with us, and she prepare food while I undo

+the horses and set them, tethered in shelter, to feed.  Then when

+I return to the fire she have my supper ready.  I go to help her,

+but she smile, and tell me that she have eat already.  That she

+was so hungry that she would not wait.  I like it not, and I have

+grave doubts.  But I fear to affright her, and so I am silent of

+it.  She help me and I eat alone, and then we wrap in fur and lie

+beside the fire, and I tell her to sleep while I watch.  But

+presently I forget all of watching.  And when I sudden remember

+that I watch, I find her lying quiet, but awake, and looking at

+me with so bright eyes.  Once, twice more the same occur, and I

+get much sleep till before morning.  When I wake I try to

+hypnotize her, but alas! though she shut her eyes obedient, she

+may not sleep.  The sun rise up, and up, and up, and then sleep

+come to her too late, but so heavy that she will not wake.  I

+have to lift her up, and place her sleeping in the carriage when

+I have harnessed the horses and made all ready.  Madam still

+sleep, and she look in her sleep more healthy and more redder

+than before.  And I like it not.  And I am afraid, afraid,

+afraid!  I am afraid of all things, even to think but I must go

+on my way.  The stake we play for is life and death, or more than

+these, and we must not flinch.

+

+

+5 November, morning.--Let me be accurate in everything, for

+though you and I have seen some strange things together,

+you may at the first think that I, Van Helsing, am mad.

+That the many horrors and the so long strain on nerves has

+at the last turn my brain.

+

+All yesterday we travel, always getting closer to the

+mountains, and moving into a more and more wild and desert

+land.  There are great, frowning precipices and much falling

+water, and Nature seem to have held sometime her carnival.  Madam

+Mina still sleep and sleep.  And though I did have hunger and

+appeased it, I could not waken her, even for food.  I began to

+fear that the fatal spell of the place was upon her, tainted as

+she is with that Vampire baptism.  "Well," said I to myself, "if

+it be that she sleep all the day, it shall also be that I do not

+sleep at night."  As we travel on the rough road, for a road of

+an ancient and imperfect kind there was, I held down my head and

+slept.

+

+Again I waked with a sense of guilt and of time passed, and

+found Madam Mina still sleeping, and the sun low down.  But

+all was indeed changed.  The frowning mountains seemed further

+away, and we were near the top of a steep rising hill, on summit

+of which was such a castle as Jonathan tell of in his diary.  At

+once I exulted and feared.  For now, for good or ill, the end was

+near.

+

+I woke Madam Mina, and again tried to hypnotize her, but

+alas!  unavailing till too late.  Then, ere the great dark

+came upon us, for even after down sun the heavens reflected

+the gone sun on the snow, and all was for a time in a great

+twilight.  I took out the horses and fed them in what shelter I

+could.  Then I make a fire, and near it I make Madam Mina, now

+awake and more charming than ever, sit comfortable amid her rugs.

+I got ready food, but she would not eat, simply saying that she

+had not hunger.  I did not press her, knowing her unavailingness.

+But I myself eat, for I must needs now be strong for all.  Then,

+with the fear on me of what might be, I drew a ring so big for

+her comfort, round where Madam Mina sat.  And over the ring I

+passed some of the wafer, and I broke it fine so that all was

+well guarded.  She sat still all the time, so still as one dead.

+And she grew whiter and even whiter till the snow was not more

+pale, and no word she said.  But when I drew near, she clung to

+me, and I could know that the poor soul shook her from head to

+feet with a tremor that was pain to feel.

+

+I said to her presently, when she had grown more quiet,

+"Will you not come over to the fire?" for I wished to make

+a test of what she could.  She rose obedient, but when she

+have made a step she stopped, and stood as one stricken.

+

+"Why not go on?" I asked.  She shook her head, and coming

+back, sat down in her place.  Then, looking at me with open

+eyes, as of one waked from sleep, she said simply, "I cannot!"

+and remained silent.  I rejoiced, for I knew that what she could

+not, none of those that we dreaded could.  Though there might be

+danger to her body, yet her soul was safe!

+

+Presently the horses began to scream, and tore at their

+tethers till I came to them and quieted them.  When they

+did feel my hands on them, they whinnied low as in joy, and

+licked at my hands and were quiet for a time.  Many times

+through the night did I come to them, till it arrive to the

+cold hour when all nature is at lowest, and every time my

+coming was with quiet of them.  In the cold hour the fire

+began to die, and I was about stepping forth to replenish

+it, for now the snow came in flying sweeps and with it a

+chill mist.  Even in the dark there was a light of some

+kind, as there ever is over snow, and it seemed as though

+the snow flurries and the wreaths of mist took shape as of

+women with trailing garments.  All was in dead, grim silence only

+that the horses whinnied and cowered, as if in terror of the

+worst.  I began to fear, horrible fears.  But then came to me the

+sense of safety in that ring wherein I stood.  I began too, to

+think that my imaginings were of the night, and the gloom, and

+the unrest that I have gone through, and all the terrible

+anxiety.  It was as though my memories of all Jonathan's horrid

+experience were befooling me.  For the snow flakes and the mist

+began to wheel and circle round, till I could get as though a

+shadowy glimpse of those women that would have kissed him.  And

+then the horses cowered lower and lower, and moaned in terror as

+men do in pain.  Even the madness of fright was not to them, so

+that they could break away.  I feared for my dear Madam Mina when

+these weird figures drew near and circled round.  I looked at her,

+but she sat calm, and smiled at me.  When I would have stepped to

+the fire to replenish it, she caught me and held me back, and

+whispered, like a voice that one hears in a dream, so low it was.

+

+"No!  No!  Do not go without.  Here you are safe!"

+

+I turned to her, and looking in her eyes said, "But you?

+It is for you that I fear!"

+

+Whereat she laughed, a laugh low and unreal, and said, "Fear

+for me!  Why fear for me?  None safer in all the world from

+them than I am," and as I wondered at the meaning of her

+words, a puff of wind made the flame leap up, and I see the

+red scar on her forehead.  Then, alas!  I knew.  Did I not,

+I would soon have learned, for the wheeling figures of mist

+and snow came closer, but keeping ever without the Holy

+circle.  Then they began to materialize till, if God have

+not taken away my reason, for I saw it through my eyes.

+There were before me in actual flesh the same three women

+that Jonathan saw in the room, when they would have kissed

+his throat.  I knew the swaying round forms, the bright

+hard eyes, the white teeth, the ruddy colour, the voluptuous

+lips.  They smiled ever at poor dear Madam Mina.  And as

+their laugh came through the silence of the night, they

+twined their arms and pointed to her, and said in those so

+sweet tingling tones that Jonathan said were of the intolerable

+sweetness of the water glasses, "Come, sister.  Come to us.

+Come!"

+

+In fear I turned to my poor Madam Mina, and my heart with

+gladness leapt like flame.  For oh! the terror in her sweet

+eyes, the repulsion, the horror, told a story to my heart

+that was all of hope.  God be thanked she was not, yet, of

+them.  I seized some of the firewood which was by me, and

+holding out some of the Wafer, advanced on them towards the

+fire.  They drew back before me, and laughed their low horrid

+laugh.  I fed the fire, and feared them not.  For I knew that we

+were safe within the ring, which she could not leave no more than

+they could enter.  The horses had ceased to moan, and lay still

+on the ground.  The snow fell on them softly, and they grew

+whiter.  I knew that there was for the poor beasts no more of

+terror.

+

+And so we remained till the red of the dawn began to fall

+through the snow gloom.  I was desolate and afraid, and

+full of woe and terror.  But when that beautiful sun began

+to climb the horizon life was to me again.  At the first

+coming of the dawn the horrid figures melted in the whirling

+mist and snow.  The wreaths of transparent gloom moved away

+towards the castle, and were lost.

+

+Instinctively, with the dawn coming, I turned to Madam Mina,

+intending to hypnotize her.  But she lay in a deep and sudden

+sleep, from which I could not wake her.  I tried to hypnotize

+through her sleep, but she made no response, none at all, and the

+day broke.  I fear yet to stir.  I have made my fire and have

+seen the horses, they are all dead.  Today I have much to do here,

+and I keep waiting till the sun is up high.  For there may be

+places where I must go, where that sunlight, though snow and mist

+obscure it, will be to me a safety.

+

+I will strengthen me with breakfast, and then I will do my

+terrible work.  Madam Mina still sleeps, and God be thanked!  She

+is calm in her sleep . . .

+

+

+

+JONATHAN HARKER'S JOURNAL

+

+4 November, evening.--The accident to the launch has been a terrible

+thing for us.  Only for it we should have overtaken the boat long ago,

+and by now my dear Mina would have been free.  I fear to think of her,

+off on the wolds near that horrid place.  We have got horses, and we

+follow on the track.  I note this whilst Godalming is getting ready.

+We have our arms.  The Szgany must look out if they mean to fight.  Oh,

+if only Morris and Seward were with us.  We must only hope!  If I

+write no more Goodby Mina!  God bless and keep you.

+

+

+

+DR. SEWARD'S DIARY

+

+5 November.--With the dawn we saw the body of Szgany before us dashing

+away from the river with their leiter wagon.  They surrounded it in a

+cluster, and hurried along as though beset.  The snow is falling

+lightly and there is a strange excitement in the air.  It may be our

+own feelings, but the depression is strange.  Far off I hear the

+howling of wolves.  The snow brings them down from the mountains, and

+there are dangers to all of us, and from all sides.  The horses are

+nearly ready, and we are soon off.  We ride to death of some one.  God

+alone knows who, or where, or what, or when, or how it may be . . .

+

+

+

+

+

+DR. VAN HELSING'S MEMORANDUM

+

+5 November, afternoon.--I am at least sane.  Thank God for

+that mercy at all events, though the proving it has been

+dreadful.  When I left Madam Mina sleeping within the Holy

+circle, I took my way to the castle.  The blacksmith hammer

+which I took in the carriage from Veresti was useful, though the

+doors were all open I broke them off the rusty hinges, lest some

+ill intent or ill chance should close them, so that being entered

+I might not get out.  Jonathan's bitter experience served me

+here.  By memory of his diary I found my way to the old chapel,

+for I knew that here my work lay.  The air was oppressive.  It

+seemed as if there was some sulphurous fume, which at times made

+me dizzy.  Either there was a roaring in my ears or I heard afar

+off the howl of wolves.  Then I bethought me of my dear Madam

+Mina, and I was in terrible plight.  The dilemma had me between

+his horns.

+

+Her, I had not dare to take into this place, but left safe

+from the Vampire in that Holy circle.  And yet even there

+would be the wolf!  I resolve me that my work lay here, and

+that as to the wolves we must submit, if it were God's will.  At

+any rate it was only death and freedom beyond.  So did I choose

+for her.  Had it but been for myself the choice had been easy,

+the maw of the wolf were better to rest in than the grave of the

+Vampire!  So I make my choice to go on with my work.

+

+I knew that there were at least three graves to find, graves

+that are inhabit.  So I search, and search, and I find one

+of them.  She lay in her Vampire sleep, so full of life and

+voluptuous beauty that I shudder as though I have come to

+do murder.  Ah, I doubt not that in the old time, when such

+things were, many a man who set forth to do such a task as

+mine, found at the last his heart fail him, and then his

+nerve.  So he delay, and delay, and delay, till the mere

+beauty and the fascination of the wanton Undead have hypnotize

+him.  And he remain on and on, till sunset come, and the Vampire

+sleep be over.  Then the beautiful eyes of the fair woman open

+and look love, and the voluptuous mouth present to a kiss, and

+the man is weak.  And there remain one more victim in the

+Vampire fold.  One more to swell the grim and grisly ranks

+of the Undead! . . .

+

+There is some fascination, surely, when I am moved by the

+mere presence of such an one, even lying as she lay in a

+tomb fretted with age and heavy with the dust of centuries,

+though there be that horrid odour such as the lairs of the

+Count have had.  Yes, I was moved.  I, Van Helsing, with

+all my purpose and with my motive for hate.  I was moved to

+a yearning for delay which seemed to paralyze my faculties

+and to clog my very soul.  It may have been that the need

+of natural sleep, and the strange oppression of the air

+were beginning to overcome me.  Certain it was that I was

+lapsing into sleep, the open eyed sleep of one who yields

+to a sweet fascination, when there came through the snow-stilled

+air a long, low wail, so full of woe and pity that it woke me

+like the sound of a clarion.  For it was the voice of my dear

+Madam Mina that I heard.

+

+Then I braced myself again to my horrid task, and found by

+wrenching away tomb tops one other of the sisters, the other dark

+one.  I dared not pause to look on her as I had on her sister,

+lest once more I should begin to be enthrall.  But I go on

+searching until, presently, I find in a high great tomb as if

+made to one much beloved that other fair sister which, like

+Jonathan I had seen to gather herself out of the atoms of the

+mist.  She was so fair to look on, so radiantly beautiful, so

+exquisitely voluptuous, that the very instinct of man in me,

+which calls some of my sex to love and to protect one of hers,

+made my head whirl with new emotion.  But God be thanked, that

+soul wail of my dear Madam Mina had not died out of my ears.

+And, before the spell could be wrought further upon me, I had

+nerved myself to my wild work.  By this time I had searched all

+the tombs in the chapel, so far as I could tell.  And as there

+had been only three of these Undead phantoms around us in the

+night, I took it that there were no more of active Undead

+existent.  There was one great tomb more lordly than all the

+rest.  Huge it was, and nobly proportioned.  On it was but one

+word.

+

+

+            DRACULA

+

+

+This then was the Undead home of the King Vampire, to whom

+so many more were due.  Its emptiness spoke eloquent to

+make certain what I knew.  Before I began to restore these

+women to their dead selves through my awful work, I laid in

+Dracula's tomb some of the Wafer, and so banished him from

+it, Undead, for ever.

+

+Then began my terrible task, and I dreaded it.  Had it been

+but one, it had been easy, comparative.  But three!  To

+begin twice more after I had been through a deed of horror.

+For it was terrible with the sweet Miss Lucy, what would it

+not be with these strange ones who had survived through

+centuries, and who had been strengthened by the passing of

+the years.  Who would, if they could, have fought for their

+foul lives . . .

+

+Oh, my friend John, but it was butcher work.  Had I not

+been nerved by thoughts of other dead, and of the living

+over whom hung such a pall of fear, I could not have gone

+on.  I tremble and tremble even yet, though till all was

+over, God be thanked, my nerve did stand.  Had I not seen

+the repose in the first place, and the gladness that stole

+over it just ere the final dissolution came, as realization

+that the soul had been won, I could not have gone further

+with my butchery.  I could not have endured the horrid screeching

+as the stake drove home, the plunging of writhing form, and lips

+of bloody foam.  I should have fled in terror and left my work

+undone.  But it is over!  And the poor souls, I can pity them now

+and weep, as I think of them placid each in her full sleep of

+death for a short moment ere fading.  For, friend John, hardly

+had my knife severed the head of each, before the whole body

+began to melt away and crumble into its native dust, as though

+the death that should have come centuries ago had at last assert

+himself and say at once and loud, "I am here!"

+

+Before I left the castle I so fixed its entrances that never

+more can the Count enter there Undead.

+

+When I stepped into the circle where Madam Mina slept, she

+woke from her sleep and, seeing me, cried out in pain that

+I had endured too much.

+

+"Come!" she said, "come away from this awful place!  Let us

+go to meet my husband who is, I know, coming towards us."

+She was looking thin and pale and weak.  But her eyes were

+pure and glowed with fervour.  I was glad to see her paleness and

+her illness, for my mind was full of the fresh horror of that

+ruddy vampire sleep.

+

+And so with trust and hope, and yet full of fear, we go

+eastward to meet our friends, and him, whom Madam Mina tell

+me that she know are coming to meet us.

+

+

+

+

+

+MINA HARKER'S JOURNAL

+

+6 November.--It was late in the afternoon when the Professor and I

+took our way towards the east whence I knew Jonathan was coming.  We

+did not go fast, though the way was steeply downhill, for we had to

+take heavy rugs and wraps with us.  We dared not face the possibility

+of being left without warmth in the cold and the snow.  We had to take

+some of our provisions too, for we were in a perfect desolation, and

+so far as we could see through the snowfall, there was not even the

+sign of habitation.  When we had gone about a mile, I was tired with

+the heavy walking and sat down to rest.  Then we looked back and saw

+where the clear line of Dracula's castle cut the sky.  For we were so

+deep under the hill whereon it was set that the angle of perspective

+of the Carpathian mountains was far below it.  We saw it in all its

+grandeur, perched a thousand feet on the summit of a sheer precipice,

+and with seemingly a great gap between it and the steep of the

+adjacent mountain on any side.  There was something wild and uncanny

+about the place.  We could hear the distant howling of wolves.  They

+were far off, but the sound, even though coming muffled through the

+deadening snowfall, was full of terror.  I knew from the way Dr. Van

+Helsing was searching about that he was trying to seek some strategic

+point, where we would be less exposed in case of attack.  The rough

+roadway still led downwards.  We could trace it through the drifted

+snow.

+

+In a little while the Professor signalled to me, so I got up and

+joined him.  He had found a wonderful spot, a sort of natural hollow

+in a rock, with an entrance like a doorway between two boulders.  He

+took me by the hand and drew me in.

+

+"See!" he said, "here you will be in shelter.  And if the wolves do

+come I can meet them one by one."

+

+He brought in our furs, and made a snug nest for me, and got out some

+provisions and forced them upon me.  But I could not eat, to even try

+to do so was repulsive to me, and much as I would have liked to please

+him, I could not bring myself to the attempt.  He looked very sad, but

+did not reproach me.  Taking his field glasses from the case, he stood

+on the top of the rock, and began to search the horizon.

+

+Suddenly he called out, "Look!  Madam Mina, look!  Look!"

+

+I sprang up and stood beside him on the rock.  He handed me his

+glasses and pointed.  The snow was now falling more heavily, and

+swirled about fiercely, for a high wind was beginning to blow.

+However, there were times when there were pauses between the snow

+flurries and I could see a long way round.  From the height where we

+were it was possible to see a great distance.  And far off, beyond the

+white waste of snow, I could see the river lying like a black ribbon

+in kinks and curls as it wound its way.  Straight in front of us and

+not far off, in fact so near that I wondered we had not noticed

+before, came a group of mounted men hurrying along.  In the midst of

+them was a cart, a long leiter wagon which swept from side to side,

+like a dog's tail wagging, with each stern inequality of the road.

+Outlined against the snow as they were, I could see from the men's

+clothes that they were peasants or gypsies of some kind.

+

+On the cart was a great square chest.  My heart leaped as I saw it, for

+I felt that the end was coming.  The evening was now drawing close,

+and well I knew that at sunset the Thing, which was till then

+imprisoned there, would take new freedom and could in any of many

+forms elude pursuit.  In fear I turned to the Professor.  To my

+consternation, however, he was not there.  An instant later, I saw him

+below me.  Round the rock he had drawn a circle, such as we had found

+shelter in last night.

+

+When he had completed it he stood beside me again saying, "At least

+you shall be safe here from him!"  He took the glasses from me, and at

+the next lull of the snow swept the whole space below us.  "See," he

+said, "they come quickly.  They are flogging the horses, and galloping

+as hard as they can."

+

+He paused and went on in a hollow voice, "They are racing for the

+sunset.  We may be too late.  God's will be done!"  Down came another

+blinding rush of driving snow, and the whole landscape was blotted

+out.  It soon passed, however, and once more his glasses were fixed on

+the plain.

+

+Then came a sudden cry, "Look!  Look!  Look!  See, two horsemen follow

+fast, coming up from the south.  It must be Quincey and John.  Take

+the glass.  Look before the snow blots it all out!"  I took it and

+looked.  The two men might be Dr. Seward and Mr. Morris.  I knew at

+all events that neither of them was Jonathan.  At the same time I knew

+that Jonathan was not far off.  Looking around I saw on the north side

+of the coming party two other men, riding at breakneck speed.  One of

+them I knew was Jonathan, and the other I took, of course, to be Lord

+Godalming.  They too, were pursuing the party with the cart.  When I

+told the Professor he shouted in glee like a schoolboy, and after

+looking intently till a snow fall made sight impossible, he laid his

+Winchester rifle ready for use against the boulder at the opening of

+our shelter.

+

+"They are all converging," he said.  "When the time comes we shall have

+gypsies on all sides."  I got out my revolver ready to hand, for

+whilst we were speaking the howling of wolves came louder and closer.

+When the snow storm abated a moment we looked again.  It was strange

+to see the snow falling in such heavy flakes close to us, and beyond,

+the sun shining more and more brightly as it sank down towards the far

+mountain tops.  Sweeping the glass all around us I could see here and

+there dots moving singly and in twos and threes and larger numbers.

+The wolves were gathering for their prey.

+

+Every instant seemed an age whilst we waited.  The wind came now in

+fierce bursts, and the snow was driven with fury as it swept upon us

+in circling eddies.  At times we could not see an arm's length before

+us.  But at others, as the hollow sounding wind swept by us, it seemed

+to clear the air space around us so that we could see afar off.  We

+had of late been so accustomed to watch for sunrise and sunset, that

+we knew with fair accuracy when it would be.  And we knew that before

+long the sun would set.  It was hard to believe that by our watches it

+was less than an hour that we waited in that rocky shelter before the

+various bodies began to converge close upon us.  The wind came now

+with fiercer and more bitter sweeps, and more steadily from the

+north.  It seemingly had driven the snow clouds from us, for with only

+occasional bursts, the snow fell.  We could distinguish clearly the

+individuals of each party, the pursued and the pursuers.  Strangely

+enough those pursued did not seem to realize, or at least to care,

+that they were pursued.  They seemed, however, to hasten with

+redoubled speed as the sun dropped lower and lower on the mountain

+tops.

+

+Closer and closer they drew.  The Professor and I crouched down behind

+our rock, and held our weapons ready.  I could see that he was

+determined that they should not pass.  One and all were quite unaware

+of our presence.

+

+All at once two voices shouted out to "Halt!"  One was my Jonathan's,

+raised in a high key of passion.  The other Mr. Morris' strong

+resolute tone of quiet command.  The gypsies may not have known the

+language, but there was no mistaking the tone, in whatever tongue the

+words were spoken.  Instinctively they reined in, and at the instant

+Lord Godalming and Jonathan dashed up at one side and Dr. Seward and

+Mr. Morris on the other.  The leader of the gypsies, a splendid

+looking fellow who sat his horse like a centaur, waved them back, and

+in a fierce voice gave to his companions some word to proceed.  They

+lashed the horses which sprang forward.  But the four men raised their

+Winchester rifles, and in an unmistakable way commanded them to stop.

+At the same moment Dr. Van Helsing and I rose behind the rock and

+pointed our weapons at them.  Seeing that they were surrounded the men

+tightened their reins and drew up.  The leader turned to them and gave

+a word at which every man of the gypsy party drew what weapon he

+carried, knife or pistol, and held himself in readiness to attack.

+Issue was joined in an instant.

+

+The leader, with a quick movement of his rein, threw his horse out in

+front, and pointed first to the sun, now close down on the hill tops,

+and then to the castle, said something which I did not understand.

+For answer, all four men of our party threw themselves from their

+horses and dashed towards the cart.  I should have felt terrible fear

+at seeing Jonathan in such danger, but that the ardor of battle must

+have been upon me as well as the rest of them.  I felt no fear, but

+only a wild, surging desire to do something.  Seeing the quick

+movement of our parties, the leader of the gypsies gave a command.  His

+men instantly formed round the cart in a sort of undisciplined

+endeavour, each one shouldering and pushing the other in his eagerness

+to carry out the order.

+

+In the midst of this I could see that Jonathan on one side of the ring

+of men, and Quincey on the other, were forcing a way to the cart.  It

+was evident that they were bent on finishing their task before the sun

+should set.  Nothing seemed to stop or even to hinder them.  Neither

+the levelled weapons nor the flashing knives of the gypsies in front,

+nor the howling of the wolves behind, appeared to even attract their

+attention.  Jonathan's impetuosity, and the manifest singleness of his

+purpose, seemed to overawe those in front of him.  Instinctively they

+cowered aside and let him pass.  In an instant he had jumped upon the

+cart, and with a strength which seemed incredible, raised the great

+box, and flung it over the wheel to the ground.  In the meantime, Mr.

+Morris had had to use force to pass through his side of the ring of

+Szgany.  All the time I had been breathlessly watching Jonathan I had,

+with the tail of my eye, seen him pressing desperately forward, and

+had seen the knives of the gypsies flash as he won a way through them,

+and they cut at him.  He had parried with his great bowie knife, and

+at first I thought that he too had come through in safety.  But as he

+sprang beside Jonathan, who had by now jumped from the cart, I could

+see that with his left hand he was clutching at his side, and that the

+blood was spurting through his fingers.  He did not delay

+notwithstanding this, for as Jonathan, with desperate energy, attacked

+one end of the chest, attempting to prize off the lid with his great

+Kukri knife, he attacked the other frantically with his bowie.  Under

+the efforts of both men the lid began to yield.  The nails drew with a

+screeching sound, and the top of the box was thrown back.

+

+By this time the gypsies, seeing themselves covered by the

+Winchesters, and at the mercy of Lord Godalming and Dr. Seward, had

+given in and made no further resistance.  The sun was almost down on

+the mountain tops, and the shadows of the whole group fell upon the

+snow.  I saw the Count lying within the box upon the earth, some of

+which the rude falling from the cart had scattered over him.  He was

+deathly pale, just like a waxen image, and the red eyes glared with

+the horrible vindictive look which I knew so well.

+

+As I looked, the eyes saw the sinking sun, and the look of hate in

+them turned to triumph.

+

+But, on the instant, came the sweep and flash of Jonathan's great

+knife.  I shrieked as I saw it shear through the throat.  Whilst at

+the same moment Mr. Morris's bowie knife plunged into the heart.

+

+It was like a miracle, but before our very eyes, and almost in the

+drawing of a breath, the whole body crumbled into dust and passed from

+our sight.

+

+I shall be glad as long as I live that even in that moment of final

+dissolution, there was in the face a look of peace, such as I never

+could have imagined might have rested there.

+

+The Castle of Dracula now stood out against the red sky, and every

+stone of its broken battlements was articulated against the light of

+the setting sun.

+

+The gypsies, taking us as in some way the cause of the extraordinary

+disappearance of the dead man, turned, without a word, and rode away

+as if for their lives.  Those who were unmounted jumped upon the

+leiter wagon and shouted to the horsemen not to desert them.  The

+wolves, which had withdrawn to a safe distance, followed in their

+wake, leaving us alone.

+

+Mr. Morris, who had sunk to the ground, leaned on his elbow, holding

+his hand pressed to his side.  The blood still gushed through his

+fingers.  I flew to him, for the Holy circle did not now keep me back;

+so did the two doctors.  Jonathan knelt behind him and the wounded man

+laid back his head on his shoulder.  With a sigh he took, with a

+feeble effort, my hand in that of his own which was unstained.

+

+He must have seen the anguish of my heart in my face, for he smiled at

+me and said, "I am only too happy to have been of service!  Oh, God!"

+he cried suddenly, struggling to a sitting posture and pointing to me.

+"It was worth for this to die!  Look!  Look!"

+

+The sun was now right down upon the mountain top, and the red gleams

+fell upon my face, so that it was bathed in rosy light.  With one

+impulse the men sank on their knees and a deep and earnest "Amen"

+broke from all as their eyes followed the pointing of his finger.

+

+The dying man spoke, "Now God be thanked that all has not been in

+vain!  See!  The snow is not more stainless than her forehead!  The

+curse has passed away!"

+

+And, to our bitter grief, with a smile and in silence, he died, a

+gallant gentleman.

+

+

+

+

+

+NOTE

+

+

+Seven years ago we all went through the flames.  And the happiness of

+some of us since then is, we think, well worth the pain we endured.

+It is an added joy to Mina and to me that our boy's birthday is the

+same day as that on which Quincey Morris died.  His mother holds, I

+know, the secret belief that some of our brave friend's spirit has

+passed into him.  His bundle of names links all our little band of men

+together.  But we call him Quincey.

+

+In the summer of this year we made a journey to Transylvania, and went

+over the old ground which was, and is, to us so full of vivid and

+terrible memories.  It was almost impossible to believe that the

+things which we had seen with our own eyes and heard with our own ears

+were living truths.  Every trace of all that had been was blotted

+out.  The castle stood as before, reared high above a waste of

+desolation.

+

+When we got home we were talking of the old time, which we could all

+look back on without despair, for Godalming and Seward are both

+happily married.  I took the papers from the safe where they had been

+ever since our return so long ago.  We were struck with the fact, that

+in all the mass of material of which the record is composed, there is

+hardly one authentic document.  Nothing but a mass of typewriting,

+except the later notebooks of Mina and Seward and myself, and Van

+Helsing's memorandum.  We could hardly ask any one, even did we wish

+to, to accept these as proofs of so wild a story.  Van Helsing summed

+it all up as he said, with our boy on his knee.

+

+"We want no proofs.  We ask none to believe us!  This boy will some

+day know what a brave and gallant woman his mother is.  Already he

+knows her sweetness and loving care.  Later on he will understand how

+some men so loved her, that they did dare much for her sake."

+

+JONATHAN HARKER

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Dracula, by Bram Stoker

+

+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DRACULA ***

+

+***** This file should be named 345.txt or 345.zip *****

+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:

+        http://www.gutenberg.org/3/4/345/

+

+

+

+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions

+will be renamed.

+

+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no

+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation

+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without

+permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,

+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to

+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to

+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project

+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you

+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you

+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the

+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose

+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and

+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do

+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is

+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial

+redistribution.

+

+

+

+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***

+

+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE

+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK

+

+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free

+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work

+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project

+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project

+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at

+http://gutenberg.net/license).

+

+

+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm

+electronic works

+

+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm

+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to

+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property

+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all

+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy

+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.

+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project

+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the

+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or

+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.

+

+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be

+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who

+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few

+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works

+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See

+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project

+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement

+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic

+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.

+

+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"

+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project

+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the

+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an

+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are

+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from

+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative

+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg

+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project

+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by

+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of

+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with

+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by

+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project

+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.

+

+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern

+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in

+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check

+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement

+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or

+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project

+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning

+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United

+States.

+

+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:

+

+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate

+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently

+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the

+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project

+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,

+copied or distributed:

+

+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with

+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or

+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included

+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net

+

+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived

+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is

+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied

+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees

+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work

+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the

+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1

+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the

+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or

+1.E.9.

+

+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted

+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution

+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional

+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked

+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the

+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.

+

+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm

+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this

+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.

+

+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this

+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without

+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with

+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project

+Gutenberg-tm License.

+

+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,

+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any

+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or

+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than

+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version

+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net),

+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a

+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon

+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other

+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm

+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.

+

+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,

+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works

+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.

+

+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing

+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided

+that

+

+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from

+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method

+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is

+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he

+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the

+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments

+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you

+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax

+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and

+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the

+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to

+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."

+

+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies

+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he

+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm

+     License.  You must require such a user to return or

+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium

+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of

+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.

+

+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any

+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the

+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days

+     of receipt of the work.

+

+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free

+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.

+

+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm

+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set

+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from

+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael

+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the

+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.

+

+1.F.

+

+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable

+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread

+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm

+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic

+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain

+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or

+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual

+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a

+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by

+your equipment.

+

+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right

+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project

+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project

+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project

+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all

+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal

+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT

+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE

+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE

+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE

+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR

+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH

+DAMAGE.

+

+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a

+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can

+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a

+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you

+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with

+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with

+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a

+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity

+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to

+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy

+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further

+opportunities to fix the problem.

+

+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth

+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER

+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO

+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.

+

+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied

+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.

+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the

+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be

+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by

+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any

+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.

+

+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the

+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone

+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance

+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,

+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,

+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,

+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do

+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm

+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any

+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.

+

+

+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm

+

+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of

+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers

+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists

+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from

+people in all walks of life.

+

+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the

+assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's

+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will

+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project

+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure

+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.

+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation

+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4

+and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org.

+

+

+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive

+Foundation

+

+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit

+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the

+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal

+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification

+number is 64-6221541.  Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at

+http://pglaf.org/fundraising.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg

+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent

+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.

+

+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.

+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered

+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at

+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email

+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact

+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official

+page at http://pglaf.org

+

+For additional contact information:

+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby

+     Chief Executive and Director

+     gbnewby@pglaf.org

+

+

+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg

+Literary Archive Foundation

+

+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide

+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of

+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be

+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest

+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations

+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt

+status with the IRS.

+

+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating

+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United

+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a

+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up

+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations

+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To

+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any

+particular state visit http://pglaf.org

+

+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we

+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition

+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who

+approach us with offers to donate.

+

+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make

+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from

+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.

+

+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation

+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other

+ways including including checks, online payments and credit card

+donations.  To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate

+

+

+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic

+works.

+

+Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm

+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared

+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project

+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.

+

+

+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed

+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.

+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily

+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.

+

+

+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:

+

+     http://www.gutenberg.net

+

+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,

+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary

+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to

+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.